The Jazz Has A Brand-new Beat.

This article focuses on the unexpected success of the Utah Jazz following the departure of veteran players John Stockton and Karl Malone. Imagine turning on the CBS news one night and, instead of Dan Rather sitting there, in all his square-jawed solemnity, there was some bony Russian kid with a spiky hairdo. Then imagine quickly surfing in search of Tom Brokaw--steady old Brokaw--only to see, occupying his chair, a baby-faced Puerto Rican with an earring. For 17 years Salt Lake City was the domain of John Stockton and Karl Malone, the city's own Rather and Brokaw--or, to use a sports analogy, its Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Now, in the wake of those two Dream Teamers comes 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko, a power forward with swizzle-stick arms, and 24-year-old Carlos Arroyo, a vagabond point guard. Behind the coaching of a rejuvenated Jerry Sloan and the play of Kirilenko and Arroyo, Utah was 9-6 through Sunday and had already beaten such Western playoff contenders as the Houston Rockets, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Phoenix Suns and the Minnesota Timberwolves (twice). Even with Arroyo sidelined by a sprained left ankle, Utah players ran the floor, hustled like crazy, threw alley-oops for dunks, swatted Yao Ming's shots against the backboard and--in a definite Stockton and Malone no-no--had the gall to be animated during a fourth-quarter scoring burst.