John Stockton and the Jazz rose above the Bulls in Utah's clutch Game 5 victory.
NBA Playoff 97-98 Game5 (recap)
Utah 83, Chicago 81
FRIDAY, JUNE 12
Karl Malone may not care that he saved the city of Chicago. But he saved the season for the Utah Jazz.
John Stockton and the Jazz rose above the Bulls in Utah's clutch Game 5 victory. |
Malone let out four games of frustration with the explosion his team has been waiting for, scoring 39 points and carrying the Jazz to a party-crashing 83-81 victory over the Chicago Bulls in Game Five of the NBA Finals.
Apparently vowing to go down shooting, Malone was 17-of-27 from the field, mixing in drives with jumpers. He scored 14 points as the rest of his teammates struggled in the first half, then dominated the third quarter with 17 points as Utah took the lead for good.
Malone, who also had nine rebounds and five assists, atoned for his disappearing act in the fourth quarter of Game Four with three clutch jumpers, including one from the left corner with 53 seconds left that gave the Jazz an 80-76 lead and was just enough to hold off the Bulls.
"You try not to listen to everything said about you, because you know it's not good, so you try not to read the paper," Malone said. "I was able to get away yesterday and get totally away from basketball, and we as a team knew this was do-or-die."
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"If you want to win ballgames and you're with the Jazz, you go to Karl Malone," Utah guard John Stockton said. "He was terrific tonight. He made some tough shots in some rugged parts of the ballgame."
Although Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen both played poorly, the Bulls staged a furious rally in the closing seconds that came up just short when Jordan missed a long three-pointer at the buzzer.
"They were much more aggressive. They made their shots," Jordan said. "Karl Malone carried them. And for all the criticism I'm pretty sure he's received in this playoff, I think he put a lot of things to rest."
For the second time in five years, the Bulls disappointed a city ready for a raucous celebration by losing Game Five at home. Prior to Game Five in 1993, Phoenix Suns forward Charles Barkley wrote "Save the City" on the locker room blackboard and Phoenix defeated Chicago. That was the Bulls' last home Finals loss before tonight.
"The Jazz players are sitting in their hotel watching all the stories about Grant Park and the police telling people not to riot," Bulls guard Steve Kerr said. "The whole city seemed poised for a celebration and I'm sure it ticked them off."
Other than his play, Malone offered no motivational messages. But he forced the Bulls to win in Salt Lake City if they want to secure their third straight NBA title and sixth in eight years. Game Six is Sunday in Utah, where Chicago won Game Two.
"We had nothing to prove," Malone said. "We just have to continue to believe in each other as a team. When we make up our mind as a team, as a group to play defense, execute our plays, rebound, we're a good team."
"I thought Karl Malone was sensational," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "He's had games like that before. Every time we went to him, we made up our mind to try to make sure he got the basketball. "
Reserve forward Antoine Carr gave the Jazz a huge boost with 12 points, including eight in the fourth quarter. Stockton added nine points and 12 assists for Utah, which became the first team in the series to shoot 50 percent (34-of-67).
"I wanted to let them know I could still score down low," Carr said. "I figured we were going to go out fighting. Hopefully we can do it again and get another win."
"Antoine was a big difference for us," Malone said. "He made a lot of buckets."
Toni Kukoc scored 30 points to lead the Bulls but missed a big free throw with 18 seconds left. He made 11-of-13 shots and carried Chicago's offense at times.
"Toni was the one that got us going," Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. "Scottie had a night to forget from the field. Michael took a long time to get going."
Jordan scored 28 points, but was 9-of-26 from the field and went the final 7 1/2 minutes without a basket. Pippen had 11 rebounds and 11 assists but hurt his chances for Finals MVP as he fouled out with just six points on 2-of-16 shooting.
"I think it was a lot of distractions that sort of took our focus away from what we had to do tonight," Pippen said. "We just didn't come out and have the same type of intensity we had the last couple of games."
