Because of a schedule conflicts brought on by an 82-game NBA season, Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone seldom has the opportunity to see his daughter, senior center Cheryl Ford of Louisiana Tech, play in person.

Ford said she expects her famous father to be in attendance for today?s game with LSU.

Utah played five of its last six games at the Delta Center after enduring a stretch in which it played 9-of-11 games on the road. During the four-game homestand, the Jazz posted victories over the LA Clippers, Boston, Portland and most recently Milwaukee to improve their overall home mark to an impressive 27-10.

However, the Jazz are about to embark on another road swing. The team plays its next three games in foreign gyms and five of its upcoming six, starting Saturday in San Antonio.

Jerry Sloan. Surely the Utah Jazz would lose some steam this season, what with John Stockton turning 41 and Karl Malone no longer playing like an All-Star.

Not as long as Sloan is the coach. He has taken a slightly altered cast - including Most Improved Player candidate Matt Harpring and No. 2 all-time assists leader Mark Jackson - and led the Jazz to its 18th consecutive winning season, the longest such streak in the NBA.

Sloan was suspended seven games for shoving an official, but it's his fire that has kept the Jazz among the West's elite.

Tim Duncan didn't need to bury a last-second turnaround jumper over Karl Malone. He had little reason to yell at the crowd. Or, disappointingly, shake his hips.

Compared to his last meeting with Utah, Duncan spent the end of Saturday's game in a much more relaxed state. He simply sat on the bench and stretched his legs.

Duncan got his work done early, scoring 30 points in the first three quarters before watching along with the sellout SBC Center crowd of 18,797 as the Spurs' reserves finished off a 101-81 rout for their 12th consecutive victory over the Jazz.

Miller is 27 and will become a restricted free agent this summer. He could sign for big money with another team ? say, if John Stockton retires in Utah, where he played college ball ? and the Clippers easily could deem it too expensive to match, and he's gone. End of Miller experiment. After one season.
     
"Who knows?" Miller said.
     
Elgin Baylor is the Clippers general manager who thought Miller would be the perfect addition. Which is not to blame Baylor. Most everyone else figured it was a smart deal.

The Jazz did not leave here with a win Saturday night. But they did depart having learned a very valuable lesson:

Avoid, at all costs, facing the San Antonio Spurs in the opening round of the NBA playoffs. Otherwise, Utah will exit from the postseason like a Texas tornado speeding toward Karl Malone's Arkansas ranch.
     
The Jazz were reminded of that virtual reality Saturday, when the Spurs blew them out with a 101-81 victory in front of 18,797 at the sold-out SBC Center.
     
"We match up pretty well with them," San Antonio's reigning NBA MVP, Tim Duncan, said after scoring a game-high 30 points, "and have had some pretty good success."
     
No kidding.

Not long ago, the San Antonio-Utah rivalry was one of the NBA's most heated as the teams vied annually for supremacy in the Midwest Division.

Much of the antipathy remains, judging from the boos that still shower Karl Malone, but the matchup on the court has turned one-sided.

So, a guy comes up to me the other day and asks: "Do you think the Jazz can do it?"
   
"Do what? Trade for the rights to draft LeBron James?" I ask back.
   
(Blank stare.)
   
"No," I continue, figuring he means, "Can the Jazz win a title?"

The only good news Saturday, according to Greg Ostertag, was the play of the Kansas Jayhawks.
   
The only good news for the Jazz, on the other hand, was the play of Ostertag.
   
Maybe it was the company he was keeping.
   
Faced with David Robinson and Tim Duncan down low, the KU grad turned in one of his best performances of the season, helping the Jazz stay close to San Antonio, at least for a half. Ostertag scored seven points in each of the first two quarters, outrebounded Duncan and Robinson almost by himself, and generally made life tougher for a couple of post players used to having their way.
   
"Oster kept us in the game," said Karl Malone. "He just didn't get any help."

The Jazz's six-game winning streak was a feel-good diversion. But their 12-game losing streak looks a lot more real.
   
After feasting on the likes of the Clippers and Bucks for two weeks, the Jazz moved up in class Saturday night and found themselves outclassed by a longtime tormentor. San Antonio, in a dogfight for the NBA's best record and top playoff seed, flicked the Jazz away with a 27-4 second-half romp, turning a close game into another Texas rout, 101-81 in the SBC Center.