Mailman Delivers A Warning
Karl Malone plays a game for a living, but it’s the games he plays with Utah Jazz fans that always seem to cause him trouble.
For more than a decade, the heart and soul of the Jazz franchise has teased and tormented the fragile psyche of Utah fans. Whether he’s talking about the stingy ways of Jazz management or the possibility of finishing his career with another team, Malone always pushes Utah fans’ buttons just the wrong way.
“Some of the things I say at some times are unfortunate, but it’s not going to stop me from doing what I do,” Malone said. “The fans know where my heart is.”
Or maybe not.
In a more jaded sports town, most of Malone’s comments wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. In Salt Lake, where Malone is easily the most recognizable citizen and the star of the city’s only major league team, even off-the-cuff comments can inflict throat-tightening fear.
Malone’s latest outburst - which a local columnist characterized as “a stream of unconsciousness” - was even more odd than usual, considering that he made it during the middle of the Western Conference finals with the Jazz two wins away from closing out the Los Angeles Lakers.
On Wednesday, as a guest on Jim Rome’s nationally syndicated sports radio show, Malone told Trail Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy - also a guest - that he wouldn’t mind finishing his career in Portland.
“I could play for you, Coach,” Malone told an obviously amazed Dunleavy.
While Malone refused to articulate any specific disagreement with the Jazz, he said, “It has nothing to do with my teammates or my coaching staff. It’s higher up than that… . It’s their job to come and talk to me. If it doesn’t happen, then it will force my hand for next year.”
Jazz owner Larry Miller was presumably the target of Malone’s comments. While the two have professed to a father-son relationship, it’s obvious that Malone doesn’t appreciate being the NBA’s most underpaid superstar.
He is being paid $5.12 million this season, making the runner-up for this season’s MVP award and the fourth-leading scorer in NBA history a bargain at twice the price.
No Indy 500 for Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are in town to play basketball, not to watch race cars and will be banned from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on their day off between Games 3 and 4.
“I thought it would take too much out of us on an off day,” said coach Phil Jackson, who handed down the Indy 500 ban.
Some of the Bulls reportedly were trying to secure a luxury suite at the racetrack for Sunday’s Indy 500, which begins at 11 a.m. local time - about the same time the team will be scheduled to hold practice.
“I didn’t want guys to come here in 100-degree temperatures and stand out there in the infield,” Jackson said. “They’d end up losing their game on Sunday instead of playing it on Monday.”
By the time the gentlemen start their engines, the tone of this series will have changed.
Either the Pacers will have closed their deficit to 2-1, or the Bulls will be ahead 3-0 - a lead no NBA team has ever blown.
The Bulls were fined $50,000 by the NBA on Friday for failing to make their players available to the media following Thursday’s practice.
Miller time
Reggie Miller, whose playoff heroics have sparked the Indiana Pacers in previous years, believes the time has arrived for him to assert more leadership.
“I’m the one who has to take a couple of steps forward. I’ve been the leader of this team the last several years,” Miller said. “Definitely, they’re (his teammates) looking for me to come in here and have a big game, whether it be offensively, or defensively. We’ve got to get a spark.”
Mark Jackson differed with his back-court partner.
“You can’t put that much pressure on one guy,” he said. “We all have to come ready to play, take care of the ball, knock down shots and just be aggressive.”
Hundley won’t back down
Utah Jazz broadcaster Hot Rod Hundley stood by his comments that the Los Angeles Lakers lack leadership and play out of control.
He also figures the Western Conference finals will go the full seven games.
“Talk to (Lakers forward) Rick Fox, he said I was right,” Hundley said about 90 minutes before the Jazz and Lakers played Game 3 at the Forum. “He’s the only Laker who plays under control, too.”
Hundley also was quoted by the Los Angeles Times earlier this week as saying the Lakers played like the Harlem Globetrotters, and that Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant are all about Hollywood.
“I have no idea,” he said when asked how he thought the series would turn out. “It’ll probably go seven, I think. The third game typically goes to the home team. We’d love to get one here; I think it’s a seven-game series.”
He was wrong about that as the Jazz took a 3-0 lead with a victory Friday night.