The Jazz provided plenty of fireworks Saturday night as they closed out the 2001 portion of their schedule - and offered a promising forecast for 2002.

Utah"s bench once again bailed out the starters after a slow start and the whole team withstood a barrage of technical fouls in an 89-81 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at the Delta Center.

The victory was Utah"s fourth in a row, boosting the Jazz above .500 for the first time all season with a 16-15 record.

Karl Malone led the Jazz with 20 points and 17 rebounds, and John Crotty led another stellar performance by Utah"s reserves with a season-high 17 points.

""It was a good win for our team," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. ""Again our guys off the bench came in and gave us really a nice lift and gave us a chance to win the ballgame.

""It has gotten to be a habit, certainly something that is really important to our team."

Sloan offered his biggest praise to center Greg Ostertag, who delivered his fourth consecutive strong performance.

Ostertag even sprained his ankle in the second quarter and returned to play nine more minutes in the second half, finishing with eight point, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in 29 minutes.