INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 12 (Ticker) -- The Utah Jazz benefited from a six-day All-Star break to earn their first victory on a franchise-record nine-game road trip.

Karl Malone scored 34 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as the Jazz opened the second half of the season with a 98-82 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

Malone did not play in Sunday's All-Star Game and there was some speculation that he would not play Tuesday because his mother is suffering with an undisclosed illness. But the "Mailman" has missed just five games in his 17-year career.

"It's still a drain on me, mentally and physically, because of caring about my family," Malone said. "Contrary to what people might believe, my family is most important to me. It's all about priorities in your life."

NBA TV highlights from Jazz-Pacers: 56k | 300k Andrei Kirilenko had some huge plays early, including two big dunks, to help set the tone. Ron Hoskins NBAE/Getty Images

Forced out of Salt Lake City due to the Winter Olympics, Utah opened the trek with losses to Houston and Memphis. The Jazz were embarrassed in an 86-79 defeat to the Grizzlies, trailing by as many as 27 points in the fourth quarter before a late run made the final respectable.

But Utah was able to spend the break at home and looked like a different team against the Pacers. The Jazz led, 48-36, at the half and built their lead to 62-44 midway through the third quarter.

The Jazz played without reserve center Greg Ostertag, who received a team-imposed one game suspension for bumping coach Jerry Sloan during a sidelined altercation at Memphis.

"We got off to a better start than usual," Sloan said. "Tonight we didn't give up as many points. We started off with energy and it continued."

Utah also visits Philadelphia, Toronto, New York, Cleveland, Denver and Sacramento before finally returning home on February 28 to face the Grizzlies.

Utah missed 13 straight shots after opening its 18-point lead, allowing the Pacers to close within 67-60 on Austin Croshere's 3-pointer with 38 seconds left in the third period.

But Rusty LaRue, who signed his second 10-day contract before the game, hit a jumper and Scott Padgett drilled a 3-pointer to give Utah a 72-60 lead entering the final quarter. Padgett matched a career high with 17 points off the bench.

"When you're on the road, nothing is guaranteed," Padgett said. "You have to take the wins with the losses and we'll take the win tonight. Our goal, even on this long road trip, is to win every game."

Indiana, which ended the first half with a 141-140 double overtime loss to Dallas, comitted 22 turnovers and suffered its third straight defeat. The Pacers (25-26) fell under .500 for the first time since they were 8-9 on November 27.

After the game, Indiana coach Isiah Thomas ripped into his team, calling his players soft.

"You can't ask for toughness from someone who isn't," Thomas said. "We've got a lot of pretty players on this team, but we need some dogs."

Travis Best scored 18 points off the bench and Jalen Rose added 16 for Indiana, which got no closer than 10 in the final period.

"We just didn't show it tonight," Best said. "It wasn't really a rust factor. We really needed to go after this game and we didn't."

Best's jumper pulled the Pacers within 87-77, but Malone scored seven points down the stretch after his counterpart, Jermaine O'Neal, fouled out with 2:54 remaining. O'Neal scored 14 points.

"Karl has always taken care of himself," Sloan said. "I can't imagine all he does. He does a lot for us."

The Pacers came out flat, allowing Utah to take control early. Indiana scored only 10 points in the first 10 minutes, allowing Utah to open a 19-9 lead on LaRue's jumper with 1:53 left in the period.

The Jazz were never threatened thereafter and earned a split of the season series with Indiana.

"We really went after Reggie (Miller) and Jalen defensively and I think that set the tone for the rest of the game for us," Malone said. "I felt all our guys really contributed to this win."

"When you get into the grunt type of games, the physical games, we don't have enough juice," Thomas said.

The Pacers shot under 42 percent (30-of-73) from the field with Rose (5-for-15) and O'Neal (6-15) combining to shoot just 11-of-30.