SALT LAKE CITY -- Back home, where they have yet to lose in the playoffs, Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz built enough of a comfort zone to withstand the inevitable surge from Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

Malone broke out of his finals funk with 37 points, the first time in nine games he has broken the 30-point mark, and Greg Foster led a 28-point contribution from Utah's bench as the Jazz beat the Bulls 104-93 Friday night.

The victory cut Chicago's lead to 2-1 in the best-of-7 series and kept the Jazz from falling into an 0-3 hole that no NBA team has recovered from.

Utah, which hasn't lost at home since Feb. 23, went ahead for good midway through the first quarter, opened a 16-point halftime lead and built it to 24 at the midpoint of the third quarter.

The Bulls weren't finished, though, and used a 16-3 run to pull within 11 with 7:43 left. There was plenty of time for more from the Bulls, and Jordan and Scottie Pippen put a scare into the raucous Delta Center crowd that gave Utah such a big early boost.

Jordan hit a pair of 3-pointers and Pippen nailed three in a row from behind the arc, the second of which pulled Chicago to 90-83 with 2:52 left. Pippen tied an NBA Finals record with seven 3s.

But Jordan, strangely quiet through the first three quarters, missed his next three 3-pointers. Utah, which lost Game 1 with some crucial misses at the line down the stretch, closed the game by making 14 consecutive free throws.

The series resumes here Sunday evening.

Malone's 37 points were his most since scoring 42 in Game 4 of the second round against the Lakers.

"We ask our small guys to do a lot for us," Malone said. "Now's the time for our big guys to step up."

Foster, one of those big guys, finished with 17, matching his career-high.

"I don't want anybody thinking about Greg Foster," he said. "I just want to go out and have fun and do my job. Tonight, we came out and showed some spunk."

John Stockton had 17 points and 12 assists and scored Utah's final six points from the free throw line.

Pippen finished with 27 and Jordan 26 for the Bulls, who dug themselves too deep of a hole to climb out of.

The main reason was Malone, who had a look in his eye, a spring in his step and a confidence in his game that had been so obviously missing in the first two games of the series.

He scored 15 points in the first quarter alone, when the Jazz got a boost from the raucous Delta Center crowd that is such a big part of Utah's 9-0 home playoff record and 38-3 regular season home record.

Malone scored eight straight points for Utah to break the game's last tie midway through the first quarter, and Foster took over in the second quarter when the Jazz started to turn it into a blowout.

The backup center, who totaled only six points combined in the first two games, had 15 of his points by halftime, when Utah held a 61-45 lead. He even outscored both Jordan (14) and Pippen (12) in the first half.

It was more of the same for the Jazz early in the third quarter as the Bulls came out flat and couldn't stop anything.

A 14-6 Jazz run, ending with a steal by Malone and a feed ahead to a wide-open Bryon Russell for a highlight-reel reverse slam, made the score 77-53 and forced Chicago to call a timeout.

When the Bulls came back, they were ready to make a game of it.

Chicago scored the final seven points of the quarter and Jordan opened the fourth with a driving basket to make it 77-62, and a tip-in by Brian Williams, who finished with 16 points, cut the deficit to 11.

Then it was time for Jordan to take over. The only question was whether he could do enough.

He hit a 3-pointer, a jumper and another 3-pointer, then fed Pippen for a pair of 3s that made it 88-80. Malone scored on a drive to bump the lead back to 10, but that would be Utah's last basket of the night.

Another 3 by Pippen made it an eight-point game, and his fourth of the quarter with 1.2 left made it 98-91.

But the Jazz were then in the midst of their run of consecutive made free throws to end the game, and Chicago got no closer.

"We got very casual and didn't handle the ball well," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of the fourth quarter. "The turnovers were because of that. When you have a big lead, you tend to get conservative. You play not to lose, instead of doing the things that got you the lead."

Russell added 14 points for Utah, which outrebounded Chicago 47-35.

The Bulls got little from anyone other than Jordan, Pippen and Williams, Dennis Rodman had no points and three rebounds in 24 minutes and sat out most of the fourth quarter. Ron Harper scored only two points and was burned by Stockton several times on drives to the basket.

Notes: Pippen was whistled for a second-quarter technical by referee Hue Hollins after a blatant non-call on which Adam Keefe climbed over his back. --- Rodman debuted a new hairdo, a half-completed Rubik's Cube look. The left side of his head was magenta and the right side was a mix of green, yellow, orange, red and purple patches. --- Jazz rookie forward Shandon Anderson missed the game to be with his family in Atlanta following the death of his father Wednesday. His status for Game 4 is uncertain. Chris Morris played Anderson's second-quarter minutes and scored seven points while also containing Jordan defensively.

BOX SCORE:

CHICAGO (93)

Rodman 0-1 0-0 0, Pippen 7-13 6-9 27, Longley 2-5 0-0 4, Jordan 9-22 4-5 26, Harper 1-4 0-0 2, Williams 7-12 2-3 16, Kerr 3-6 0-0 7, Kukoc 3-8 2-2 8, Buechler 1-3 1-2 3, Caffey 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 33-75 15-21 93.

UTAH (104)

Russell 5-8 2-2 14, Malone 15-29 7-10 37, Ostertag 2-6 0-0 4, Hornacek 1-9 2-2 4, Stockton 5-10 7-7 17, Eisley 1-3 2-2 4, Morris 3-5 0-0 7, Foster 5-10 6-7 17, Carr 0-2 0-0 0, Keefe 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 37-83 26-30 104.

Chicago 22 23 15 33: 93 
Utah    31 30 16 27: 104

Back to "Drive for the Title"