ESPN Network: ESPN.com | NFL.com | NBA.com | NHL.com | WNBA.com | ABCSports | EXPN | FANTASY | INSIDER

  Scores/Schedules
  Standings
  Statistics
  Transactions
  Injuries
  Players
  Message Board
  NBA StatSearch
  NBA en espaņol
Clubhouses






Sunday, Mar. 18 9:00pm ET
Jazz pull closer to idle Spurs

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

LOS ANGELES (AP) – It isn't easy to stay with one team long enough to coach 1,000 regular-season games. Karl Malone and John Stockton have allowed Jerry Sloan to survive and flourish with the Utah Jazz – and they did it again Sunday night.

Malone had 34 points and Stockton added 13 points and 10 assists as Sloan reached his milestone with a 111-96 victory over the same team he beat in his first game as Jazz coach – the Los Angeles Clippers.

Karl Malone
Karl Malone led the Jazz with 34 points as they beat the Clippers for a ninth straight time.

"I've been real lucky. They haven't run me off," Sloan said. "Our owners have kept us in there, and that makes a big difference. Somebody told me that there have been 136 coaching changes since I started in Utah, but I don't know how you can succeed when you're changing coaches all the time."

Sloan, who signed a three-year, $12 million contract extension in January, became the sixth man to coach 1,000 regular-season NBA games with the same team.

He joined an elite fraternity that includes former Washington coach Gene Shue – who was the losing coach for the Clippers in Sloan's Jazz head coaching debut – Boston's Red Auerbach, Phoenix's John MacLeod, Golden State's Al Attles, and Red Holzman of the New York Knicks.

"It's been a day-to-day thing," he said. "It wasn't something I looked at and said, `This is going to be a long-time venture.' I just took whatever came. And that's what I've tried to tell our players. Nobody gives a darn about what happened to you yesterday."

After an 11-year playing career, Sloan coached his first 215 games with the Chicago Bulls. He went six seasons between head coaching jobs, working as a scout and an assistant with the Jazz before replacing Frank Layden on Dec. 9, 1988.

"I didn't think I was going to make it through our first road trip," recalled Sloan, who has compiled a 682-318 regular-season record with Utah. "After we played down here, we had to go back east and really had a tough time. So when we got back home, I thought it would be tough to keep the job. But I guess I got lucky."

The only coaches in NBA history with better career winning percentages than Sloan's .639 mark are Miami's Pat Riley (.692) and Auerbach (.661).

Sloan, who turns 59 on Mar. 28, has guided the Jazz to the NBA finals twice (1997 and 1998), won five division titles and reached the 50-win plateau nine times. Five more victories in Utah's final 17 games will make it 10.

Utah closed within a half-game of idle San Antonio for the best record in the Western Conference following their ninth straight victory over the Clippers and their 18th win in 23 games overall. Donyell Marshall scored 11 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter for the Jazz.

Corey Maggette, who has started each of the Clippers' last five games at small forward during Lamar Odom's five-game suspension for violating the NBA's anti-drug policy, scored 20 points before spraining his left ankle. Odom returns Tuesday night when the Clippers play host to Philadelphia.

The Jazz used 18 points by Malone and consecutive 3-pointers by Bryon Russell and Marshall in the final 29 seconds of the first half to build a 59-45 lead. Marshall's was a buzzer-beater.

"They're a heck of a basketball team," Clippers coach Alvin Gentry said. "I don't think anybody's come in here and shot the ball against us like that this year. We just didn't have an answer for them. I've never seen them shoot the ball that well."

Olden Polynice's layup with 5:53 left in the third quarter gave Utah a 77-58 lead, its biggest to that point. The Clippers got within 14 on a 3-pointer by rookie Keyon Dooling with 1:13 left in the third, but the Jazz broke it open with a 15-6 run that gave them a 101-78 cushion with 6:22 remaining. Marshall helped fuel the rally with nine points.

Game notes
Stockton and Malone aren't the only ones to have played in Sloan's first and 1,000th games as Jazz coach. Teammate Danny Manning was a Clippers rookie in 1988-89. ... Among current NBA coaches, the closest to reaching the 1,000-game mark with the same team is Houston's Rudy Tomjanovich with 720. ... The Hollywood community was well represented in the sellout crowd of 19,292, which included front-row observers Farrah Fawcett, Connie Stevens and Fran Drescher ("The Nanny"), along with Clippers regulars Penny Marshall and Marcia Strassman ("Welcome Back Kotter"). ... It was the wrong night to argue with referee Phil Robinson, who assessed technical fouls 21 seconds apart to Malone and Clippers center Michael Olowokandi in the third quarter. ... Malone, second on the NBA's career scoring list, made all eight free throws and will break Moses Malone's league record of 8,531 free throws with 18 more.

Send this story to a friend
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard

Utah Clubhouse

LA Clippers Clubhouse

RECAPS
LA Lakers 95
Orlando 90

Indiana 101
Sacramento 95

Minnesota 91
Cleveland 76

Milwaukee 100
Detroit 96

Seattle 104
Golden State 99

Utah 111
LA Clippers 96

Denver 98
New Jersey 84


ESPN.com:  HELP |  ADVERTISER INFO |  CONTACT US |  TOOLS |  SITE MAP
Copyright ©2000 ESPN Internet Group. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information are applicable to this site. Employment opportunities at ESPN.com.