Jazz -- 101
Spurs -- 87SAN ANTONIO -- Greg Ostertag played his best game of the season Sunday afternoon. He said so himself, and his coach agreed.
His superstar teammate and chief critic still is waiting to dole out the praise, however.
Ostertag, the Utah Jazz's enigmatic center, didn't have huge offensive numbers -- he scored just seven points. But he was a force to be reckoned with and did a decent job defensively pitted against the best young big man in the NBA, San Antonio's Tim Duncan, during Utah's surprisingly easy 101-87 victory Sunday afternoon in the Alamodome.
The Ostertag/Karl Malone duo -- which finished with a combined 37 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots -- was more than a match for the more heralded Duncan/David Robinson combo, which had 29 points, 22 boards and three blocks between them.
"Ostertag had a good game for us today, having to play against those big guys," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "That's really helpful to us, because we need big people to play well -- especially against that team."
Ostertag played a season-high 37 minutes -- just one minute less than Malone's team-high 38-minute outing. Ostertag scored seven points, with 10 rebounds and three blocks.
"It was probably my best game this year," said Ostertag. "I was pretty active defensively and did some nice things. Now it's just something I have to do again Tuesday night against Portland. I can't just have one good game and then disappear for two or three."
But having a good game followed by a couple of not-so-good games has been the Ostertag way for most of his four-year career. It's also the reason Malone was hesitant to give praise to the Jazz's only 7-footer after his play against the Spurs.
"When the time comes, I'll give credit where credit is due," said Malone when asked about Ostertag's game. "I will say this, when he plays like that, it makes our job a lot easier. Now what I want to see is for him to play four, five, six or seven in a row like that . . . . Don't just tease me."
Malone finished with a game-high 30 points and seven rebounds to help the Jazz improve to an NBA-best 11-2 on the year. The Spurs, a team most people felt would be a Western Conference contender, fell to 6-8.
The Jazz got out to a fast start and were never really threatened. Utah was up by a dozen after the first quarter, thanks in large part to 11 points from Malone and eight by Jeff Hornacek -- a particularly impressive feat, since it wasn't until just before game time that Hornacek was cleared to play despite a sore left knee.
The Spurs cut the gap to five midway through the second quarter, but by the half the Jazz had the lead back up to 14 points.
"We lost our composure," said Robinson, who finished with only eight points. "We're just banging our heads on the wall. We keep making the same mistakes, and we haven't had practice time to work on them."
The Jazz went up by as many as 19 points in the third quarter and 24 in the fourth before clearing the bench and allowing the Spurs a mild rally in the waning moments.
Hornacek, although playing with a decided limp, finished with 18 points and seven assists, while John Stockton had 14 points and 10 assists.
"Jeff is an awesome teammate," said Stockton. "He did whatever he could to be able to be on the floor, and then he played very well once he got there. That was no minor effort on his part.
Bryon Russell, who got into early foul trouble and played only 19 minutes, added 10 points, while Adam Keefe grabbed eight boards.
The loss keeps the pressure on Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who is feeling the heat locally for his team's poor start. He was ejected late in the third quarter for arguing after a foul call on Malik Rose and left the arena to a chorus of boos. New Spur Mario Elie, who had a couple of altercations with Ostertag, was ejected as well, although he lasted until the fourth quarter.
Duncan led the Spurs with 21 points and 13 boards. The only other player to net double figures was back-up point guard Antonio Daniels, who had 13.
The Jazz will play another of the West's best teams Tuesday night when they meet the Portland Trail Blazers in the Rose Garden.
JAZZ NOTES: Utah was the first team in more than a year to score 100 or more points against the Spurs in the Alamodome . . . The victory was the 650th in Sloan's coaching career . . . There is not a lot of love lost between these two teams. Seven technical fouls were called -- four on the Jazz (Sloan, Ostertag, Malone and Greg Foster) and three on the Spurs (two on Popovich, one on Elie). In addition, Howard Eisley and Elie were hit with flagrant fouls . . . The Jazz wore their purple-based road uniforms for the first time all year. They had sported their new black-based duds in all the previous road games.