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Wednesday, Mar. 1 7:30pm ET
Malone scores 31 points, 14 in 3rd quarter | |||||
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- When they were winning championships in the 1980s, the Detroit Pistons were the only team with a defensive system that could shut down Michael Jordan. Unfortunately for the Pistons, they never came up with a similar strategy for Karl Malone. Malone scored 31 points, including 14 in the third quarter, as the Utah Jazz routed the Detroit Pistons 107-94 Wednesday night. "It's not like we are the only team he scores against," Pistons coach Alvin Gentry said. "He's been doing that to the whole league for 15 years now. When he's shooting like that, it's impossible to stop him." Malone, who left the game for good with the Jazz ahead by 18 in the opening seconds of the fourth, added 13 rebounds and six assists. "We have plays and we execute them -- we've been doing it for years," Malone said. "You just keep staying with what's working for you." Armen Gilliam added 19 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Utah, while John Stockton had 11 points and seven assists. "I thought that as a team we hustled and we helped each other and we didn't give them many easy baskets," Gilliam said. "That's what is important." Grant Hill led Detroit with 26 on 7-for-18 shooting, and Jerry Stackhouse added 17. The Jazz led 33-32 after one quarter, then held Detroit scoreless for the first 5:24 of the second period. That let them build a 45-32 edge, and they still led 60-48 at the half. Malone had 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the half. "After the first quarter, it seemed like our bigger guys got a little more adapted to what they were doing and gave us a lot more help," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "Whenever you can get a win on the road, you have to find a way to get it." Detroit had several chances to get close in the third, but didn't help matters by missing five of eight free throws in one stretch. Utah took advantage with an 9-2 run that put them ahead 80-63 late in the quarter. Stockton and Malone scored all nine points. "We were just trying to carry over what the bench had done in the second quarter," Stockton said. "They did a great job of building up a lead and giving us some momentum. We just tried to keep it going in the third." Detroit didn't get closer than 17 until the last minute of the game. "We didn't play hard and we didn't compete," Hill said. "I don't care if you are up 20 or down 20, you have to play hard. We didn't do that tonight."
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Utah Clubhouse Detroit Clubhouse RECAPS Toronto 96 Boston 94
Utah 107
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