Jazz Doesn’t Go Down in History Yet

The Houston Rockets, famed for their playoff comebacks, got a lesson in survival from the visiting Utah Jazz Friday night.

Karl Malone scored 29 points and led a second-half charge as the Jazz defeated the Rockets, 93-71, to avoided becoming the second No. 1-seeded conference team in NBA history to lose to a No. 8.

Utah trailed, 42-36, at halftime, but outscored Houston, 57-29, over the final 24 minutes.

“I told them at the half, ‘You’re going to make history,’ ” Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan said. “The first half they were blowing us away. I don’t know what we were doing.”

The victory evened the best-of-five series at 2-2, with the deciding Game 5 set for Sunday in Salt Lake City. The winner will play the San Antonio Spurs in the second round.

The No. 8 Denver Nuggets beat top-seeded Seattle in 1994, but Utah avoided that fate by outscoring Houston 28-10 in the fourth quarter.

Hakeem Olajuwon led Houston with 27 points and 15 rebounds, and Clyde Drexler had 11 points.

“We’re still having trouble with Hakeem,” Sloan said. “He gets down low and it’s tough to guard him there. It’s always been a mismatch for us to guard Hakeem.”

The Jazz bench continued to outperform the Rocket reserves as Bryon Russell and Shandon Anderson each had 15 points.

The Rockets played most of the game without Charles Barkley, who injured his right arm in the second quarter and left the game after trying to play in the third.

Russell and teammate Jeff Hornacek butted heads with 42 seconds left in the third period. Both received stitches and returned.

The Jazz shot poorly to open the game and let the Rockets take control early. But Malone’s 10 third-quarter points got the Jazz going.

Utah got its first lead since the opening minutes on two free throws by Malone for a 57-56 lead with 3:07 left in the third quarter.

Charlotte 91, Atlanta 82--Anthony Mason scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half at Atlanta and the Hornets, bouncing back from matching the NBA’s lowest-scoring playoff game, eliminated the Hawks in the first round.

“Mase was awesome,” said Charlotte Coach Dave Cowens, whose team advanced to the second round for the second time in team history after winning the best-of-five series 3-1.

Mason was a dominating force, especially in the fourth quarter, when he scored 13 points with powerful, unorthodox moves. With the score tied at 74, the 6-foot-8 forward scored on three consecutive trips down the floor, not bothered by the presence of Atlanta center Dikembe Mutombo.

“Me and him were both talking, but he sure came up big in the fourth quarter,” said Steve Smith, who led the Hawks with 27 points but only six in the final quarter. “You’ve got to give him the credit. He took the game on his shoulders.”

It was reminiscent of Mason’s performance in Game 2, when he scored 25 points in a 92-85 victory.

He slipped past Mutombo to score on a layup, moved outside to hit a 13-foot baseline jumper, then spun and hit another six-foot basket that gave the Hornets an 80-74 lead with 4:39 remaining.

Mason, who had sparked a minor controversy late in the regular season when he said the Hawks had “no heart,” pumped his fist on the way back down the court. He went on to tie his season high for points, in addition to grabbing 14 rebounds.

Atlanta didn’t get the margin below six points the rest of the way.

“What Mason did in the fourth quarter was take over the game,” said Glen Rice, who added 26 points for the Hornets despite a sore thumb on his shooting hand. “If anybody can do that, Mason can.”

It didn’t hurt that Atlanta Coach Lenny Wilkens inexplicably kept Alan Henderson on the bench for all but the final three minutes of the fourth quarter. His replacement, Christian Laettner, missed all four of his shots in the final period and was of no help trying to guard Mason.

“I was real surprised,” Mason said. “I asked Christian Laettner why Henderson was on the bench. I was shocked he wasn’t in the game down the stretch.”

So was Henderson, who replaced Laettner in the starting lineup for the final 33 games of the season and was named the NBA’s most improved player on Thursday.

“Maybe I could have slowed him [Mason] down, maybe not. But I would have liked to have been in there,” Henderson said. “I want to play the first quarter and I want to play the fourth quarter. That’s the kind of player I am. I want to be in there.”

Wilkens defended his decision.

“He’s just one guy,” Wilkens said of Henderson. “We worked Christian Laettner in because he’s . . . a quality player. That’s just a decision.”

The Hornets play the Chicago Bulls in the second round.

“We’re ready for Chicago,” Rice said. “We realize if we go out and play the way we’re capable of playing, and be very competitive, our chances are real good.”

Atlanta, which started the season with 11 consecutive victories, became only the third team to lose a playoff series to an opponent it swept during the regular season. Also, the Hawks were knocked out in the opening round for the first time since 1995.