CHARLOTTE — The Jazz got quite a scare Saturday night from reserve forward Donyell Marshall, who crumpled to the floor with two minutes and 46 seconds remaining in the third quarter of their 94-89 loss to Charlotte.
Marshall stayed down on the floor for a few minutes before being helped to the visitor's locker room at Charlotte Coliseum. Among those accompanying him in were concerned Jazz big men Danny Manning and Greg Ostertag, who both stayed back there for a few minutes after play had resumed.
At first, there was a fear Marshall might have blown out his knee.
A team spokesman, however, said Marshall sustained only a sprain, the extent of which was not immediately known. X-rays were taken and proved negative. A further examination of the joint will be made by team doctors today, and Marshall's status for a five-game homestand that begins Tuesday remains uncertain.
"I hope he's fine," Jazz forward Bryon Russell said. "I hope there's nothing wrong with him."
Marshall was hurt while guarding Jamal Mashburn; he stepped back, then forward, and the knee seemed to buckle. Marshall finished with 8 points in 13 off-the-bench minutes, and his presence seemed to be missed by the Jazz in the fourth quarter Saturday.
"Yeah, we'd have liked to have had him out there, but that's not the way basketball works," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "There's a lot of things we'd like, but it doesn't work out that way."
IT CAN WAIT: Jazz forward Karl Malone admitted he found it hard to get going in front of an announced crowd of 13,360 at Charlotte Coliseum, where more seats seemed empty than not — a low turnout that can in part be blamed to a snowstorm that was predicted to hit the Charlotte area late Saturday/early Sunday.
"You see it more and more," Malone said of the small crowds coming to NBA games. "We played five games on this trip, and we didn't have one sellout. I said it a couple of years ago: They're making these arenas bigger; they ought to be making them smaller.' "
Malone had only 2 points in the first half and 14 overall, leaving him 8 shy of passing Wilt Chamberlain for second place behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA's all-time scoring list.
The Mailman can now slide into second place on Tuesday, when the Jazz play Toronto at the Delta Center.
"We'll probably have a sellout at home," said Malone, who admits he likes the idea of moving past Chamberlain in Salt Lake. "It will be neat because I think the fans there are maybe looking forward to it."
MORE MILESTONE: Jazz guard John Starks surpassed the 10,000 career-point mark with his first basket, a 26-foot 3-pointer with 2:49 left in the opening quarter. He finished with 7 points, giving him 10,006.
MISC.: Four technical fouls were called, including one on Jazz guard John Stockton for "taunting." Stockton waved an angry finger in the face of Hornets guard Baron Davis, whom Stockton thought shoved him hard to the floor on a rebound under the basket . . . The Hornets have won seven of their last eight games, and took sole possession of first place in the Central Division with the victory . . . This was the 12th straight time Charlotte has held an opponent to fewer than 100 points.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com