Dallas led, 97-89, with 4:53 to go on a dunk by Eduardo Najera, but Malone scored on a jumper to begin the run. After Juwan Howard made it 98-94 on a free throw with 3:32 to go, Utah held Dallas scoreless.
"Our defense let us down a little," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "The main thing is that when we had the lead, even though they scored, we didn't. We needed the scores to maintain that lead."
 Karl Malone had a double-double -- 30 points and 12 rebounds -- against the Mavs. Kent Horner NBAE/Getty Images |
"We just looked at each other and Karl and (Jazz coach) Jerry (Sloan) both said, 'We're going to win this game,' and we went out there and we knew what we had to do," Marshall said. "We knew we had to come through and pull this thing together."
Malone finished with 30 points and 12 rebounds and John Stockton added 21 points and 12 assists. Marshall contributed 17 points and seven boards and rookie Andrei Kirilenko had 16 points and six steals.
"I think it's a very important game for the Jazz because Dallas (wiped) us out of the playoffs last year," Kirilenko said. "I think it's a very important game because we got revenge."
The Mavericks won the last three games of their first-round playoff series with the Jazz last year, including the final game at the Delta Center.
"This was a very tough and physical game," said Najera, whose 12 points were a career high. "We knew it would be after last year when we knocked them out. This is always a tough game with the Jazz."
Dallas was paced by Dirk Nowitzki's 27 points and 10 rebounds and Steve Nash's 25 points and eight assists. Najera and Howard each added 12 points, but All-Star Michael Finley tallied only six on 2-of-11 shooting.
"You need to make your shots the full 48 minutes of a game or you're not going to win many games in this league," Nowitzki said. "We just didn't make any shots the last four or five minutes of this game."
The Jazz shot just 44 percent (34-of-78) while the Mavericks made 47 percent (35-of-75) of their shots. Utah was 35-of-42 from the line to Dallas' 21-of-24.
The Mavericks went on a 21-8 run over eight minutes heading into the final 60 seconds of the third quarter to take a 78-76 lead. But Scott Padgett hit a 3-pointer and John Crotty made a pair of free throws to give the Jazz an 81-78 lead entering the fourth.
Utah won its fourth game in a row. It had not won consecutive games this season before the current streak.
"All the guys in this locker room believed in what we wanted to do, and guys are starting to put it together now, the whole game," Malone said. "We just never lost faith in what we were trying to do."
"I think everybody in here is excited about the win over a good team, but we still have a long ways to go," added Stockton, who recorded his 800th career 3-pointer. "Hopefully, we can kind of keep improving like we are right now."
Dallas lost its third straight and had its winning streak in Utah snapped at three games.
The Mavs scored the first eight points of the game before Utah took the lead, 13-12, on a pair of free throws by Marshall with with 4:37 left in the opening quarter.
Karl Malone broke Wilt Chamberlain's NBA record for free-throw attempts with his 11,860th with 2:27 left in the quarter, which ended in a 25-25 tie.
Down, 40-36, midway through the second, Utah went on a 25-11 run before Nash hit two free throws with 33 seconds left and Najera scored on a dunk with eight seconds to go in the half.
Malone had 18 at the break, Kirilenko had 14 and Stockton 12 for Utah while Nash tallied 19 and Nowitzki 15.