Lakers at Jazz - 3/7/99 - Rodman/Malone - (Highlights)

March 7, 1999 - The NBA on NBC made it's way to Salt Lake City for a primetime Sunday showdown between the 13-3 Utah Jazz and the 13-5 Los Angeles Lakers. Aside from both teams' status as co-favorites to win the Western Conference, the main attraction was the matchup between PF Karl Malone and recently signed Laker Dennis Rodman.

After struggling to a 7-6 start, the Lakers fired Del Harris - replacing him with assistant Kurt Rambis - then finally pulled the trigger on the much-rumored Dennis Rodman signing. Since the addition of Rodman the Lakers had won 5-straight and looked to avenge an earlier loss to playoff nemesis Utah at the Forum.

Similar to the previous matchup on February 7th, the Lakers jumped out to a 15-point 2nd-quarter lead, but the Jazz closed the first half on a huge run to cut the lead to 1. Despite engaging Malone in his typical sideshow battles (9:41-mark), Rodman was no match for the Mailman as Karl torched him for 34 points and 9 rebounds while Rodman recorded 5 fouls, went scoreless and could only manage 5 rebounds in 25 minutes. Unfortunately for Utah, the rest of the Jazz had no answer for a balanced Laker attack which featured 24 points from Kobe Bryant, 23 from Shaquille O'Neal, 20 from Derek Fisher and a strong 16-point effort from Elden Campbell. The Lakers would take a 9-point lead into the 4th quarter and were able to stem a late Utah run in the 4th-qtr to give the Jazz their first loss at the Delta Center of the season.

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