Brad Miller had more technical fouls than points Wednesday night, a sure sign Jarron Collins was doing his job.

Miller came into the game averaging 12.6 points per game but the Chicago Bulls center took just four shots, missed them all and went scoreless in 22 minutes.

For much of the night he appeared more concerned with getting at Collins than getting to the basket, at one point shoving Jazz forward Bryon Russell in frustration to draw a technical foul.

""I can tell when a guy gets frustrated because he starts throwing elbows and cheap shots," Collins said. ""You just keep playing. That"s when it"s fun."

When Collins, a 6-foot-11, 255 pound rookie center, sees the frustration simmering in an opponent, he knows to keep applying the pressure.

""He"s more worried about me than doing his job," Collins said. ""That"s what I try to do defensively."

Four days earlier, Sacramento All-Star Chris Webber went 4-for-16 from the field, getting so frustrated at one point he threw an elbow into Collins" chin, drawing a flagrant foul - and later earning a one-game suspension from the NBA.

There was plenty of thievery at the Delta Center Wednesday night - along with yet another Karl Malone milestone - but there was nothing that reminded folks of the Jazz-Bulls rivalry in its heyday. Instead of Michael Jordan in No. 23 leading the way for Chicago, there was Eddie Robinson in No. 32 leading them with 18 points.

Instead of posturing for an NBA Finals rematch, the two teams were struggling simply to find their way.

Instead of intensity, there was apathy.

""It looked like we were just trying to get it over with," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of his team"s 90-78 victory over Chicago, the worst team in the league.

The game featured 30 steals but many of those came from sloppy offense rather than great defense.

""When you"re not concentrating on playing basketball and looking to get the game over, that"s what you get from both teams," Sloan said, noting Chicago had 22 turnovers and the Jazz had 20.

The NBA suspended Sacramento All-Star forward Chris Webber for one game and fined him $7,500 for deliberately throwing an elbow at the head of Jazz rookie Jarron Collins during the Kings' 114-90 win over Utah on Saturday at the Delta Center.
   
Webber also will lose about $155,000 of his $12.75 million salary because of the suspension, which will prevent him from playing tonight against Seattle.
   
With 9:58 left in the third quarter, Webber was called for a flagrant foul after running down the floor and -- away from the ball -- hitting a surprised-looking Collins in the face.
   
"The league makes those decisions," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's vice president of basketball operations. "They review every flagrant foul and, just like last year, when Karl [Malone] backhanded Christian Laettner, they felt it was intentional and a blow to the head. . . . Based on that, they made the decision to suspend" Webber.

As the final minutes melted away in the Jazz's 90-78 win over Chicago on Wednesday night, only one question remained:
   
Would Karl Malone score the one point he needed to reach 34,000 in his career at the emptying Delta Center? Or would he wait to reach the milestone until the opening moments of Saturday's nationally televised game against Portland?
   
When Malone missed badly on back-to-back jumpers with just over six minutes remaining, the question lingered.
   
When Malone did not take a shot -- or even look to shoot -- during the Jazz's next nine possessions, the question seemed answered.

The NBA suspended Sacramento Kings forward Chris Webber for one game and fined him $7,500 for popping Jazz center Jarron Collins in the head with an elbow Saturday at the Delta Center.
     
Webber was whistled for the elbow during the game, but for reasons unknown it took the NBA four days to announce the punishment.
     
The Kings forward, named as a reserve to the Western Conference All-Star team, will miss Thursday's game against Seattle.

As he does once or twice a season, Karl Malone reached another scoring milestone Wednesday.
     
And he did it despite an off-shooting night in an otherwise forgettable and messy midseason victory over the NBA's worst team, the Chicago Bulls, 90-78 at the Delta Center.

With 1:27 left in the contest, Malone was fouled by Marcus Fizer. He missed the first free throw but made the second, giving him a team-high 18 points for the night and 34,000 points for his career.
     
Utah's Andrei Kirilenko was impressed by the sheer numbers involved in Malone's accomplishment. "It's crazy," he said. "He's a very great player, and I hope he gets 40,000."
     
Malone appreciated the sentiment, but after some quick calculation said, "I probably won't. That's a lot more years than I want to play. I've got them in me, but I don't know if I want to play."
     
(So you don't have to break out the calculator, it would take Malone at least three more seasons to reach 40,000.)
     
"Milestones, I kind of like to get them over with so you can think about playing the game of basketball," Malone said. "But that's a lot of points."

Charles Oakley's consistent critique this season, one he reprised Wednesday night, is that teams can't win playing 10 to 12 guys.

"Tell him we won six championships playing that way," Bulls coach Bill Cartwright said.

Once again, Cartwright went to his bench early and often, using 11 players by halftime. But Utah wore down the attempt at depth in a 90-78 victory in front of 18,871 at the Delta Center.

The Bulls have now lost 26 straight road games to Western Conference teams, with three remaining on this trip.

Matters broke down Wednesday with the starters playing. .

Back-to-back turnovers?one by Oakley, one by Ron Artest?led to dunks by Karl Malone and Andrei Kirilenko with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. Suddenly, a six-point halftime deficit had grown to 57-44.

The two times the Bulls pulled to nine points down in the fourth quarter, the lineup was reserves Marcus Fizer, Trenton Hassell, Tyson Chandler, Fred Hoiberg and A.J. Guyton.

The Associated Press reports:

"Sacramento Kings forward Chris Webber was suspended Wednesday for one game and fined $7,500 for deliberately throwing an elbow to the head of Utah's Jarron Collins last week.

Webber will miss the Kings' game Thursday against Seattle. He was called for a flagrant foul for hitting Collins last Saturday, and the NBA imposed the suspension."

Karl Malone would rather be picked to the All-Star team by the coaches than the fans anyway.
     
Which is a good thing, since it was announced Tuesday that Western Conference coaches had voted the Jazz forward into his 14th All-Star Game. He had finished seventh among West forwards in fan balloting for the Feb. 10 game in Philadelphia.

"The fans pick their starters, but it's more of an honor, as far as I'm concerned, if the coaches pick you," he said prior to Tuesday's practice. "You see if they still respect your game and if you're still a topic of their defense in their locker room. The coaches know a whole lot more about what you try to do for your team."
     
In recent seasons, Malone has gone into the All-Star break saying he'd rather have the time off. Now he sounds like a guy beginning to savor the twilight seasons.
     
"I don't know," he said, when asked before the official announcement if he cared about making the team. "38 years old, it would be pretty neat to make it."      

In the past two All-Star games, Malone has played a combined seven minutes. Asked if he'd like to do that again, he smiled and said, "I want to bump that up to a whoppin' 10. I figure if I'm going to fly all the way back there, I want to get some minutes out of it."

After missing four of the past six games with tendinitis in his left knee, the Jazz placed backup point guard John Crotty on the injured list before Monday"s game.

NBA veteran Rusty LaRue, who was with the Jazz in the summer league and the preseason, will be signed to a 10-day contract today if he passes his physical exam.

LaRue has been playing this season for Asheville of the NBA"s development league, the NBDL.

""He knows our system really well, which is paramount for a point guard," said Kevin O"Connor, Utah"s vice president of basketball operations.

Second-year shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson has filled in at point guard but with Crotty facing an extended layoff, the Jazz wanted to bring in another pure point guard to back up John Stockton.

""It"s not fair to ask DeShawn Stevenson to start at the "2" (shooting guard), go over to point guard, then go back," O"Connor said. ""We don"t want to overload him, but he"s done a very solid job."