Live from Salt Lake City Thursday night, it's the...

NBA?

In something of a startling development, the Utah Jazz get a home game, for the first time since Feb. 2, and return to the Delta Center in better shape than when it left. Speaking of startling developments.

The Jazz went away because of the Olympics, but didn't go away. It won six in a row on the road, the end of a run of nine victories in 11 games. The young guys continued to contribute, making this the first Utah season since the Eisenhower Administration that is about the future.

One of the old guys, Karl Malone, starred and had coach Jerry Sloan talking about best stretches ever for the Mailman, which is only totally noteworthy considering the standards that had already been established on the route. And, as if just to make sure there was some normalcy during a crazy time in the schedule, the Greg Ostertag issue remained as constant ever, which is to say he remained a constant pain for Sloan.

So what that most of those five straight victories were against the East. And so what that one of them that should have stood for an important benchmark against a contender from the other conference instead turned out to be a game against the Raptors. Nine in a row away from the Delta Center is still a major challenge, even with the All-Star break in there for rest and only three back-to-backs in the space of nearly a month. There were victories at Indiana, Philadelphia and Toronto, and all in a row. Only two of the opponents broke triple digits in scoring, the Rockets at the start and the Kings at the end.

In what was supposed to be the spring of their disconnect, the Jazz hung together.

Sometimes when Joe Dumars sees "Big Nasty" getting down and dirty in the paint, he gets flashbacks of former Piston and good friend Adrian Dantley, who was the team's best low-post threat in the 1980s.
  Corliss Williamson (6-foot-7) is bigger, stronger and does his job quicker than Dantley (6-5) did. Although Dantley scored more, they are almost the same player in what they give the Pistons offensively.
  "They both have the same approach and concept of the game," Dumars said. "They are both stoic and businesslike. They both say, 'I want to take the highest-percentage shot possible.' You rarely see them take wild, out-of-control shots."
  Williamson is the Pistons' third-leading scorer (12.8 average), and his .514 shooting percentage heading into Wednesday's game against Chicago ranked 10th in the NBA.

When Jerry Stackhouse is out of the lineup, the Pistons usually share the wealth. Wednesday night was no exception.

Stackhouse missed the game because of a right shoulder strain, but six teammates scored in double figures in a 101-89 victory over the Chicago Bulls at the Palace.

The Pistons (32-23) are 4-1 without Stackhouse, 19-8 at home and could become the second team in the Eastern Conference with 20 home wins with a victory Friday against Orlando. The 32 wins tied last season's total.

"It's good that we got to that total, but getting to 32 wasn't one of our goals," Michael Curry said. "Like I said before, we're on pace to do bigger and better things, and our goals are bigger and better than they were last year. We just have to keep focused and take care of our home court."

An ailing right shoulder caused Jerry Stackhouse to miss his fifth game of the season Wednesday against the Chicago Bulls.

Stackhouse suffered a strain a week ago Wednesday during a victory over Washington. He scored five points on 2-of-11 shooting in that game, then shot 4-of-17 and 8-of-27 in the next two, dropping his season percentage to 40.9.

"It's hurting me in the worst possible way, shooting the ball," Stackhouse said. "It just doesn't feel right at this time, and with the big stretch of games we have coming we felt this might be a good time. That's not taking anything away from Chicago. They've won three of their last four and are a dangerous team."

By missing Wednesday's 101-89 victory, Stackhouse will have had four days off when the Pistons play Orlando on Friday. The Pistons have 18 games in March, so Stackhouse will have few other opportunities to rest.

Coach George Karl went so far as to suggest that the Milwaukee Bucks' narrow, 95-92 decision over the well-rested Boston Celtics at the FleetCenter on Wednesday night could very well have been his team's best victory of the season.

Guard Ray Allen didn't quite go that far, labeling it one of the best, considering that the Bucks had lost a trying game the night before to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Celtics had not played for three days. Forward Glenn Robinson termed it a solid victory, noting his pleasure at seeing all three members of the team's so-called Big Three scoring more than 20 points apiece.

