Jazz Outlast Lakers In 2OT

John Stockton and Karl Malone showed they still have a little something left after all these years.

Stockton had 18 points, 15 assists and nine rebounds, and Karl Malone scored 31 as the Utah Jazz outlasted the Los Angeles Lakers 105-101 in double overtime Monday night.

"That's experience for you," Los Angeles' Glen Rice said. "A lot of times experience can beat you, regardless of how much talent you have. They're one of the most experienced teams in the league and they find ways to win."

"I don't really pay much attention to the statistics," Stockton said. "I am more happy about the contributions we got from everyone. We needed everybody to give it their all against these guys (the Lakers)."

Quincy Lewis scored six points in the second overtime and Stockton added four as the Jazz sent the Lakers to their fourth loss in the last six games.

"He wants to be on the court every minute," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said of Stockton, "and we want him to be out there as long as we can. He played a lot of minutes out there tonight but would you take John Stockton out of a game like this?"

Jeff Hornacek, the NBA's top free throw shooter who had missed the last three games with knee and back strains, made two foul shots with 53 seconds left to make it 9995 and added two more with 7.9 seconds to play to make it 101-96.

Kobe Bryant made a long 3-pointer to cut it to 103-101 but Lewis sank two more free throws and the Jazz escaped with their fifth win in six games.

Shaquille O'Neal lead all scorers with 36 points and played 55 minutes but scored just four points after regulation.

"We needed to get the ball off the perimeter. Of course I'm disappointed I didn't get the ball much in the overtimes," O'Neal said.

Bryant had 26 points on 9-of-24 shooting and Rice added 20 for the Lakers, who beat Utah in the first two meetings this season.

"The Jazz are a different basketball team now," Rice said. "They're playing much better and now we're getting scattered, especially on defense. You can't play like that against a veteran team like Utah."

The teams traded baskets through most of the first overtime before Stockton hit a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to put Utah up 91-89.

Bryant missed a shot but Rice rebounded and hit a turnaround jumper to tie it again. Malone missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to force another overtime.

The Jazz trailed 72-70 when Malone began delivering for the Jazz. Malone outscored the Lakers 9-4 with an array of jumpers and a free throw to give Utah a 79-76 lead.

Stockton made it 81-77 with a baseline jumper but in the last minute both Malone and Stockton committed turnovers while Bryant and Rice hit jump shots to tie the game. Rice had a chance to win it at the buzzer but missed a leaning 14-foot jumper.

O'Neal scored the Lakers first 10 points of the second half and made a layup to give Los Angeles a 61-60 lead with 2:28 left in the third.

O'Neal went to the bench and the Jazz held the Lakers scoreless for the rest of the quarter while hitting six free throws to take a 66-61 lead.

Greg Ostertag, guarding O'Neal most of the night, played a season-high 40 minutes and had 14 rebounds.

"(Ostertag) came in and stood it up a little bit," Stockton said. "He worked hard on Shaq, got some nice rebounds and was able to fire us up."

Bryant sparked the Lakers with a breakaway reverse dunk during a 9-2 run to open the fourth. Derek Fisher's baseline jumper knotted the game at 70 with 7:12 to play.

The Jazz took a 44-43 halftime lead behind Malone's 12 first-half points.

Notes