Knocked to the floor by Kenyon Martin late in the game, Malone scored 15 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter as the Utah Jazz posted a 104-90 victory over the frustrated Nets.
After New Jersey's 90-89 overtime victory at Utah on November 21, Scott got into a shouting match with future Hall of Famer and said, "Malone don't scare me. He has no heart."
Scott refused to talk about Malone after Saturday's game, but the bad blood may have contributed to an ugly incident with 1:37 remaining when Martin was ejected following a flagrant foul.
 Donyell Marshall scored all 10 of his points in the second quarter. Noren Trotman NBAE/Getty Images |
"I used to think Keynon was a good player," Utah guard Bryon Russell said. "I still do, but he may have taken one for the team."
Malone expects the NBA to take disciplinary action against Martin, who scored just seven points.
"We play a physical game, but some things don't have a place," Malone said. "I don't have anything to say about it. It will be interesting to see what happens. Nets president Rod Thorn used to be the police. He probably has a pipeline."
"Obviously, there's no place in the game for any type of violence or any type of maliciousness," Scott said. "We were getting the short end of the stick from the way the game was being called. Sooner or later, tempers are going to erupt."
"The Mailman" started slowly, totaling six points in the first half. But the Jazz outscored the Nets, 31-18, in the second quarter to open a 52-42 halftime lead and were not seriously threatened in the second half.
Malone scored 10 points in the third quarter before taking over in the final period.
The Nets closed to 63-58 on Jason Kidd's driving layup with 5:31 left in the third period, but John Stockton's 3-pointer and two free throws by Malone made it 68-58 with 4:01 left.
New Jersey again closed within five at 90-85 on Kerry Kittles' jumper with 4:50 to go in the game. Malone scored eight of Utah's next 10 points, including four straight free throws that gave the Jazz a 100-88 advantage with 1:22 remaining.
Stockton added 15 points for Utah, which concluded a 2-3 road trip.
Keith Van Horn scored 24 points and Kidd added 17 for the Nets, who have lost two in a row for just the third time this season.
Activated from the injured list Friday, Russell contributed 14 points off the bench. DeShawn Stevenson and Donyell Marshall added 12 and 10, respectively.
The Nets opened a 20-13 lead on Kittles' jumper with 3:26 left in the first period. But Utah went ahead for good, 28-26, on New Jersey native John Crotty's 3-pointer with 9:54 left before halftime.
Marshall scored eight points in the second period, including a layup that gave the Jazz a 50-37 lead with 1:48 left in the second period.