Beaten Jazz Feel Pride Far More Than Despair Utah Falters For A Third Time In Western Conference Finals

The legacy of losing now belongs to Utah, not Seattle.

Karl Malone, John Stockton and the rest of the Jazz, playing in the Western Conference finals for the third time in five years, came closer than ever Sunday to reaching the NBA Finals.

Once again, though, their summer will begin earlier than they wanted after a 90-86 loss to the Seattle SuperSonics in Game 7.

“It’s just a basketball game,” coach Jerry Sloan said. “We’re not going to cry outside the door or jump off a building or anything like that.”

Indeed, the Utah players were not looking for consolation as they dressed in the crowded locker room and waited alongside their charter bus beneath the stands at Key Arena.

Malone talked about fishing, hunting and taking a motorcycle trip to Montana. Stockton stood answering questions for at least 20 minutes, the same stoic look on his face as always.

If anything, the Jazz were proud of the fact that they had battled from a 3-1 deficit, winning Game 5 in overtime last Tuesday and blowing the Sonics off the court with a 35-point victory in Game 6.

They had their chance to win Game 7, too, but Malone missed a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds when Utah had a chance to pull within one.

“It’s not going to ruin my summer, even though you guys probably want me to say that,” Malone said. “This game is over with. I’m not taking anything negative into the summer.”

That job will be left to others.

Utah, after all, has made the playoffs for 13 straight years - the longest streak in the NBA behind Portland’s 14. The Jazz beat the Trail Blazers in five games and the Spurs in six, advancing to the round where they’ve always hit a roadblock.

Sunday’s loss dropped their record to 6-12 in Western Conference finals, 1-9 on the road. In 1992 it was Portland that beat them, in 1994 it was the Houston Rockets.

“It’s nice to be part of this, but we have to do something about the ending,” Stockton said.

“I don’t feel like our time is running out. There’s more than one way to get it done,” Stockton said. “There were a lot of opportunities for this series not to go seven games and for us to come out on top.”

That wasn’t the way it ended, though, and the Jazz are through with yet another unfulfilled season.