Jazz 94, Heat 92
MIAMI — The Jazz waited until the end to turn it on, again. And they got away with it, again.
The trend has become an addiction.
This time Utah overcame a 13-point fourth quarter deficit, beating the Miami Heat 94-92 only after Karl Malone tipped in a partially blocked John Stockton layup with 2.6 seconds remaining at American Airlines Arena.
It was another safe but close call for a team that is becoming accustomed to them.
"The fourth quarter, we play harder. We execute more," Jazz forward Donyell Marshall said, in searching for a way to explain a habit that has become hard to break.
The proclivity for pushing it, however, is something the Jazz know they shouldn't have.
"We've got to pick it up and play harder from the beginning," Marshall said. "We can't keep letting ourselves get down."
Four games into a five-game road trip that ends tonight at Charlotte, this was the fourth time the Jazz, winners now of six in a row, have managed to come out ahead despite being behind at some point in the final quarter.
Against Detroit, it was 4. At New Jersey, 7. Orlando, 9. And now this: Down 79-66 after Eddie Jones, who scored a team-high 25 points, made a free throw to kick off the fourth quarter.
The Jazz went up briefly by 1 when Stockton made a couple of free throws of his own to make it 82-81, but Utah did not lead again until Malone's tip with the seconds running short.
The points marked Malone's 26th and 27th points of the game, leaving him 22 shying of passing the late Wilt Chamberlain for second place behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA's all-time scoring list. Perhaps even more importantly than that, they allowed the 13-3 Jazz to keep on rolling.
"I don't know what the deal is," said Utah coach Jerry Sloan, who is at as much a loss as everyone else with the Jazz in trying to understand why they are finding themselves in such holes.
"I don't know what they're trying to tell me," added Sloan, who was ejected after picking up his second technical foul with 11:27 still remaining in the fourth quarter. "I'm having a difficult time with it myself."
Sloan was upset about what he perceived to be a series of calls not made by the officiating crew of David Jones, Kevin Fehr and Joe DeRosa. He didn't voice any displeasure with the crew after the game, but he did hint at some frustration with his club for the way it has been playing in front of him.
"I should have stayed home," said Sloan, who watched the game conclusion from the visitor's locker room. "It would have been easier. They started playing after I left."
The Jazz did turn it up after Sloan departed, slowly but surely trimming
the 80-70 lead Jones gave the Heat after hitting the free throw resulting from the Jazz coach's second technical.
Jazz assistant coach Phil Johnson used a bigger lineup throughout much of the fourth, playing Stockton (who scored 10) at the point, Bryon Russell (who had 18) at shooting guard, Marshall at small forward and some combination of Malone, Danny Manning and Greg Ostertag up front.
With 2:19 to go Johnson subbed starter John Starks in for Marshall and moved Russell back to small forward. Anthony Mason hit two free throws at the time to make it 92-88 Heat, but a Malone layup more than a minute later cut Miami's lead to 2.
Malone was fouled on the play by Cedric Ceballos and hit the resulting free throw to make it 92-91. The Jazz then went to work on the defensive end, as Russell got Mason to turn over the ball (one of 22 Miami giveaways). About 11 seconds later Ceballos fouled Russell, who missed the front end of two free throws but made the back half to tie it at 92.
Ceballos backed down Russell on the baseline on the other end but missed his shot, giving the Jazz a chance for the win. Stockton rather easily drove the lane but had his shot misdirected by Mason. Malone, though, was able to crash the boards for the tip, giving the Jazz a lead they preserved when Bruce Bowen threw a well-guarded inbounds pass out of bounds with 2 seconds left.
"I just tried to concentrate on what the possibilities were, and react accordingly," Stockton said of his drive. "I rounded the corner there, and did have a good look at the basket."
Malone had an even better look at what was going on.
"We had burned them two or three times on that little 'C' play," Malone said of the Jazz's patented pick-and-roll. "So they were kind of really aware of that, and they were trying to overplay the play and stop me from getting a head start on leaning in there. But of course I knew he was going to shoot it."
When Stockton did, Malone was ready for the rebound — and the chance to bail the Jazz out of yet another too-close-for-comfort call.
"We were fortunate," Malone said. "We didn't shoot the ball well until the fourth quarter, but we were able to execute and get back into the game."
Again.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com