Jazz Keep On Keepin’ On Stockton, Malone Help Utah Hold Title Hopes In Perspective

By now, you’d think the history of failures would be getting to the Utah Jazz.

You’d think John Stockton would be yapping at his teammates a little more, or Karl Malone would be giving speeches in the locker room about how imperative it is to finish with the best record in the West.

You’d think somehow, after having won almost 500 regular-season games in the past nine years without even a single NBA Finals appearance to show for it, somebody on the Jazz might be getting just a little bit angry about it.

You’d be wrong.

The Jazz are going about their business as usual this season, fielding one of the strongest teams in the league, playing hard and hoping for the best. Same as always.

“We’re just a bunch of level-headed, normal guys,” Stockton said. “That’s the most obvious thing about us.”

“We’ve never been a team to say: ‘We’re the team to beat.’ That’s not our style,” Malone said. “We don’t play the style of basketball that people love to see, but we give an effort every night.”

That’s the way things have been in Salt Lake City for more than a decade. The Jazz have been the NBA’s most consistent winners over that period, at least in the regular season.

They run the pick-and-roll to perfection, they have the highest shooting percentage in the league and they recognize that playing intelligently is the biggest advantage they have over the other 28 teams. Same as always.

It’s the postseason that has been Utah’s undoing.

The Jazz made it to the conference finals in 1992, ‘94 and ‘96, but lost each time. Last season, they came closer than ever to the NBA Finals, as they extended the Seattle SuperSonics to seven games before losing the deciding game at Key Arena in the final minute.

Failing to make it to the championship round has defined the careers of Malone, Stockton and Co., as much as all the personal accomplishments.

“There’s always a little dig there that I hear when people talk about Stockton and Malone - they’ve never been to the Finals, they’d be sad if they didn’t win a ring,” said Utah coach Jerry Sloan, who hasn’t been to the Finals either in 22 years as a player and head coach.

“It’s a cop-out for people to say that, because they don’t know these guys,” Sloan said. “To me, the thing to look at is how they come back after they don’t make it.

“Look at the teams that made it and how they came back the following year. Some of them don’t come back with the same enthusiasm. Our guys have always come back and played as hard as they can. I admire that more than guys who say they’ve made it.

“I’m happy. Just because you didn’t win doesn’t make you a bad person.”

No, it doesn’t. But it does leave a rather significant void in the resumes of two players who are locks for the Hall of Fame.

Stockton and Malone have missed just four games apiece in their careers.

Malone played in his 442nd consecutive game Friday night, Stockton in his 583rd - and all of them have been starts for the NBA’s career leader in assists and steals, the two-time Olympian and nine-time All-Star from Spokane.

Malone is the NBA’s second-leading scorer this season. His average of almost 27 points per game is his highest in almost four years.

“They’re a little bit older and it’s a little bit tougher for them, but night-in and night-out over an 82-game schedule they play as hard as they can,” Sloan said. “They don’t miss games because of an ingrown toenail or headache - and to me that’s admirable because people pay to see that.”

Both stars have heard the dismissive talk about their careers. They have taken notice when other players have said Utah doesn’t have enough to get past Houston, Seattle or the Lakers this season. They have heard their desire questioned.

They respond by pointing to their consistency and work ethic - and the fact that they have put those principles ahead of a win-at-all-costs attitude.

“Yeah, I want to win a ring, but I want it on my terms,” Malone said. “And I’m not going to let it ruin my career if I don’t.

“Other people make it a bigger issue than I do. I guess you have to know me and the fact that I don’t let a lot of things, particularly basketball stuff, eat at me. All I can do is suit up every single night and play through injuries and give it everything I got. When I can look in the mirror and say I tried to do the things and I gave it the effort, it doesn’t eat at me.”

Stockton said a championship is “not going to define my life. It’d be great, a heck of a topper. But if your life depends on whether you win a championship, there’s a whole lot of losers in this world - billions of them.”

The key to breaking the cycle this season will be finishing with the best record in the Western Conference and having the homecourt advantage through the first three rounds.

It could be a huge advantage. The Jazz have the league’s second-best home record, having lost only three times in the friendly, frenzied atmosphere of the Delta Center.

Following Friday’s loss at Portland, the Jazz were tied with Seattle for the best record in the conference.

Utah owns the tiebreaker edge by virtue of its 3-1 record against the Sonics, but the Jazz’s remaining schedule, beginning this weekend, includes 16 road games - including a seven-game, 10-day Eastern trip - and just 11 home games.

“We’ve lost three times in the conference finals, and all three times we haven’t had the homecourt advantage,” Stockton said. “I know it doesn’t mean everything, but I’d like the opportunity to try it.”

Utah’s attitude is to just play hard, baby.

And hope that after all these years, good things will finally happen.