Malone's big third quarter gave the Jazz a 59-55 lead and Bryon Russell had a three-pointer and dunk in a surge that opened the final period and gave Utah a 68-60 advantage with just over nine minutes to go.
Malone answered Jordan's last basket of the game with a jumper. Two baskets by Carr and a layup by Malone gave Utah a 76-69 lead with 3:34 remaining. Jordan made two foul shots, but Carr sank a 20-footer to keep the margin at seven points with 2:18 left.
Kukoc made a three-pointer and Jordan added two more foul shots with 1:13 to play, but Malone drilled a 12-footer for an 80-76 lead. He fouled Kukoc attempting a three-pointer at the other end and the Croatian made the first two before missing the third.
Carr made two free throws -- Utah's first of the final period -- for an 82-78 lead, but Kukoc threw in his fourth three-pointer of the game with 5.5 seconds to go. Jeff Hornacek dribbled out nearly all of the clock before he was fouled with 1.1 seconds left, but the usually reliable free-throw shooter missed 1-of-2, giving the Bulls one last chance.
Stockton broke up the first inbounds pass and Jordan missed badly on his attempted game-winner as Chicago failed to become the first team to sweep the middle three home games since the Finals went to a 2-3-2 format in 1985.
"I think when you stand up as a person in this business you're going to get a little bit more respect," Sloan said. "And I think that's the thing that we had to try to do is to try to demand more of ourselves. We had our backs to the wall."
"We wanted (Kukoc) to shoot the last shot of the game," Jackson said. "It didn't come in his direction, as we got rushed with 1.1 and he didn't have the final opportunity."
The Bulls shot 39 percent (29-of-75) and were beaten on the boards, 37-33. They forced 17 turnovers, but just three in the second half, when the Jazz shot 65 percent (20-of-31).
Malone was on fire in the third quarter, when tempers flared. He opened with three straight baskets before his scoop layup and free throw pulled Utah into a 43-43 tie with 6:46 left.
Stockton drove for a hoop and Hornacek pulled up for a jumper before Stockton and Pippen crashed to the floor and tussled, with both players receiving technicals. After a three-point play by Jordan, Hornacek and Dennis Rodman were whistled for technicals with 4:33 to go.
Malone scored nine points in the final four minutes of the period, including two free throws that stretched the lead to seven points. But Kukoc buried a three-pointer to close the quarter.
On the verge of elimination, the Jazz began energized, which was more than Jordan and Pippen could say. Malone and Stockton combined for 10 of Utah's first 12 points and a layup by Greg Foster opened a 14-8 lead with five minutes left.
Jordan, who picked up two early fouls, finally broke through with a free throw that ended a scoreless drought of more than four minutes for the Bulls. Kukoc, who scored Chicago's first eight points on three backdoor plays, put home an offensive rebound and drilled a three-pointer to tie the game.
A layup by Rodman gave the Bulls a 16-14 lead with less than a minute to go and Malone and Jordan traded baskets to end the period. In the first quarter, Rodman had as many baskets -- one -- as Jordan and Pippen combined.
Malone and Kukoc exchanged baskets to open the second quarter before both teams got very sloppy. There was no scoring for nearly 4 1/2 minutes as the Jazz committed six turnovers and the Bulls four.
Jordan found the rhythm, making three straight shots. Malone tied it at 26-26 with a thunderous fast-break dunk, but was whistled for a technical foul as he elbowed Rodman after the play. Jordan made the free throw, then added a three-point play before Pippen snapped out of it with two free throws for a 32-26 lead with 2:10 left in the half.
Kukoc, who scored 17 first-half points on 7-of-7 shooting, threw in a hook with 4.3 seconds left to push the advantage to eight points. But Malone found Shandon Anderson with a full-court pass for a layup that made it 36-30 at halftime.
Jordan scored 13 points but missed 7-of-12 shots. Pippen was worse, making just 1-of-7. Malone scored 14 points but did not get much help as the Jazz committed 14 turnovers and did not convert any of their nine offensive rebounds into points.
"The first half was really what I call a rugby contest, a lot of mucking around," Jackson said.
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