Webber's Play Upsets Jazz

Karl Malone has been in trouble more times than he can count for his zealously physical play. Now he's wondering why Chris Webber isn't in the same fix.

"There's a double standard, without a doubt," Malone said.

Just nine seconds into Sacramento's 101-90 win over the Jazz on Monday night, Webber lowered his shoulder and slammed John Stockton to the floor, knocking the wind out of the much smaller guard. Webber was assessed a flagrant foul but nothing else, and he flattened Stockton again on a pick late in the first half.

As Utah practiced Tuesday morning before traveling to Sacramento for Game 3, the Jazz -- and Malone in particular -- were still smarting from Webber's big hits. After the game, Webber admitted he had targeted Stockton for punishment while trying to set a physical tone.

"What if Karl Malone did that and said, `I tried to do that?'" Malone said. "What do you think the league would do?"

Malone has been suspended twice in the last two seasons for his aggressive play. Most recently, a hard elbow to Joe Kleine's face split the Phoenix center's lip April 26 and required Kleine to get 30 stitches and plastic surgery. Malone wasn't fined or suspended for the hit.

Unlike Webber or Charles Barkley, who admitted trying to hurt Stockton during the Rockets' first-round playoff loss to the Jazz last year, Malone said he has never set out to deliberately injure another team's player. His kind of contact is simply the result of physical, legal play.

"If you're going to do that, hit a big guy," Malone said. "That's when you show you're a man. Don't hit a little guy."

Rod Thorn, the NBA's senior vice president of operations, was traveling Tuesday and could not be contacted. It was not known if Thorn was reviewing the play, NBA spokesman Chris Brienza said.

Immediately after the game, Utah coach Jerry Sloan, a hard-nosed guard during 10 seasons with the Chicago Bulls, expressed a grudging admiration for Webber's move. But Sloan also had a different take on the incident after viewing tapes of the game Monday night.

"If that's something you have to do to play basketball, I think that's sad," Sloan said. "If he'd done that to Karl Malone, I'd have tremendous respect for the guy ... but you don't take on a guy like that when he's so much smaller than you. That's the kind of stuff the league was going through with Dennis Rodman."

Stockton was uncharacteristically slow to get up after both hits. The 15-year veteran is well-known for his hard picks, and has endured accusations of dirty play as well.

"It's not that I'm no used to getting knocked around," Stockton said. "This game isn't about whether you out-cheap-shot the other team, but if they want to play it that way, then that's their business. I'm not happy."

Karl Malone and the Jazz aren't too thrilled about the Kings' physical play. (AP)

Atlanta's Dikembe Mutombo also has angered the Detroit Pistons with his liberal use of his elbows during their first-round playoff series. Mutombo and Malone have been among the players most often accused of dirty play in the last decade.

Malone stopped short of calling for retaliation against Webber but left little doubt the Jazz won't back down.

"I'm not going to say what I'm going to do," Malone said after a long pause. "I'm going to go play the game, and whatever happens, happens. ... You can't allow someone to do that to our players."

Similar words were said after Barkley clotheslined Stockton last season and the Jazz fell behind 2-1. Instead of retaliating, the Jazz got back at Houston by winning the final two games and advancing to the NBA Finals.

"You're not going to do any good responding to something like that," Sloan said. "I'm not looking for anybody to do anything crazy."

The Kings seemed to respond to Webber's tone-setting hit. After a 30-point blowout loss that opened the series, Sacramento led through most of Game 2 and held off the Jazz down the stretch with back-to-back hook shots from Webber.

Sloan blamed his own team's poor shooting and defense -- not Webber's hit -- for Utah's loss.

"I really think they would have played well without him doing that."

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