SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Jazz still don't know if they can beat Phoenix this year with a healthy Kevin Johnson in the Suns lineup.
With Johnson on the bench most of the night suffering from the flu, Karl Malone scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half Friday night, leading the Utah Jazz to a 113-96 victory over the Suns in Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series.
Game 2 in the best-of-five series is scheduled for Sunday night in Salt Lake City.
'They had Kevin Johnson out of the game and they still hung right in there and that shows what kind of team they are. I'm sure Johnson will be ready to play on Sunday,' Utah Coach Jerry Sloan said.
Suns Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said Johnson 'probably should have stayed in the hotel, but he wanted to try and play and that's what he tried to do and he couldn't.'
Malone, held to just one basket in both the first and second periods on 2-for-10 shooting, scored 10 points in the third quarter and 7 in the fourth and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
John Stockton added 17 assists and Stockton, Thurl Bailey and Bobby Hansen each had 16 points for the Jazz. Blue Edwards added 11 points and Darrell Griffith 10.
Reserve Dan Majerle led Phoenix with 23 points. Jeff Hornacek added 20 points, Tom Chambers 19 and Eddie Johnson 11.
'We were not in sync all night,' Majerle said. 'And we didn't handle their trap very well.'
Eric Leckner's three-point basket with no time left at the end of the first quarter broke a 24-24 tie and started the Jazz on a 15-3 run. Utah led 58-47 at halftime despite getting only 4 points from Malone before intermission.
Johnson averaged 33.3 points against the Jazz in three regular-season games, all won by Phoenix. In the only regular-season game he missed, because of a leg injury, the Jazz won 102-95.
'This was the playoffs, so I just wanted to try,' said Johnson, who was scoreless in the first half and did not play in the second. 'I was hoping to maybe give us a shot in the arm, but I just had no energy at all and couldn't really exert myself.'
Fitzsimmons said he was 'not going to use Kevin Johnson as an excuse. We didn't play real smart basketball and Utah was the aggessor and they won the game. They forced us into mistakes.'
The Suns used a 9-0 run to pull within 63-58 midway through the third period. But Utah responded with its own 9-0 spurt, outscoring Phoenix 20-9 at the end of the third quarter to lead 83-67.
The Jazz took their biggest lead at 89-68 with 10:22 left. After the Suns closed within 103-96 with 2:07 remaining, Utah scored the game'sfinal 10 points to protect its home-court advantage.
'We have to play with the same intensity we had tonight the rest of the way,' Malone said. We are not going to accept anything else.'
The Jazz outshot the Suns from the floor, 55 percent to 43 percent, and blocked eight Phoenix shots.
