Hornacek, Jazz Lose Some Hope

March brought Jeff Hornacek and optimism to the Utah Jazz. Hornacek, one of the league's top shooting guards, brought change through instant offense, perhaps the one lacking piece to a championship run.

"It was a step in the right direction," said Utah's All-Star forward Karl Malone, who had been prodding management to sign an impact player.

The Jazz won their first six games with Hornacek, from Feb. 26 to March 8, including two victories over Houston and one over Phoenix. And the Western Conference took notice.

But since March 8, the Jazz have gone 4-9 despite Hornacek's average of 14 points per game with the team. The Jazz are hanging on to the conference's fifth playoff spot and will likely play Phoenix in the first round.

The final month of the regular season, once promising, is now laden with questions. For one, why did the trade (which sent Jeff Malone and Utah's 1994 No. 1 draft pick to Philadelphia for Hornacek, Sean Green and a future No. 2 draft pick) appear to turn an above average team into a .500 team?

"When we were winning, everybody was playing well," said Utah Coach Jerry Sloan. "(Since then) we've been competitive in every game, but not everyone has been playing well.

"It seems like we just stay close the last two or three weeks, like that's good enough. That can put you in a deep hole."

The consensus opinion among the Jazz seems to be that Hornacek did not play a big part in the team's winning streak, nor the team's losing streak. After all, the Jazz had won four in a row just prior to acquiring Hornacek, including victories over San Antonio and Phoenix.

"It doesn't take much to make you a bad team in the league," Utah guard John Stockton said. "We're missing a lot of concentration. We won because we played hard. It's will, making total plays regardless of the score."

The Jazz held five opponents to 90 points or fewer during the 10-game winning streak. They have done it just once since then.

"We're doing a lot of the same things we were doing (during the winning streak)," Malone said. "But we're not doing the little things, going after loose balls. There's still a lot of basketball left."

That holiday feeling

Phoenix point guard Kevin Johnson on his franchise-record 25 assists (most in the NBA this season) in a 107-95 defeat of the Spurs on Wednesday:

"I've said I only play well on religious holidays," said Johnson, who scored 36 points against Houston on Christmas Day and had 42 points and 17 assists against Denver on Easter. "But tomorrow is my mother's birthday. That's my excuse this time."

In the five games prior to Friday's loss to Sacramento, Johnson averaged 15.8 assists per game. He's shooting for a season average of 10 per game, 0.7 more than his current average. He needs to average almost 15 per game in the last nine to reach his goal.

Miller skips a big meal

When Phoenix's Oliver Miller, an Arkansas alum, got a call from the White House on April 1, he thought it was an April Fool's joke. "Far from it," the White House operator said, "it's the president."

President Clinton called Miller to invite him to sit in the luxury box at the NCAA final between Duke and Arkansas. Miller watched the game with Clinton, but turned down an invitation to the celebration dinner at the White House.

"It's not that big a deal," Miller said. "I've met him before. It's just that now he's the president."

Blazer breaks record

Portland point guard Rod Strickland has averaged 21.6 points and 16.3 assists in the past five games, including a franchise-record 20 assists Tuesday against Phoenix. The first to congratulate Strickland was Terry Porter, who had the old Blazer record of 19 in a game.

"Records are made to be broken," said Porter, who with Strickland's emergence has been relegated to the bench for the first time since his rookie season.

Said Strickland: "I told all the guys I have to take them out to dinner and Terry will be first. The record definitely means a lot to me because the guy who held it, I have a lot of respect for."

No fan of the fans

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Chuck Person publicly ripped Minnesota's listless fans after the team's 110-100 victory over the Clippers, which gave the Wolves one more victory than they had all of last season.

"I don't care about the fans, because they suck," Person said. "I don't care if there's 12,000 or 20,000, they stink. I don't know why they even come. Do they come here to get a cheap hot dog? Do they come here to see Crunch (the Wolves' mascot)?"

Informed that the fans could swap their ticket stubs for free hamburgers because the Wolves topped 100 points and won, Person said: "I wish the final score had been 99-98."

