Lakers Have No Shot

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz, coming off five full days of rest, played a Laker team that didn’t even have 48 hours to get ready for the West’s top seed.

The result was predictable: The team that had plenty of slumber beat the team that looked like it was sleepwalking.

Karl Malone had 23 points and 13 rebounds to lead Utah past the Lakers, 93-77, Sunday in the opener of their second-round series.

And Malone was the first to admit Utah’s victory came over a ragged Lakers’ team. The Lakers were coming off a come-from-behind 95-91 victory at Portland on Friday night that ended the first-round series.

“They were tired. Give them another day to rest and they are going to shoot the ball better,” said Malone, whose Jazz try for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series Tuesday night.

The Jazz outshot the Lakers 45.8% to 34.2%, but Malone was none too pleased with his nine-of-21 shooting from the field and five-of-10 effort from the foul line to go with two blocked shots and a pair of steals.

“I started the last series with a bad game also, but we’ll go back to work harder, to play better,” Malone said. “It was a nice win for us, but it’s going to be war on Tuesday.”

Shaquille O’Neal shot only six of 16 for 17 points--his lowest production of the playoffs, and forward Elden Campbell was four for 13 from the floor.

“I was a step slow today,” O’Neal said. “We’ll just have to make some adjustments when we come back [for Game 2]. We’re not going to make any excuses--they played well, they did what they’re supposed to,” O’Neal said.

Nick Van Exel had 23 points to lead the Lakers. The Lakers, however, had only nine field goals in the second half and 27 for the game.

“We just got outhustled,” Van Exel said. “It’s just one game. I think we’ll be fine.”

John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek added 10 points apiece for Utah, which hadn’t played since sweeping the Clippers last Monday. The Jazz won for the 15th straight time in the Delta Center, pushing their home record this season to 41-3.

“I’m glad we caught them when we did,” Stockton said. “Now we have to step up and get ‘em again.”

Utah outrebounded the Lakers, 51-40, helping make up for a dreadful 20-for-34 performance by the Jazz at the foul line.

A 9-2 spurt, capped by O’Neal’s hook, cut the Lakers’ 12-point halftime deficit to 54-49 with 7:44 left in the third quarter. But Utah weathered the rush, rebuilding its lead to 11 on Howard Eisley’s foul shots at the 1:35 mark.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NBA PLAYOFFS

LAKERS vs. JAZZ

Jazz leads series 1-0

* Game 1: Jazz, 93-77

* Tuesday: at Utah, 7:30 p.m.

* Thursday: at Forum, 7:30 p.m.

* Saturday: at Forum, 12:30 p.m.

* May 12: at Utah, 7:30 p.m.-x

* May 14: at Forum, TBA-x

* May 17: at Utah, TBA-x

* if necessary

ADDITIONAL COVERAGE

* ROCKETS READY

Houston will begin its series today against a Seattle SuperSonic squad coming off a tough first-rounder. C9

OTHER SERIES

* Atlanta 84, Detroit 79

Christian Laettner scored 23 points and Dikembe Mutombo made the key defensive plays as the Hawks eliminated the Pistons. C9

* Miami 91, Orlando 83

Thanks to two clutch baskets by Tim Hardaway, the Heat withstood one last comeback by the resilient Magic in closing out the series. C9