The Jazz's run-ins with various Dallas Mavericks are well-chronicled, especially those run-ins involving Karl Malone.
The last couple of seasons alone, Malone has faced off with Mavs coach Don Nelson, allegedly kneed center Shawn Bradley, bopped forward Dirk Nowtizki and backslapped ex-Mav Christian Laettner.
The highlight of the Mailman's feuding with those from the Big D, though, may be his verbal battles with Mavs owner Mark Cuban.
The two actually knew each other long before Cuban became a dot-com billionaire, back when he hung out at the same Dallas-area gym where Malone worked out during his first few off-seasons with the Jazz.
That was about 15 years ago.
Since becoming an NBA owner, however, Cuban's relationship with Malone, if you can call it that, has deteriorated. Cuban has even submitted films to the league complaining about certain plays involving Malone. The low point may have been when Cuban said criminal charges should be pressed against Malone for what he did to Laettner.
"I don't have a problem with him even after all of that," Malone said Thursday, two days before the Jazz open their first-round NBA Western Conference playoffs series with the Mavs. "I don't get caught in that kind of stuff."
Malone, in fact, is trying to avoid all the traps of talking about the two teams' history.
"This is the time, in the playoffs, if you wanted to have sideshows you could have them very easily by saying something or doing something, because you guys (media members) are probably going to get it stirred up, and then if we say something it escalates — and we're not going to get into all of that," he said.
Still, Malone couldn't help sneaking in a shot or two at Cuban when discussing him and Jazz owner Larry H. Miller.
"Not even a comparison," Malone said. "I'm just going to leave it like that — I'll take our owner."
When Malone was told Cuban talked about how physical the series would be when he appeared earlier this week on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Malone tried biting his tongue.
"Naw," he said. "I've been through it all."
Then Malone paused, and added this: "I don't think we'd get Larry Miller to do the Jay Leno show."
As for Cuban, there seems to be no doubt where he stands on the series. "It's gonna be a war," he said.
HERE'S WHY: If he didn't have it already, it seems rookie guard DeShawn Stevenson sealed his spot on the Jazz's playoff roster with his high-energy performance in Utah's regular-season finale at Phoenix on Wednesday night.
"He looked like he was happy," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "When you see a basketball player out on the floor looking like they're having fun, it sticks out like a sore thumb.
"It's nice to see a smile on his face . . . Now, I hope he doesn't lose that," Sloan added. "You know, you see so much of the 'I'm-being-mistreated' attitude in this business that it's nice to see someone step up there and act like he's happy."
Left off the 12-man postseason roster were forward Scott Padgett and guard Quincy Lewis, two of Utah's 1999 first-round draft choices, along with Russian forward Andrei Kirilenko, who is expected to join the Jazz this summer.
Both Lewis and Padgett, along with Stevenson and veteran forward David Benoit, took turns on the Jazz's injured list so Utah could carry 14 players all season long. While Stevenson was tapped over Lewis for what amounts to an end-of-the-bench spot, Utah opted for versatility and experience in selecting Benoit rather than Padgett.
MISC.: After 16 seasons, Malone has 32,919 points. If in the next three seasons he is to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for first place on the NBA's all-time scoring list, Malone must average nearly 22.3 points per game — if he does not miss a game. Malone's average this season: 23.2.
E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com