Jazz Top Knicks, 124-119

March 22, 1998 / 4:37 PM EST / AP

The Utah Jazz gained their 50th victory of the season Sunday, tying them with Seattle for the best record in the Western Conference, by outlasting the New York Knicks 124-119 in double overtime.

Karl Malone had 30 points and 14 rebounds, Adam Keefe scored a season-high 25 points, John Stockton had 22 points and 14 assists and Jeff Hornacek scored 16.

John Starks scored 26 and Allan Houston had 25 for the Knicks, who blew several chances to come away with a crucial victory in their quest to make the playoffs.

New York blew an early 17-point lead and a seven-point lead late in regulation. Houston missed what could have been a winning free throw with 1.5 seconds remaining in the fourth, and Starks missed a finger roll at the buzzer in the first overtime.

Hornacek had seven points and two key assists in the second overtime as Utah opened a seven-point lead and held on to win for the 13th time in 14 games and the 20th in 22.

The Jazz finished 4-1 on their second five-game road trip of the month. Earlier in March, they went 5-0 on an Eastern swing.

Utah, the best shooting team in the league, hit 57 percent of its shots.

New York had a chance to win at the end of the first overtime, but Starks came up short on a driving finger roll at the buzzer, leaving the score tied at 106-all.

In the second overtime, Hornacek fed Stockton for a layup and then found Malone ahead of the field for a fast-break bucket that put the Jazz up 110-106. After Starks missed two free throws, Hornacek blew by him for another layup to gave Utah a six-point lead.

The Knicks got no closer than three the rest of the way.

Starks scored 15 in the first quarter and Houston had 12 in the second as the Knicks were opening a 45-28 lead.

Utah came right back with a 16-4 run late in the quarter to pull to 55-51 at halftime.

The game was tied 73-73 entering the fourth, and New York opened an eight-point lead over the first five minutes with a 15-7 spurt that made it 88-80.

But the Jazz then held the Knicks scoreless for more than three minutes late in the period and came back from a five-point deficit in the final 1:03. Russell scored on a backdoor layup with 12.4 seconds left to put the Jazz up 98-97. The Knicks then isolated Houston, who was fouled on a drive to the basket with 1.5 seconds left.

Houston missed the first free throw before making the second, and a long 3-point attempt by Stockton missed at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

Notes: Both teams spend much of the afternoon screaming at the referees. After one alleged cheap shot by the Knicks, Utah coach Jerry Sloan told one official "I'd rather lose than have my guys have to put up with that." Late in the fourth quarter, referee Tommy Nunez gave Sloan an earful that drew cheers from Knicks fans sitting behind Utah's bench. ... Larry Johnson missed nine shots straight shots at one point and finished with only ine points in 40 minutes. ... Hornacek, second in the league in free throw accuracy, missed two of seven attempts. ... The Jazz improved to 3-0 in overtime games, the Knicks dropped to 1-3