Jazz Toots Its Own Horn, Now Gets to Face the Music

By late Thursday night, the crowd had been silenced. Just not as much as the critics.

The mute button was a single shot, a three-pointer at the buzzer by John Stockton that gave the Utah Jazz a 103-100 victory over the Houston Rockets before a stunned 16,285 at the Summit, a 4-2 triumph in the Western Conference finals and its first trip to the championship series. For starters.

It also gave the Jazz relief. From the tag that it wouldn’t ever win without home-court advantage, not exactly a ridiculous concept since it had been 12 years since Utah closed out a series on the road. From the notion that the team with two future Hall of Famers, Stockton and Karl Malone, arguably the greatest players in history at their positions, would forever be the team that couldn’t even win its conference.

Reputations disappeared along with Houston’s dreams of another last-second reprieve from elimination and Houston’s Dream, Hakeem Olajuwon. The Jazz, after compiling the best regular-season record in the conference and then beating two legitimate contenders, the Lakers and Rockets, in the most recent rounds, had proved itself as the best in the West.

Finally.

“We’d been criticized the last couple years for not getting where we’re going,” said Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan, the former Bulls’ guard who now takes his team to face the Bulls, starting Sunday in Chicago. “The most important thing in sports is to keep going.”

Either that or keep going to Stockton and Malone. The pick and roll. Of course, it had to come down to the pick and roll.

The biggest chapter in the playbook--not the only chapter, as some might claim--had delivered the biggest basket and the biggest win in franchise history. As if there could be any other way.

The Jazz had rallied from a 13-point deficit with 6 1/2 minutes left and a 10-point deficit with 2:59 remaining just to get into position for Stockton’s dagger, only adding to the Rockets’ pain, only making it more difficult to live with this ending through the summer. Because it never should have happened.

But a 12-2 run made it possible. That got Utah from a 96-86 hole to a 98-98 tie, capped by Stockton’s driving layup with 1:03 to play and helped mightily by the Rockets getting their last basket back with 4:11 showing.

It was 100-100 when the Rockets called timeout with 22.4 seconds left, just after Stockton had gotten inside for a basket for the third time in a row. When play resumed, with the plan to take the last shot obviously in mind, Sedale Threatt walked the ball upcourt, then gave it to Clyde Drexler near the top of the three-point circle.

Drexler burned more seconds, then moved toward the right flat and spun toward the lane. He was having his best game of the series--33 points on 10-of-15 shooting--but this became one of the few misses, an eight-foot leaner.

Even worse for the Rockets, Malone grabbed the defensive rebound and called timeout with 2.8 seconds left, more than enough time for a play since the Jazz would advance the ball to midcourt. In the huddle, Stockton was made the first option.

Stockton got the ball on top, then moved to his left. His man, Drexler, started in that direction, but was picked by Malone.

“Stockton was free,” Drexler said, “by virtue of the bear hug they got away with.”

Meaning Malone was rather liberal in using his hands to hold up the defender. Either way, Stockton sprang to the open court, 26 feet out. Barkley charged out, but didn’t get close enough before Stockton released.

“I just got rid of it,” Stockton said.

As if that’s all he did.

“When I saw him by himself, saw him take the shot, I had a bad feeling,” Rocket Mario Elie said.

It was about to get worse. The ball drained through just as the clock reached 0:00. The Jazz was going to Chicago, the Rockets down that same drain.

“What did Charles say the other night?” Stockton said, remembering Barkley’s comments after Eddie Johnson hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer of his own at the other end of the court to win Game 4.

Surreal.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Stockton concluded. “It just happened.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NBA FINALS

Chicago vs. Utah

Sunday--At Chicago, 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday--At Chicago, 6 p.m.

June 6--At Utah, 6 p.m.

June 8--At Utah, 4:30 p.m.

June 11--xAt Utah, 6 p.m.

June 13--xAt Chicago, 6 p.m.

June 15--xAt Chicago, 4:30 p.m.

x-if necessary