Three Strikes For L.A. As Jazz Win

May 22, 1998 / 10:57 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Shaquille O'Neal might be the loneliest guy in Los Angeles. His teammates are nowhere to be found.

The Los Angeles Lakers have disintegrated into a one-man show on the brink of an embarrassing sweep from the Western Conference finals at the hands of the Utah Jazz.

Cool, efficient Utah taught the Lakers another lesson in teamwork and pressure basketball Friday night in a 109-98 victory that put the Jazz up 3-0 in the best-of-7 series.

"You'd like to think you're comfortable, but there's no comfort level yet," Utah coach Jerry Sloan insisted. "I know it's corny, but it's the first team to win four games. Even though we're in pretty good shape, this team (the Lakers) has beaten Seattle four straight. This team has the ability to do that."

Not the way the Lakers have been playing lately.

O'Neal powered his way to 39 points and 15 rebounds, but every other Laker was missing-in-action most of the game.

"We didn't play with any emotion, any fire," O'Neal said. "We didn't play with any heart."

Utah, meanwhile, showed it is far more than just John Stockton and Karl Malone as it moved within one victory of a return trip to the finals.

The Jazz can complete their first sweep of a seven-game series in franchise history with a victory Sunday. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.

"It's not over, but it's obviously a great position to be in," Stockton said. "I mean, we'll take this right now, but our job's far from done."

Shandon Anderson, the last in a series of heroes off the bench for the Jazz, scored nine points in a three-minute span of the fourth quarter. He finished with 13 points, 11 in the fourth quarter. Another reserve, Chris Morris, scored 15 for Utah.

"Their bench knocked us out," Lakers coach Del Harris said.

With all the talk of the depth and talent of the Lakers, the Utah reserves outscored their Los Angeles counterparts 46-22.

"They're obviously an underrated part of our team, but they come to play every night and they make us a very good team at times," Stockton said. "They've been terrific this whole series, and that's what we need everybody participating in a big way."

Bryon Russell, who didn't miss a field goal in six attempts, hit a 3-pointer with 1:37 left to put the Jazz up 99-92, and the disbelieving Lakers fans streamed toward the exits.

Karl Malone, who was 9-of-22 from the field, scored 22 of his 26 points in the second half and grabbed 10 rebounds. Russell added 17 points.

While O'Neal did everything he could to get the Lakers back in the series, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and the other Los Angeles shooters were absent most of the night. Jones was 1-for-10 in the first half and 6-for-19 fothe game. Van Exel was 2-for-13.

Still, the Lakers were down only 86-85 on O'Neal's stuff of his own rebound with 6:21 to play. That's when Sloan made a decision that left him looking like a genius.

Usually he benches Anderson down the stretch in favor of Jeff Hornacek. But this time, he left Anderson in.

Anderson hit a 16-footer, Russell scored on a drive and Anderson converted a three-point play in an 8-2 run that put the Jazz up 94-87 with 4:35 remaining.

A free throw by O'Neal and O'Neal's rebound basket narrowed the lead to 96-92, then Russell buried the Lakers for good with his 3-pointer.

"That team is good, and usually Game 3 is the one you can sneak up on a team," Van Exel said. "They were prepared for this one. We didn't have any answers."

The Lakers talked all week about stepping up the defense, but once the game began, they still could find no solution to Utah's perpetual pick-and-roll offense. Time after time, the Jazz used their trademark play to get an open shot.

The Lakers tried to counter the Jazz's attack with a few pick-and-rolls of their own, but they couldn't run it with the precision that is Utah's forte, and they rarely got an open shot.

When the Lakers did get a fast break, they often fouled it up.

"We were never able to consistently score," Harris said. "We were never able to execute."

Utah led by as many as 10 points in the first half, and was up 49-43 at halftime, even though Malone had just four points and Stockton two.

Russell had 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting and Morris came off the bench to score seven in the second quarter. Stockton's lone basket of the first half, a running one-hander as the shot clock expired, gave Utah its biggest lead of the game, 45-35, with 4:20 left in the second quarter.

After Malone's inside finger-roll gave the Jazz a 58-49 lead with 8:46 left in the third quarter, the Lakers finally mounted a serious rally. O'Neal scored four points, including a thunderous dunk over Greg Ostertag, and Jones made a rare 3-pointer during a 13-3 run that put the Lakers ahead 62-61 on Van Exel's two free throws.

Morris' three-point play with 1:45 to play in the third quarter capped a 7-0 run that put Utah ahead again, this time for good, 70-64.

The Lakers sliced the lead to 72-71 entering the fourth quarter, but the Jazz scored the first two baskets of the period. No matter what O'Neal did from there, Utah wouldn't crack.

Now the Jazz are one victory from a return trip to the NBA Finals. No matter who Utah plays, the Jazz will have the homecourt advantage.

Notes: The Lakers were 10-for-19 from the foul line in the first half; Utah was 8-for-8. For the game, the Lakers were 23-for-38; Utah 24-for-29. ... In contrast to the wildly enthusiastic Utah crowd, the Lakers' throng was its usual laid-back self most of the game. ... Returning to the Forum didn't help the Lakersshooting much. They shot .375 from the field in the first half (15-for-40), exactly the same percentage they shot in the first two games, and were .412 for the game. ... The Jazz shot better than 50 percent (52 percent) for the third consecutive game against Los Angeles. ... The Lakers haven't been swept in a playoff series since the 1989 NBA Finals against Detroit. ... Utah won a Game 3 for the first time in this year's playoffs.

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