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Jazz find themselves in unfamiliar territory

Feb 28, 2002 8:29 PM EST

Live from Salt Lake City Thursday night, it's the...

NBA?

In something of a startling development, the Utah Jazz get a home game, for the first time since Feb. 2, and return to the Delta Center in better shape than when it left. Speaking of startling developments.

The Jazz went away because of the Olympics, but didn't go away. It won six in a row on the road, the end of a run of nine victories in 11 games. The young guys continued to contribute, making this the first Utah season since the Eisenhower Administration that is about the future.

One of the old guys, Karl Malone, starred and had coach Jerry Sloan talking about best stretches ever for the Mailman, which is only totally noteworthy considering the standards that had already been established on the route. And, as if just to make sure there was some normalcy during a crazy time in the schedule, the Greg Ostertag issue remained as constant ever, which is to say he remained a constant pain for Sloan.

So what that most of those five straight victories were against the East. And so what that one of them that should have stood for an important benchmark against a contender from the other conference instead turned out to be a game against the Raptors. Nine in a row away from the Delta Center is still a major challenge, even with the All-Star break in there for rest and only three back-to-backs in the space of nearly a month. There were victories at Indiana, Philadelphia and Toronto, and all in a row. Only two of the opponents broke triple digits in scoring, the Rockets at the start and the Kings at the end.

In what was supposed to be the spring of their disconnect, the Jazz hung together.

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Jazz return after 26 days

Feb 28, 2002 2:29 PM EST

Pardon John Starks if he sounds like a man who lately has spent a little too much time on the road. It's only because he has. The Jazz, forced out of Utah by some fluffy February funfest known as the Winter Olympics, have not played a home game at the Salt Lake Ice Center, make that the Delta Center, since Feb. 2. Twenty-six days later they're finally back, ready to open a five-game homestand that starts with tonight's meeting with Memphis, then continues with games every other night against Minnesota, Denver, the Los Angeles Lakers and New York. So when Starks is asked if he's happy to be home, it's no wonder he's a little confused on just what transpired while he was away. "Oh, no question. No question," Starks said. "We did what we wanted to do on the road — we won six out of seven. Well, seven out of 10, rather. Or, what, six out of nine? We lost our first two right? Yeah — six out of nine. I think that's a good stretch for us." For the record, it was six out of nine. The Jazz first dropped a disastrous back-to-back set at Houston and Memphis, then, fortunately for them, had a six-day hiatus for the NBA All-Star Game break. A successful six-game trip followed, replete with wins at Indiana, Philadelphia, Toronto, New York, Cleveland and Denver — granted, largely patsies, none of whom had a winning record as of Wednesday, but all Ws nonetheless. Then it was five more days off before Tuesday night's debacle at Sacramento, a 107-81 loss to the league-leading Kings. No wonder the Jazz are so happy to be back in Salt Lake. With 28 games remaining in their regular season, Utah — which at 31-25 is currently clinging, however precariously, to a Western Conference playoff position — can take solace in knowing 14 of those will be in their own backyard.

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Magic rally past reeling Raptors, 90-85

Feb 28, 2002 1:45 PM EST

Tracy McGrady scored 24 points and Toronto went scoreless in the last 4:54 as the Orlando Magic beat the Raptors 90-85 Wednesday night, Toronto's ninth consecutive loss.

Horace Grant added 18 points for the Magic, who have won five of their last six.

Vince Carter had 22 points in his second game back from the injured list. The Raptors went 0-7 without him.

Carter went to the foul line just twice, while McGrady made all 10 of his free throws. McGrady also had eight assists.

Carter's rainbow jumper gave Toronto a six-point lead with 4:54 remaining -- Toronto's last points of the night. The Raptors missed their last nine shots.

McGrady, guarded by Carter, followed with a turnaround jumper. McGrady then assisted on Darrell Armstrong's wide open 3-pointer, which narrowed Toronto's lead to one with 3:09 left.

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Jazz Feb 2002 Archive