Malone Gives Jazz Victory Ride

The road brings out good things in the Utah Jazz. And a big game brings out the best in Karl Malone.

Malone scored 32 points, 21 in the second half, and grabbed 19 rebounds Wednesday night, leading Utah past the Houston Rockets 95-82 for a 2-1 lead in their first-round NBA playoff series.

“I can’t say enough about the heart of this team,” Malone said.

The Jazz can wrap the best-of-5 series it up with a victory in Game 4 in The Summit on Friday night. Game 5 would be at Salt Lake City on Sunday.

“It’s never easy,” Malone said. “We were just patient and did the things we needed to do to win. This doesn’t even it up. We still have another game to play here.”

Jeff Hornacek and David Benoit added 14 points each for the Jazz, while John Stockton handed out 13 assists. Hakeem Olajuwon led the Rockets with 30 points and 10 rebounds, and Kenny Smith, after a slow start, scored 20 points.

“They played good defense,” Houston’s Clyde Drexler said. “They got all the right calls and did what they had to do.”

The Jazz, among the best road teams in the NBA with a 27-14 record in the regular season, wouldn’t be intimidated by Houston’s crowd or its fourth-quarter push.

“Sometimes when you’re on the road it takes all the distractions away,” Malone said. “It makes you concentrate on basketball.”

After a dreary first half in which the Jazz emerged with a 46-41 lead, Malone made things exciting.

Utah made the first run, rolling up a 69-54 lead with 3:28 to go in the third period, their biggest lead to that point. Malone had 11 points in the quarter.

Then it was the Rockets’ turn. They used a 10-1 spurt, led by Smith, and trailed 70-65 going into the final quarter. But they could never take the lead again.