Think the sun is setting on Karl Malone's career? Then know this: The future Hall of Famer has some experience hitting big, pressure shots as the light dwindles.
   
Malone scored a season-high 31 points and hit three long jumpers in the final 90 seconds Monday night, a vintage performance in the half-lit Compaq Center that lifted the Jazz to their third straight road victory, 96-91 over the disbelieving Rockets.
   
When a 60-mph Texas squall knocked out half the lights in the arena late in the fourth quarter, referees asked both teams whether they wanted to wait 15 minutes or more for the lights to return. Malone, harkening back to his boyhood days in Summerfield, La., was quick to answer: Let's play.
   
"It was kind of like [being] a little boy out there playing at sunset. You want to make that last shot before you go home because Mom said 'Don't let the sun go down and you're not at home,' " Malone said. "I didn't let the sun set on me. I would have gotten my ass whupped."