It's tempting to say the Utah Jazz were robbed by inept officials Saturday night.
It's tempting to say that if not for a blown call in overtime, they would have beaten the Washington Bullets instead of losing by a 120-115 score.Why, even Jazz guard John Stockton, who mentions referees publicly about as often as he dunks, gave in to the temptation.
But hey, the Jazz DID NOT lose because referee Luis Grillo refused to grant Stockton's three-pointer. They lost because they allowed the Bullets to shoot 54 percent from the field, because they blew a five-point lead in overtime (and an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter), because they made too many mistakes, missed too many shots, were probably a little worn out.
That said, let's talk about that call. With 15.4 seconds left in OT, the Jazz called a timeout after Juwan Howard's jumper put the Bullets ahead by three, 118-115. On the ensuing in-bounds play, the ball went to Stockton above the circle. Knowing that Washington had a foul to give - easy to figure, since all the Bullets were screaming, "Foul him!" - Stockton dribbled right, expecting to be fouled and planning to shoot as it happened. When Tim Legler finally reached in on him, Stockton quickly launched a shot that swished.
The Jazz thought Stockton's shot counted and he was headed for the free-throw line, but Grillo asserted that the foul occurred before Stockton fired, which gave Utah the ball out-of-bounds. Needless to say, the Jazz were not pleased.
"They were obviously trying to foul," Stockton said. "We knew they were trying to foul. I guess they (the officials) don't want to have the game won that way, but I guess it's OK to have a loss that way. I don't understand that."
Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek said the refs' decision may have been based on timing.
"If it was the first quarter, they probably would have given him the basket," he said.
Karl Malone said it didn't surprise him; he'd seen it coming after a first-quarter T from Grillo.
"I got a technical foul for not saying anything, for looking athim," Malone said. "To me, the stage was set."
Prior to that no-call, however, the Jazz had a five-point lead with less than two minutes to play in OT. But Howard hit a short jumper, and after a missed three-pointer by David Benoit, Brent Price knocked down a pull-up jumper and was fouled by Stockton, converting the free throw to tie the game.
On the other end, what the Jazz got was another missed three by Benoit, who by this point had made just five of 14 shots and was being left unguarded.
"David had a good look . . . and it didn't go," Stockton said. "We've won a lot of ballgames with him knocking that shot down."
After Benoit's second miss, Bullets center Georghe Muresan made one of two foul shots to put Washington ahead by a point. Antoine Carr, who had just come in for the fouled-out Greg Ostertag, then tried a horrible cross-lane pass to Benoit that was picked off by the Bullets - even though the home-happy Bullets stat crew chose to call it a shot attempt, blocked by Muresan. If that was a shot, Carr is a world-class ballerina.
The Jazz had one last shot after the infamous no-call, a long three by Stockton, but it missed.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan wasn't unhappy with his team's effort, despite the miscues down the stretch. He even chalked up the Bullets' good shooting to his players' having played four games in five days and being a little tired.
"We did a couple of things that weren't very intelligent, but . . . as long as we compete hard I don't have a problem," Sloan said.
Malone competed hard - he finished with 32 points on 12 of 18 from the field, with 11 rebounds, eight assists. Stockton totaled 19 points, Hornacek 16. Ostertag had his second strong effort in a row, with 13 points (6 of 9), five boards.
The Jazz conclude this road trip Monday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.