Karl Malone scored 23 points and John Stockton added 21 as Utah beat Seattle 101-87 on Monday, giving the Jazz a 2-0 edge in their best-of-five National Basketball Association playoff series.
Bryon Russell added 19 points and Malone pulled down eight rebounds for the Jazz, who surged to a 57-40 half-time lead and pulled ahead 86-59 entering the final period before clearing the bench in the final minutes.
In Monday's other NBA playoff game, host Charlotte rallied to beat Philadelphia 108-98 in over-time and equalized their Eastern Conference first-round series at one game each with game three Friday at Philadelphia.
The Super Sonics, led Monday by Gary Payton's 20 points, face elimination in game three Saturday in Seattle. The long delay in opening-round series play was dictated by television so no two games would be going on at the same time.
"I hate the long break," Seattle coach Paul Westphal said. "It's not the way playoffs have ever been run before and after you have a bad game, you don't want to listen to it for five days. You want to get back out there."
Charlotte pulled level with Philadelphia after Derrick Coleman took care of the offense and Eddie Jones supplied the defense to deliver the 76ers' first loss in six over-time games this season.
"I just got into a rhythm more than anything," Coleman said. "I just felt comfortable out there and my teammates got me the ball."
Coleman scored eight of his 29 points in over-time, downing his prior club by sinking his first four shots in the extra period.
"When you get into over-time and DC just won't miss, hits four or five shots in a row, what can you do?" asked Philadelphia star Allen Iverson.
Coleman made 10-of-15 shots overall and added seven assists and four blocks.
"Derrick was as good as anyone could possibly be," 76ers coach Larry Brown said. "We did not get to him quick enough on the double-team and he was able to make plays as a result."
"We really executed well and DC took over and brought us home," Hornets coach Paul Silas said. "He stepped up big and won the game. They say the cream rises to the top and that's just what happened with DC."
Jones, slowed by foul trouble in game one, played 50 minutes and kept Iverson, the NBA's second-best scorer, to only 13 points on 5-of-21 shooting.
"Eddie was great at getting out and denying," Iverson said. "He also kept pressure on me when I had the ball."
"You can't really shut the little guy down, but if I know I'm on the floor, I can contest a lot of shots," Jones said.
Jones also scored 19 points but missed a potential game-winning jumper at the end of regulation -- SALT LAKE CITY (AFP).
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