It’s Same Old Song for Reeling Jazz

SALT LAKE CITY —  To Peja Stojakovic, the Sacramento Kings aren’t invincible. They’re just confident as the playoffs come into focus.

Chris Webber scored 26 points and Stojakovic added 25 as the Kings overcame a 21-point deficit to beat the Utah Jazz, 92-86, Thursday night, adding to Utah’s problems against the top Western Conference teams.

“This helps us a lot. It keeps us alive,” Stojakovic said after the Kings stayed within 2 1/2 games of the San Antonio Spurs for the best record in the Western Conference.

“We’re getting stronger for the playoffs,” he said. “We know we can still be beaten, but this means we’re maturing as a team.”

Whatever the case, they’re feeling better these days than the struggling Jazz, which tumbled from the third spot in the West into a fourth-place tie. The Lakers (50-26) moved up to third and the Dallas Mavericks (49-26) moved into a tie with Utah (49-26).

“Forget about the race in the Western Conference,” said Karl Malone, who led Utah with 21 points. “I’d just like to win. All you can do is keep playing.”

Utah’s sense of urgency was apparent when the Jazz rallied from a nine-point deficit midway through the fourth quarter, pulling within 87-86 on John Stockton’s layup with 48.3 seconds remaining.

But the Kings got three late free throws from Stojakovic and Doug Christie, and Bobby Jackson got free for a breakaway basket as the Kings pulled away to take the season series, 3-1.

“We really held the court,” Webber said. “We didn’t let the officiating get to us. Seems like every time we play here, we come up with some crazy circumstance. We’re just glad we played well and beat a good team at home.”

After Stojakovic made two free throws to give Sacramento an 89-86 lead with 33.8 seconds to go, Stockton drove at the other end and missed a layup. He bumped into Vlade Divac, who got the rebound, and Stockton wanted the foul.

Stockton even took time, as Christie stood at the free-throw line with 22.4 seconds left, to walk into the backcourt and show referee Ron Olesiak the scratch marks on his arm.

Olesiak looked at Stockton and shook his head, symbolically describing Utah’s plight as the season winds down. Asked afterward if the officiating contributed to Utah’s loss, Stockton stood silent and shook his head.

“Every game is a tough one,” he said when asked about the schedule for the Jazz, which plays five of its remaining seven games on the road. “You just have to play it out until the end. All the losses are hard to take.”

For years, the Delta Center was one of the NBA’s toughest arenas for visiting teams, but the Jazz is 1-9 at home this season against the top five teams in the Western Conference.