FINALS REPORT

Replays showed that the Jazz lost three points that should have counted, Howard Eisley’s three-pointer which was ruled too late to beat the 24-second clock, and the Bulls were given two they shouldn’t have had, when Ron Harper’s shot was counted, although the shot clock had run out.

“What are you going to do?” asked Sloan. “. . . . Those are very difficult things to swallow but that’s part of the business. You’re still a loser.”

Karl Malone, who stood up so well to criticism early in the finals, wouldn’t come to the interview room Sunday night.

There were other signs his graciousness had run out. He complained to Tom Nissalke, a former NBA coach who does radio commentary here, about his coverage, insisting he gets no respect here.

Then there’s his agreement to wrestle Dennis Rodman, lowering himself to Rodman’s level.

Let’s just say it wasn’t Mailman’s best series ever.

Scottie Pippen said he hurt his back “taking too many Karl Malone charges” and it began bothering him after he dunked early in Sunday’s game.

“I just started to feel spasms in my back as I ran, every time I put my right leg down,” he said. “And I just tried to gut it out. . . .

“I told Phil to take me out of the game. . . . I just decided at that point that I would just take as much treatment as I could and try to go out and do what I could the next 24 minutes, hoping some kind of presence out on the court could make a difference, open up some opportunities and I just did my best.”

And Pippen, speaking of his Bull career as if it’s over: “Wonderful, tremendous, unforgettable. It’s something that I’ll be able to cherish for the rest of my life, to be able to win six titles in the last eight years. It’s been a great run for us and I can never see any other team in the future being as dominant as this ball club has been.”