Seeking first championship, Lakers' Malone takes charge

The 40-year-old is excelling on the defensive end of the court.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Karl Malone has made his mark as a scorer, averaging 25 points per game in a 19-year professional career.
Now, at age 40 with his future in question, the man generally regarded as the best power forward in NBA history is making his most significant contributions on defense.
"I have said if I'm going to make the adjustment financially, I'll make the whole adjustment," Malone said after making life difficult for San Antonio's Tim Duncan for the fourth straight game in the Los Angeles Lakers' series-clinching 88-76 victory over the Spurs on Saturday night.
In search of his first championship ring, Malone joined the Lakers last summer after 18 superb seasons in Utah that left him as the second-leading scorer in NBA history. He's earning some $17 million less than he did in his final season with the Jazz.
Malone finished this season with 36,928 points -- 1,459 less than all-time leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored in his 20-year career.
Malone averaged 26.3 points in 172 playoff games for the Jazz and is averaging 13.6 points in 11 postseason games for the Lakers.
"I came into this series defensive-minded -- I wasn't even thinking about scoring a lot," he said. "If you get dirty, you get dirty. I like that. I just wanted to try and keep Tim from averaging 30. That was my goal, to make him work for everything he got."
Duncan shot 20-of-31 and averaged 27 points, and Tony Parker shot 21-of-42 and averaged 25 to lead San Antonio to a pair of 10-point victories in the first two games of the Western Conference semifinals.
But in the final four games -- all Los Angeles victories -- Duncan shot 23-of-60 and averaged 171/2 points and Parker shot 21-of-71 and averaged 121/2 points. Duncan had 20 points and 11 rebounds in Game 6, but with Malone and Shaquille O'Neal defending him continually in the low block, he shot only 7-of-18.
"Karl just played really solid defense," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
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