Jazz Streak By Magic

Greg Ostertag had a big hand in the Utah Jazz's fifth straight victory.

The Utah center tied the club record with six blocks in the fourth quarter as the Jazz beat Orlando 96-88 on Friday night.

"When I started blocking shots, those guys had to start worrying about where I was," said Ostertag, who matched Mark Eaton's team record for a quarter. The 7-foot-4 Eaton accomplished the feat four times, the last in 1989.

"My teammates are not looking for me to score a lot," Ostertag said. "They're looking for me to do what I did tonight block shots and rebound."

Karl Malone led Utah with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Bryon Russell added 15 points.

John Amaechi had 24 points and Ron Mercer added 19 for the Magic, who have lost four straight.

Down 14 points in the second quarter, Orlando drew within three at 84-81 on Chucky Atkins' 3-pointer with 3:58 to play.

After Ostertag scored for Utah, Atkins hit a jumper to make it 89-86, but that was as close as the Magic would get. Russell scored four points, and Ostertag made two free throws in the final three minutes to help the Jazz improve to 21-8 at home.

"I thought we really fought well," said Orlando Coach Doc River, whose team lost its fourth straight.

"We held them to 41-percent shooting, but we missed 12 free throws and gave up 16 offensive rebounds. If you want to say that's where we lost the game, that would be it."

Atkins finished with 15 points, and Ben Wallace had eight points and 13 rebouds for the Magic.

Malone, who was only 7-of-20 from the field, converted a three-point play to give the Jazz an 82-73 lead, but failed to score in the final 6:15.

After Atkins basket that made it 89-86 with 3:25 to play, the Magic failed to score a field goal, getting only two free throws by Darrell Armstrong the rest of the way. Ostertag blocked attempts by Atkins and Mercer in the final minute.

"He's a force in there. When he's active, guys can't get their shots off," said Utah's Jeff Hornacek, who scored nine points.

"It's kind of an old story, but when he plays well like that, we usually win."

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