SALT LAKE CITY, March 26 (Ticker) -- With all the talk of how well Michael Jordan is playing at 39 years old, no one seems to notice John Stockton is leading his team to the playoffs at 40.

Stockton celebrated his 40th birthday with 20 points and six assists and Karl Malone scored 23 points and as the Utah Jazz rallied for a 109-105 victory over the struggling Houston Rockets.

Stockton, who is the only player to spend 18 consecutive seasons with the same team, became the 10th player in league history to be active at the age of 40. Despite being among the oldest players in the game, he continues to run a playoff-caliber offense and lead the Jazz to tough wins.

Utah trailed by seven points entering the fourth quarter but stormed back and took the lead for good, 91-90, on a layup by Stockton with 4:21 to go.

NBA TV highlights from Rockets-Jazz: 56k | 300k Karl Malone led a balanced Jazz group with 23 points, eight of them coming in the second quarter. Kent Horner NBAE/Getty Images

Greg Ostertag sank two free throws for the Jazz 29 seconds later and, after Kenny Thomas made 1-of-2 from the line, Malone sank a jumper for a 95-91 edge. Stockton followed with a three-point play to give Utah a 97-91 cushion with 2:33 to go.

Cuttino Mobley made a 3-pointer to bring the Rockets within 100-96 at 32 seconds. He was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 27 seconds to play and made all three free throws to slice the deficit to 101-99.

Stockton and Rusty LaRue each made a pair of free throws for a six-point edge, but Houston's Walt Williams buried a long 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining.

Bryon Russell got fouled on the inbounds pass and made two free throws, but Mobley responded with another 3-pointer to make it 107-105. But Stockton sealed the game with a pair of free throws with two seconds to go and Mobley misfired from beyond the arc as time expired.

DeShawn Stevenson scored 14 points and fellow reserve Ostertag added 10 of his 12 in the fourth quarter for the Jazz, who moved within one game of Seattle for seventh place in the Western Conference.

Utah shot 49 percent (41-of-84) and held a 51-40 rebounding advantage led by Scott Padgett, who grabbed 11 rebounds and scored nine points off the bench.

Rookie Andrei Kirilenko had 12 points and six rebounds and Russell finished with 11 points for Utah, which scored 26 points off 25 offensive rebounds.

The Jazz played without starting forward Donyell Marshall, who sat out after suffering a strained left calf in the first quarter of Monday's loss to Seattle.

Steve Francis had 32 points and seven assists but was held scoreless in the final five minutes as the Rockets completed a 1-4 road trip and suffered their fifth loss in six games.

Mobley finished with 28 points and Thomas and Kelvin Cato added 15 apiece for Houston, which shot 49 percent (36-of-74) and made 10-of-24 3-pointers.