Malone Reaches 34,000 Points

Karl Malone's teammates are already focusing on the Mailman's next scoring milestone. <br><br>Malone scored 18 points, putting him squarely at 34,000 points in his 17-year career, as the Utah Jazz

Thursday, January 31st 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Karl Malone's teammates are already focusing on the Mailman's next scoring milestone.

Malone scored 18 points, putting him squarely at 34,000 points in his 17-year career, as the Utah Jazz beat the Chicago Bulls 90-78 Wednesday night.

``It's crazy. He's a very great player, and I hope he gets 40,000,'' Andrei Kirilenko said.

Malone struggled to make it to 34,000 against the Bulls, shooting 5-for-14 and reaching the mark on a free throw with 1:27 to play.

``Milestones, I kind of like to get them over with so you can think about playing the game of basketball,'' Malone said. ``But that's a lot of points.''

Malone, 38, ranks second on the NBA's career scoring list, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387). At his current scoring average of 23.6, the Mailman might reach Abdul-Jabbar near the end of the 2003-04 season.

``I don't know what else I'd be doing right now,'' Malone said. ``You can only hunt so much, fish so much, drop the kids off so much at school. So I choose to work, and it pays pretty decent, too.''

In other NBA games, it was the Lakers 111, Orlando 93; Philadelphia 96, Minnesota 91; Indiana 83, Memphis 82; and Utah 90, Chicago 78.

John Stockton had 16 points and 10 assists, Kirilenko scored 15 points and Bryon Russell added 14 as Utah beat Chicago for the ninth straight time in the regular season.

Eddie Robinson led the Bulls with 18 points. A.J. Guyton added 14, but the Bulls lost for the fifth time in six games and dropped to 1-21 on the road this season.

The teams combined for 30 steals, with Utah posting a season-high 16. But it was a sloppy night, with the Bulls committing 22 turnovers and the Jazz 20.

``In some places, we were trying to get our hands out and be more active, but that's one of the things that's sometimes a little misleading,'' Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.

Lakers 111, Magic 93

Shaquille O'Neal had 30 points and 14 rebounds, and Kobe Bryant had 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as Los Angeles won at Orlando.

The Lakers outscored Orlando 18-2 to open the final period, as the Magic missed their first nine shots.

Pat Garrity and Tracy McGrady each scored 22 points to lead the Magic, who have lost seven straight to the Lakers.

76ers 96, Timberwolves 91

Allen Iverson scored 38 points and Derrick Coleman added 18 points and nine rebounds, leading Philadelphia over visiting Minnesota.

Dikembe Mutombo's putback of a miss by Eric Snow broke an 88-88 tie with 56.4 seconds left, and Iverson hit a long jumper to make it 92-88 with 18.7 remaining. Iverson then iced it with a pair of free throws.

Wally Szczerbiak had 31 points for Minnesota, which has lost four of five after winning 11 of 12.

Pacers 83, Grizzlies 82

Reggie Miller hit two 3-pointers in the final minute _ his only field goals of the game _ and host Indiana used a game-ending 17-3 run to beat Memphis.

Jalen Rose scored 25 points and Jermaine O'Neal had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers, who trailed by 13 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the game.

Shane Battier had 27 points for Memphis.

Pistons 88, Hawks 71

Jerry Stackhouse had 32 points and Ben Wallace added 10 points and a season-high 19 rebounds to help host Detroit beat slumping Atlanta.

Detroit won its fourth in a row and the 2,000th game in franchise history, becoming the sixth team to reach that milestone. The Hawks have lost five straight and 11 of 12.

Jason Terry led Atlanta with 19 points, while Hawks All-Star Shareef Abdur-Rahim had just 10 on 4-of-14 shooting.