SALT LAKE CITY -- Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz weren't going to let last year's ghosts chase them out of the playoffs.
Malone tied a career playoff high with 38 points and grabbed 13 rebounds Thursday night and the Utah Jazz extracted revenge by clinching their first-round playoff series with a 101-93 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
Last year, the Jazz lost Game 5 of the first round at home to Phoenix to end their playoff hopes.
'We lost to a very good team,' Phoenix Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons said. 'Utah played a terrific game and Malone (Karl) was unstoppable in the paint.'
Utah advances to the semifinal round of the Western Conference for the first time in three years to face the winner of the Portland-Seattle series.
'I just want to say that Jeff (Malone), (John) Stockton (John), Mike (Brown), and Blue (Edwards) really came to play in the second half,' Karl Malone said. 'I think out bench won it for us in this series.'
The Jazz took control in the second half after shooting 30 percent from the field in the opening two quarters. Jeff Malone bounced back from an 0-for-9 first half field goal performance to bury seven shots in the second half, including a 4-for-4 performance in the final period to finish with 19 points.
'We came out a little flat in the first half,' Jeff Malone said. 'I told myself that in the second half I wanted to pick it up and make a better effort.'
John Stockton added 14 points and 13 assists for Utah. Jeff Hornacek led Phoenix with 30 points and Tom Chambers added 22 before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
'We are a running team and we really didn't run at all in this series, we played their game,' Hornacek said. 'Give Utah credit, they really shut us down and made us play their game.'
Phoenix held the Jazz to just 27 percent from the field in the first quarter to take a 25-19 after one period.
Utah's shooting blues continued in the second quarter, but Karl Malone collected 19 first half points and the Jazz only trailed 24-23 at the half.
The Jazz used and 8-0 run to build a 99-85 lead with 3:02 remaining. Phoenix moved within range trailing 99-89 with 1:14 left, but got no closer than 8 points down the stretch.
'All our guys played terrific, they had to to beat this team,' Utah Coach Jerry Sloan said. 'I don't know how many guys they had on Karl Malone but he was terrrific.'
