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Rhythmic Jazz Utah's beat goes on with hard-fought win over Suns
Posted: Saturday March 11, 2000 01:41 AM
PHOENIX (AP) -- Howard Eisley turned a mental error into a game-winning shot. The reserve guard swished a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining as the Utah Jazz beat the Phoenix Suns 99-96 Friday night for their seventh straight victory. Eisley got the ball with six seconds to play after Karl Malone rebounded a missed drive by Phoenix's Penny Hardaway. Utah coach Jerry Sloan was yelling for a timeout, but Eisley raced to the 3-point arc and calmly made his shot over the outstreached arms of Suns forward Cliff Robinson. "I didn't see coach calling a timeout. It was too late," Eisley said. "I had a good look at the basket, and I saw Cliff back up in the paint, so I let it go. It felt good leaving my hand." "You usually expect to call timeout and set up a last play in that situation," said Malone, who finished with 29 points. "Howard had the nerve to take the shot and make it." "That was probably as good a shot as we would have gotten after a timeout," Sloan said. "You have to have some luck sometimes."
Eisley had all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter for the Jazz, who have won 12 of 14 since the All-Star break. Bryon Russell had 22 points and John Stockton 17 plus 12 assists. Penny Hardaway scored 28 points for Phoenix, which had its five-game winning streak snapped and lost at home for the first time in 12 games. The Suns also lost Tom Gugliotta, who hurt his left knee in a collision with teammate Randy Livingston under the Utah basket with 3:09 to play. Gugliotta was helped to the locker room, and the Suns said he would undergo an MRI exam Saturday and not accompany the team for that night's game at Dallas. "There is very, very strong suspicion of ligament damage," Suns team doctor Richard Emerson said. "The anterior cruciate is the one we are focusing in on at this point." "The pain is intense, but I didn't feel anything pop," Gugliotta said. "I'm going to stay positive. I'm not going to speculate. Hopefully it's not torn and won't require any surgery."' Phoenix, down 28-21 after the first quarter and 44-40 at halftime, took its first lead of the game at 63-62 on Hardaway's free throws with 1:45 left in the third quarter. Hardaway hit a jumper and two more foul shots in the final 47 seconds to put the Suns up 67-66 entering the final period.
Livingston came off the Suns bench to score all nine of his points in the last 10 minutes, making a 3-pointer with 7:25 left and feeding Jason Kidd for a driving lay-in 23 seconds later for an 80-75 Phoenix lead. But Malone's three-point play and Eisley's layup tied the score at 80 with 6:20 to play. There were five more ties until Luc Longley hit a 15-foot jumper with 43 seconds remaining to put Phoenix ahead 96-94. Eisley's driving layup tied the score again with 26 seconds showing. Utah set up its winning basket when Malone rebounded Hardaway's missed drive with six seconds left and flipped the ball to Eisley, who raced to the 3-point arc and calmly sank a jumper over Cliff Robinson. Kidd's desperation jumper at the buzzer bounced high off the back of the rim as the Suns lost at home for the first time since Jan. 14.
Notes: With the win, the Jazz assured themselves of their 17th consecutive winning season. Only the Boston Celtics have a longer streak (19 from the 1950-51 through 1968-69 seasons). ... The Suns have dominated the all-time series with the Jazz by a 64-48 margin, including 43-13 in Phoenix, but Utah has won 14 of 19 meetings since March 1995. ... Jazz are an NBA-best 21-1 when they score 100 or more points this season. ... Phoenix is on pace to win 34 home games this season, the most since the 1993-94 team was 36-5 at America West Arena.
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