If Karl Malone thought the nastiest shot he took from the New Jersey Nets came courtesy of Kenyon Martin on Saturday night, he was wrong.
   
Martin was suspended for one game and fined $7,500 Monday for flagrantly fouling Malone with 1:37 left in the Jazz's 104-90 win.
   
But Martin's cheap shot was only the beginning for Malone, whose team returns to action tonight (7 p.m., FSN) against Boston at the Delta Center.
   
Before the NBA announced that Martin has been fined and suspended, Nets president Rod Thorn accused Malone of melodramatics when he crashed after being clotheslined on the way to the basket.
   
"I don't think anything else should be done," Thorn told reporters. "Karl Malone is a great player, but he was playing it up. When he was down, he was smiling."
   
Thorn called the play "just a hard foul."
   
New Jersey coach Bryon Scott seemed to dismiss the flagrant foul as a reasonable response to what Martin and the Nets deemed unfair officiating.
   
"When you feel you're getting the short end of the stick," he said, "sometimes your emotions get the best of you."