Best victory of the season?

Forward Anthony Mason rolled his eyes and walked off into the restroom.

Oh well then, let's go back to the coach.

"It was a great win," Karl said. "Because of the combination of last night's game and here was a team that had two or three days of rest. . . . Then to fall behind, 11-0 . . . We played a poised game all night.

After a long stretch at home, the Milwaukee Bucks survived a tough road test.

The Bucks beat Boston for the fourth straight time, winning 95-92 Wednesday night as Sam Cassell scored 26 points.

"Coming from a heartbreaking loss last night, we had to find out how to get our swagger back," Cassell said. "The last five or six games, we have been missing that and the swagger and confidence is why teams like the Lakers win."

The Bucks lost 99-89 to the Los Angeles Tuesday night snapping a three-game winning streak. Milwaukee had played five straight at home and 13 of 16 overall.

The Celtics' Antoine Walker was short on a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Boston has lost three straight since acquiring Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers from the Phoenix Suns.

"We fought hard to get stops on them, but they kept making tough shots," Delk said. "It will take some more practice and games for me to pick things up, but I know there isn't much time and I'll have to do it fast."

Erick Strickland and Walker hit 3-pointers in the last 25 seconds to pull the Celtics within 93-92 with 5.5 seconds remaining. But Cassell hit a pair of free throws to seal the game.

Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson had 22 points each for the Bucks, the only NBA team with three players averaging at least 20.

The Charlotte-based proposal to buy the Hornets is near completion and will be unveiled by the end of next week, the man leading the effort to keep the team in Charlotte said Wednesday.

That announcement will include names of a would-be buyer or buyers, venture capitalist Nelson Schwab said.

Schwab emphatically rejected speculation that a proposal to buy the team from George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge does not exist.

"I wouldn't be spending all this time on this issue if it wasn't out there," he said.

Schwab acknowledged feeling pressure with the approach of an early April NBA vote on whether to allow the Hornets to move to New Orleans.

"The meter's running here," he said.

Sources have said the National Basketball Association needs to see a new arena deal, a profitable lease and an offer of at least $200 million for the team to consider turning down Shinn and Wooldridge's requested move. The issue will be decided by a majority vote of representatives of the NBA's 29 teams, expected to occur at an April 8-9 meeting of the league Board of Governors.

A relocation committee of seven owners will make a recommendation before that vote.

Names remain secret

The Charlotte City Council approved a plan for a $231 million uptown arena Feb. 11. Two days later, business leaders launched a "Let's Take Back the Game" campaign, with the slogan "New Arena; New Owners; New Spirit."However, the names of those would-be new owners remain a secret.

On Wednesday, Schwab declined to discuss how many people may be involved in an ownership proposal, who they are, and how much they might offer.

Schwab said the secrecy and delays are due to the sensitive nature of the task.

"You're trying to buy an asset that is controlled by two individuals (Shinn and Wooldridge) who have publicly said they don't want to sell and have made an application to move the asset to another city," Schwab said.

"I think there are a lot of issues to work through," he added. "There are legal and other issues ... and we're getting through those as diligently as we can."

A spokesman for Wooldridge could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Shinn and Wooldridge can void their contract to move the team to Louisiana if the Hornets do not receive deposits for 52 luxury suites and 10,450 season tickets there by March 15. As of Friday, the team was less than halfway to both targets.

McDavid, Smith not involved

Schwab said Texas auto dealer David McDavid, former part-owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and Charlotte motor sports billionaire Bruton Smith, who wants to buy the Orlando Magic and move them to Charlotte to replace the Hornets, are not currently involved in the ownership proposal. Both men have been the subject of speculation that they could be prospective Hornets buyers.

Schwab said Smith would be welcome as a potential buyer, but that the Speedway Motorsports head appears focused on buying the Magic.

