All Karl Wants Is An Nba Title

George Karl knows he may never win an NBA championship in Seattle and that bothers him a lot.

His .713 regular-season winning percentage is one thing. Winning a title is another.

“I’m very proud of the wins and losses, but I think everybody who knows me dearly knows how much I want to win a championship,” he said after Tuesday’s Sonics practice.

“I dream about it. I wake up in the middle of the night sweating about it. If I got it, it would be unbelievable.”

Karl and the Sonics reached the NBA Finals against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls last season. The too-talented Bulls beat Seattle in six games.

The Sonics, who will face the Phoenix Suns in the opening game of a first-round playoff series at KeyArena on Friday, appear to have gone backward since losing Game 6 in Chicago last June 16.

They dropped from a franchise-record 64 victories to 57 this season.

In 5-1/2 seasons since then-general manager Bob Whitsitt brought Karl in to replace K.C. Jones as coach, his teams have compiled a 323-129 record.

During the past five seasons, the Sonics have won 55, 63, 57, 64 and 57 games under Karl.

The Sonics’ Western Conference title season earned Karl, 47, a one-year contract extension for $3 million for next season. After that, who knows? Karl doesn’t.

“I have a great contract and I’ve been treated fairly here,” he said. “I’m at the stage now where it’s a year-to-year proposition.”

He shied away from questions about his coaching future. He seems resigned to his departure.

“I think that’s a conversation I should have with (owner) Barry Ackerley and (GM) Wally Walker and not with you,” he said.

All that Jazz want is a title

Karl Malone’s best performance gave Utah its winningest season. But the quintessential power forward isn’t satisfied with what many argue already is an MVP season.

After 12 seasons, Malone insists this is the finest Jazz team he’s seen, one finally ready to cap its 14th-straight playoffs with a trip to the NBA Finals. It begins in Salt Lake City on Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

“It is without a doubt our best year,” said Malone, who averaged 27.4 points - only Michael Jordan’s 29.6 is better - 55 percent shooting and 10 rebounds in a 64-win season. “It’s sure the best year I’ve ever had. I am just loving to play.”

Rodman ready to rock

The earrings, the eye shadow and the glittery gold makeup stay in the locker room. But Dennis Rodman, fashion guy that he is, will still sport new apparel for the playoffs.

Rodman, who missed the last 13 regular-season games with the Chicago Bulls, will be wearing a knee brace in Friday’s playoff opener against the Washington Bullets.

Rodman missed 27 games this season, 14 because of three separate suspensions, and the last 13 with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. Chicago was 21-6 in his absence.

“All this other stuff is well and good, bro. But the playoffs are what real men live and die for. So I’m ready,” Rodman said.

Stat sheet

Charlotte’s Glen Rice scored 40 and 34 points in the Hornets’ last two games against the Knicks, their first-round opponents from whom they won three of four games. Rice’s 26.8 scoring average was third in the league and he averaged more than 30 points per game over the final two-thirds of the season.

Miami coach Pat Riley has won four NBA titles as a coach, equal to Phil Jackson of the Bulls and trailing only Red Auerbach (nine, Boston Celtics) and John Kundla (five, Minneapolis Lakers). This season, Miami won its first division title and 61 games, a franchise record by 19 victories.

At age 23 and in his second NBA season, Chris Carr is one of only five Minnesota Timberwolves players with playoff experience. Houston, Minnesota’s first-round opponent, has 644 postseason games among its 12 players. Minnesota’s players have 133 playoff games among them, 36 fewer than Kevin McHale, the team’s vice president of basketball operations, and just nine more than Houston’s Clyde Drexler. Terry Porter (84) and Sam Mitchell (36) are the only Timberwolves who have played more than eight playoff games.