Karl Malone was called for a flagrant foul during the Jazz's 85-76 victory over the Houston Rockets Sunday at the Delta Center.

Othella Harrington wanted more.

"He threw a punch," Harrington said. ". . . He's known for that, you know."

NBA rules call for the automatic ejection of players who throw a punch during a game. So, should Malone have been kicked out?

"What do you think?" Harrington said.

Malone was called for his flagrant foul with 2:37 left in the third quarter, as the Jazz owned a 57-45 lead and were heading up the floor with the ball.

After the game, Malone was told that Harrington accused him of throwing a punch.

"Please," Malone said, rolling his eyes. "Everybody's always got something to say. Why is it when we lose, we say we lost, we go home and get ready for the next game. But when somebody losses to us, they always have excuses? . . . You get tired of hearing it."

Houston's Brent Price raised the issue of dirty play following the Jazz's 88-87 victory over the Rockets on April 1.

After stepping in front of Malone and catching a knee in the groin, Price suggested it was intentional.

"I'm not saying he tried to hit me where he hit me," said Price, now out for the season after knee surgery. But "he definitely put his knee up on purpose. He has a history of that kind of stuff, he and Stockton. They play physically. They give you an elbow or a knee. That's the way they play."

Phoenix's Luc Longley agrees. After Longley hyperextended his knee when Malone crashed into him Friday, he watched the videotape. "It looked pretty bloody flagrant to me," the Australian told the Arizona Republic. "It looked like he went for my knee, and that's piss-weak, as far as I'm concerned."

Longley suggested Malone was seeking revenge for the Jazz's two NBA Finals series losses to Chicago, where Longley formerly played. "I realize the last two years haven't been great for him, as far as playing against the Bulls," he said. "But I don't know why he would do that, especially for a guy who projects himself as being such a class act."

HE'S TALKING

So much for Malone's boycott of NBC.

Three weeks ago, Malone vowed never to do another interview with the network after it pulled the plug on a regional telecast of a Jazz-Pistons game to show a Lakers-Magic game to the entire nation.

Prior to Sunday's game against Houston, however, Malone did an interview with NBC.

"It's like anything," he said. "It's something you look back on and say, `It's not worth it.' I'm going to be here for a long time to come. So why not? It was a heat-of-battle type thing, you know? Just one of those things."

After hearing of the intention to boycott the network, NBC chairman Dick Ebersol sent a fax to the Jazz, requesting their help in getting Malone to cooperate.

The team forwarded the fax to Malone, but he claims the pressure from above was not the reason for his change of heart.

BRIEFLY