Smith has said Shinn backed out of an agreement the two had for Smith to buy the Hornets for $130 million in 1997.

Schwab said that even if Smith does buy the Magic, the team could not move here until 2003 at the earliest. The team was offered for sale last month and has not begun taking offers. The NBA has said it would like the Magic to remain in Florida.

"That's a longer-term strategy, and I think we have to put our best foot forward in the short term, as it relates to the relocation to New Orleans," Schwab said.

As for McDavid, who tried unsuccessfully to buy the Denver Nuggets after selling his Mavericks stake, Schwab said his last conversation with the car dealer was a year ago.

Charlotte's future in mind

Schwab helped restart the arena debate in January, brokering an offer by Wachovia, Bank of America and Duke Energy to front the city $100 million for construction of an arena. In exchange, the businesses would receive $50 million in city-owned land and up to $50 million in revenues from marketing arena-related rights such as premium seat deposits and naming privileges.

Schwab said he has spent a lot of time on the phone in recent weeks, trying to finish the ownership proposal even as he attended the Winter Olympics in Utah.

He said his primary interest has been to do something good for Charlotte.

"Fortunately, people care about their communities," he said. "A lot of people have done things like that in this city in the past."

Schwab, who heads the Carousel Capital firm, said he has put his regular work on hold during the Hornets effort.

"I'm juggling things," he said. "Fortunately, I have partners who bring in some money."

He does not expect to take even a small stake in the Hornets' ownership if they stay in Charlotte.

"I've been so involved in it, that might be viewed as a conflict," he said. "That (ownership) isn't that important to me."

Pardon John Starks if he sounds like a man who lately has spent a little too much time on the road.
     
It's only because he has.
     
The Jazz, forced out of Utah by some fluffy February funfest known as the Winter Olympics, have not played a home game at the Salt Lake Ice Center, make that the Delta Center, since Feb. 2.
     
Twenty-six days later they're finally back, ready to open a five-game homestand that starts with tonight's meeting with Memphis, then continues with games every other night against Minnesota, Denver, the Los Angeles Lakers and New York.
     
So when Starks is asked if he's happy to be home, it's no wonder he's a little confused on just what transpired while he was away.
     
"Oh, no question. No question," Starks said. "We did what we wanted to do on the road ? we won six out of seven. Well, seven out of 10, rather. Or, what, six out of nine? We lost our first two right? Yeah ? six out of nine. I think that's a good stretch for us."
     
For the record, it was six out of nine.
     
The Jazz first dropped a disastrous back-to-back set at Houston and Memphis, then, fortunately for them, had a six-day hiatus for the NBA All-Star Game break.
     
A successful six-game trip followed, replete with wins at Indiana, Philadelphia, Toronto, New York, Cleveland and Denver ? granted, largely patsies, none of whom had a winning record as of Wednesday, but all Ws nonetheless.
     
Then it was five more days off before Tuesday night's debacle at Sacramento, a 107-81 loss to the league-leading Kings.
     
No wonder the Jazz are so happy to be back in Salt Lake.
     
With 28 games remaining in their regular season, Utah ? which at 31-25 is currently clinging, however precariously, to a Western Conference playoff position ? can take solace in knowing 14 of those will be in their own backyard.

Tim Whitmire of the Charlotte Observer reports: The Charlotte-based proposal to buy the Hornets is near completion and will be unveiled by the end of next week, the man leading the effort to keep the team in Charlotte said Wednesday.

No word on who the buyer or buyers is.

Sources have said the National Basketball Association needs to see a new arena deal, a profitable lease and an offer of at least $200 million for the team to consider turning down Shinn and Wooldridge's requested move. The issue will be decided by a majority vote of representatives of the NBA's 29 teams, expected to occur at an April 8-9 meeting of the league Board of Governors.

A relocation committee of seven owners will make a recommendation before that vote.