Timberwolves 96, Jazz 94MINNEAPOLIS -- Karl Malone dubbed his day "bittersweet."
But it wasn't exactly a 50-50 proposition for the Jazz, which seemed to be feeling a bunch more bitter than sweet following their 96-94 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday at the Target Center.
First, the sugar: Malone scored a game-high 35 points and in the process knocked down the door to join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain in the 30,000-point club.
But now -- don't hold your breath -- those bitter beans: En route to losing their third game in a row, something they have not done in more than three years, and losing the season series (3-1) to Minnesota, which is something they never had done before, the Jazz felt slighted, wronged and generally taken advantage of.
From a couple of inbounds plays Bryon Russell did not believe were called right, to the lack of respect one sensed Malone was experiencing, the Jazz acted as if the world was plotting to pick on them.
"It ain't about who has the better team," Russell said after Utah opened the second half of its season. "It's about who has the talent, and who has these high-flyers that will make the new millennium -- the future of the NBA."
The Jazz's woes started early in the day, when Malone -- the reigning NBA MVP -- officially learned he had been snubbed by fans who voted for Minnesota's Kevin Garnett, San Antonio's Tim Duncan, Phoenix's Jason Kidd and Los Angeles Lakers teammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal to represent the Western Conference in the Feb. 13 NBA All-Star Game in Oakland.
That came as no great shock to Malone, who indicated as much.
"I didn't?" he said sarcastically. "You're lying."
Malone officially finished fifth among forwards in the balloting, which is what he had been running all along. But that was hardly his worst news of the afternoon.
Things got worse when the Mailman finished the first half with only 11 points, this on top of back-to-back games in which he finished with just 13 against Vancouver on Wednesday and 12 against Portland on Thursday.
It wasn't so much that that was all he scored but rather that he wasn't getting much help: The Jazz were down 41-29 after 24 minutes, marking the third time this season they have scored so few points -- a season-low -- in the opening half.
Both previous times, against the Lakers in L.A. and at Minnesota, the Jazz wound up losing. Consider it an omen, because the next 24 minutes weren't much kinder.
"They had a great finish in the first half," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said after the Timberwolves used the last 68 seconds of the second quarter to score on a dunk by Garnett, who finished with a team-high 29 points, a jumper by Sam Mitchell and a last-second 3-pointer from Malik Sealy. "It put us with our heads between our tails when we walked off the floor, and it looked like a place for us to quit."
Rather than do that, though, the Jazz showed a little more life in the second half for NBC's national television audience.
Early in the third quarter Malone took a fastbreak pass from Jeff Hornacek for a layup that would have pushed him over 30,000, but the ball rimmed out. He grabbed his own rebound, though, and put it back with 8:53 to go in the period.
They were his 12th and 13th points of the game -- 30,000th and 30,001st of his 15-season career -- and pulled the Jazz to within 10 at 46-36.
The historic feat, however, went unrecognized for several minutes.
Malone thought he was fouled on the play, something that has been happening quite a bit lately, and he complained loudly enough to be called for a technical foul. Terrell Brandon hit the free throw, but that wasn't the half of it.
No one took the time to hand him the ball, and an announcement of Malone's historic feat did not come until several minutes after the fact. By then, he had already scored two more points. The Target Center crowd did finally rise for a standing ovation, and all five Timberwolves on the floor, including Garnett, did come over the slap his hand. But the Mailman indicated he thought he might be shown a bit more respect than that.
"It was five plays later that they talked about it," he said.
The Jazz, meanwhile, were doing quite a bit of talking -- especially about the breaks they thought the Timberwolves got late in the game.
Utah, desperately trying to play catchup, got to within three when Malone drove the lane for a layup that made it 93-90 with 12.7 seconds to go.
On two ensuing inbounds plays, one that led to Sam Mitchell being fouled and going to the line to make one of two free throws, and one that resulted in Garnett making a pair of free throws, the Jazz felt the Timberwolves got away with stepping inbounds as they tried to pass in the ball.
Both times (if the Jazz were right) they got away with it.
"We didn't get it done -- and it doesn't help when guys step out of bounds," Russell, referring to the inbounds play, said. "There were a couple of times Garnett stepped out of bounds, and nobody sees it but us. They (referees) see what they want to see."
The Jazz -- mainly Malone -- complained, but to no avail.
"Somebody told him: Why don't he stop trying to referee," Russell said.
Malone chose not answer questions about the matter afterward.
"My goal is to save my money," he said.
That he did.
What Malone could not do, no matter how much he tried, was to save the 27-15 Jazz from losing their third straight for the first time since early in 1997, when from Jan. 6-11 they lost four in a row. And that, he said, is more frustrating than it is satisfying to have hit 30,000.
"It's kind of bittersweet," Malone said. "We didn't win the ball game. This game isn't about individual awards. It's about how you do as a team, and we didn't win."