Jazz 91, Spurs 85
Game 7: Monday at Delta CenterThere's nothing better than playing well down the stretch, which is precisely what the Jazz did in a 91-85 victory over the defending NBA-champion San Antonio Spurs on Monday night at the Delta Center.
They needed it, too, after the Spurs took a 72-71 lead early in the fourth quarter. But with back-to-back 3-pointers by John Stockton and Bryon Russell, the Jazz were ahead to stay. That was part of an 11-3 run that put Utah up 82-75. After that the Spurs never came any closer than three.
That's because the Jazz were hitting their shots late in the game, and the Spurs were not. Tim Duncan -- who scored a game-high 32 points -- badly missed an 18-footer that hit the side of the backboard with one minute and 20 seconds to go, and he also missed a dunk attempt that would have made it 89-87 Jazz had Greg Ostertag not come up with the block of the game.
Karl Malone, meanwhile, hit a key jumper with 34 seconds left, and the Jazz -- which came into the game as the best free-throw shooting team in the NBA -- got two to ice it from Russell with 15.6 seconds remaining. -- Tim Buckley
RECORDS: Jazz 4-3; Spurs 6-2
NEXT UP: New York at Utah, Wednesday, 6 p.m. at Delta Center
THREE KEYS
John Stockton scores 20, offsetting Jeff Hornacek's 10.
Greg Ostertag pulls down 11 defensive rebounds.
Karl Malone starts 2-for-9 from field, finishes 7-of-18.
QUOTABLE
"Maybe we're a little too tentative against teams like Sacramento that run-and-gun it." -- Jeff Hornacek on beating San Antonio after losing to the Kings