A call for Coach K

Because the Timberwolves may be in position to draft Duke's Grant Hill, and add him to ex-Blue Devils Brian Davis and Christian Laettner, a Mike Krzyzewski-to-coach-the-Wolves rumor is spreading through the Twin Cities.

Davis, who talks to the Duke coach every few weeks, was at the NCAA title game and said Krzyzewski is ready for a new challenge.

"I pray that he does," Davis said. "He's the top coach in the country and he can make it at the NBA level. You can tell it's about time for him to go."

Wilkens ties Hawks mark

Atlanta Coach Lenny Wilkens, a contender for Coach of the Year, tied Paul Seymour, coach of the 1960-61 St. Louis Hawks, Wednesday for wins (51) by a first-year Hawks coach. Wilkens was a rookie on that '60-61 club, when he became enamored of Boston Celtic Coach "Red" Auerbach, whose record for most NBA coaching victories Wilkens will break sometime early next season. Wilkens has a 920-770 career mark, 18 fewer victories than Auerbach (938 wins). Wilkens had a 478-402 record in two coaching stints with the SuperSonics.

Teeth-shattering Shaq attack

Indiana Pacer guard Vern Fleming lived to tell about it. On April 2, Orlando's Shaquille O'Neal fell on top of the 185-pound Fleming, trying to block Fleming's drive to the basket. Fleming's dental bridge was shattered and shoved into his lower lip (12 stitches) and he sustained a deep gash above his right knee (15 stitches). The miracle? No foul.

And how does it feel to have 300 pounds of Shaq land on your head?

"I didn't feel anything," said Fleming. "I think I was in shock. Then I saw teeth everywhere."

No luck for Murphy

Denver's Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf has a chance to better Calvin Murphy's season free-throw percentage record. Abdul-Rauf has a streak of 47 consecutive free throws, with a percentage of 96.1. Murphy's record, 95.8, was set in 1980-81.

Murphy's record of 78 consecutive free throws was broken last season by Minnesota's Micheal Williams, who made 84 in a row.

"What really bugs me," Murphy said, "is Micheal Williams breaking my consecutive streak and now he's shooting 83 percent. That tells me he was lucky."

Orlando avoids KKK

On the advice of NBA security, the Orlando Magic cancelled its reservation at the team's normal downtown hotel in Indianapolis and moved to a lesser hotel by the airport. The reason: the Ku Klux Klan was holding a rally downtown that weekend.

The Magic also received a police escort to and from the game that night. None of the players saw any sign of the klansmen.

Knicks find luck in Reno

The New York Knicks won all 14 games in March, starting a 15-game winning streak that ended Tuesday with a loss to Miami. March 1994, was the first perfect month in franchise history. It all started with a trip to Reno in late February.

After four consecutive losses in late February, Coach Pat Riley took his team gambling. From the Reno airport, six limousines whisked them to the casinos. They played blackjack. They did the slots. The next day, Riley made three changes in the starting lineup, a rare midseason move for a team with realistic championship aspirations.

"We've come out real hyped ever since," Knicks forward Charles Oakley said. "That's where it all started."

Riley has tried diversions before. The Knicks went to the movies on their past two trips to Seattle.

"It was strange," Knicks guard Derek Harper said. "But it was good from the standpoint it took your mind off the problems at hand. It sort of cleansed your mind of the job."

Notes

-- The Knicks aren't making any friends with their defense, criticized by yet another Eastern Conference coach. Miami Heat Coach Kevin Loughery on the Knicks' style: "They're very aggressive and they get away with that aggressiveness. They foul a lot and they get away with it. I think if you clean up a game, you have to clean it up at both ends. I thought (the NBA) stopped hand-checking. I didn't know they put it back in."

-- Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Mark Price, a renowned marksman, is mired in one of the worst shooting slumps of his eight-year career - 53 of 157 (34 percent) in his past 11 games. Material for this notebook was compiled with help from reporters from the Arizona Republic, The Oregonian, Star Tribune (Minneapolis), Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Indianapolis News, Rocky Mountain News, Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.), Orlando Sentinel, Newsday and Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.