Jazz Walk All Over Mavericks

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 27, 1999 / 3:50 AM EST / CBS Sportsline

One of the darker sides of the NBA's shortened season was exposed at the Delta Center on Friday night. The Dallas Mavericks didn't even try.

Bryon Russell scored 17 points and Karl Malone added 13 points and 10 rebounds as the Utah Jazz trounced Dallas 80-65. But the real story was the Mavericks' game plan -- or their complete lack thereof.

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The Mavericks, who were playing the fourth of five games in six nights, simply didn't try to beat the league-leading Jazz. After Dallas fell behind by 18 points at halftime, starters Michael Finley, A.C. Green, Steve Nash and Shawn Bradley didn't play in the second half.

Afterward, Mavericks coach Don Nelson was unabashed about his team's tank job. With a win over Denver on Thursday and what he considers a winnable game at home against Sacramento on Saturday, he saw no reason to challenge the formidable Jazz.

"This was a game we used to get our reserves in," Nelson said. "I used it to get our starters rested for tomorrow, plain and simple. I was hoping to stay competitive in the game, but that didn't happen, so we did the next-best thing and played the game out."

Dallas shot 29.4 percent and didn't reach 55 points -- the NBA regular-season record for fewest points in a game -- until five minutes wer left. The Mavericks bested their franchise-low of 62 points on Hubert Davis' jumper with 48 seconds left.

The Jazz improved to an NBA-best 10-2 with their 18th straight home win, while the Mavericks, who had won three of their last four, lost for the eighth time in 10 road games this year.

"People don't want to see games like this," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "I've been in this league since 1965, and I've always thought it was important to do the job."

The Jazz are undefeated in six home games this season and have beaten Dallas in their last eight meetings. The Mavericks are winless in 18 games at the Delta Center and haven't won in Utah since February 1989, a span of 23 games.

Robert Pack scored 18 points, and at times seemed to be the only Maverick who was trying. Dallas was outrebounded 53-41 and was never closer than 16 points after the early moments of the second quarter.

"I didn't want to burn up our starters and have nothing left for tomorrow," Nelson said. "I was hoping that my reserves could play and keep it close, and then (I could) insert my starters at the end of the game. "

"When that didn't happen, I made the decision that I was going to let the reserves play it out."

Actually, Dallas was never that far out of the game. Utah shot 37 percent from the floor and made 20 turnovers in one of its worst efforts of the year, but it was more than enough to beat the pseudo-Mavericks.

"I don't think Dallas came to play at all," Russell said. "They didn't have any intention of trying to beat us, and that's too bad."

Dallas played its first game without second-leading scorer Cedric Ceballos, who fractured his right wrist Thursday in the Mavericks' win over Denver. Ceballos was placed on the injured list Friday and could be out for eight weeks.

Nelson used all 12 players on his roster by early in the second quarter in what appeared to be an attempt to stay with the energetic Jazz. But Utah made a 21-5 run in the second to take a 48-26 lead with 2:50 left in the half.

After trailing 52-34 at halftime, the Mavericks went scoreless in the first 4:28 of the third quarter and missed five straight foul shots. Malone, who scored in double figures for the 560th straight game, didn't play after the early minutes of the third.

The Mavericks haven't had to play three games in three nights since the 1983-84 season.

Jeff Hornacek had a sore left knee and didn't dress for the game. In his place, Shandon Anderson had 10 points and five rebounds.

Notes

The game was the second Hornacek has missed this year. e stayed home from Utah's Feb. 16 loss at Seattle after the death of a close family friend. He missed just three games in the previous four seasons and hasn't missed more than three games in one season since 1989-90.
Nuggets forward Loren Meyer was suspended one game and fined $5,000 Friday for the flagrant foul that broke Ceballos' wrist.