Karl Malone was named Monday as the NBA's player of the month for November.
Malone, who is poised to become the No. 2 all-time scorer in league history on Tuesday night when the Jazz host the Toronto Raptors, led the Jazz to a 12-3 record during the first month of the season. He now needs just eight points to pass the late Wilt Chamberlain for second place. He will then trail only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Malone had an up-and-down November. He led the Jazz to a 5-0 start to the season, averaging 29.6 points per game. Later he went into a shooting slump, failing to score more than 15 points in three out of four games. To add insult to injury, Malone was suspended by the NBA for Utah's Nov. 22 victory over Denver for "backhanding" Christian Laettner of the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 20.
After the suspension Malone seemed to be reinvigorated, helping the Jazz win four straight games to close out the month — including three consecutive come-from-behind wins on the road.
Malone averaged 23.6 points and 10.6 rebounds for the month.
This is the seventh time during his career that Malone has been named the player of the month by the NBA, the last one being February 1998.