VS
(7 Game Series)

GAME 1 -

GAME 2 - After accusations of dirty and unfair play (you know a Utah flop here and a elbow there) from the Rockets about the Jazz, Game 2 was no better than the first. This time the Jazz had the lead after every quarter ended and again Stocton would literally abuse Maloney. Stockton would finish the night with 26 points, 12 assists and 7 rebounds (yes, 7 rebounds). Maloney looked like he had been in a boxing match instead a basketball game. As the clock ran out, Matt was bleeding from both knees and had a red nose resulting from one of the most ridiculous calls of a foul I've ever seen. With 2:32 on the clock Stockton was dribbling downcourt trying to evade Maloney when Matt reached in for the steal and was called for a foul but not after Stockton delivered a nice elbow to the face. At that moment I really lost it about Stockton...it was just plain dirty. As Maloney put it, "I'm so sorry that my nose hit his elbow." Maloney had a 2-9 shooting night for the 2nd game in a row. Although other parts of his game improved, he played for 36 minutes and ended with 8 points. He was 1-3 from the 3-point line and 3-3 from the free-throw line,had 1 steal, 1 defensive rebound, 3 turnovers and 3 assists.

GAME 3 - Going into game 3 the Rockets were down 2-0, but they were on their home court now and when the Rockets are against the wall, most of the time they come out fighting which is exactly what they did. This night belonged to Eddie Johnson who came off the bench to score 31 points in 28 minutes. By the end of the night the entire Summit was chanting ED-DIE!! But all the Rockets contributed. They outrebounded the Jazz and outhustled the Jazz. They crushed the Jazz with their inside game and then let Eddie drill shot after shot until the Jazz had to surrender to the fact that they were through here in game 3. Johnson was 12-17 from the field and 5-8 from 3-point range and add that to Olajuwon with 27 points and Barkley with 19 points and 16 rebounds. The Rockets simply said not tonight Utah, not in our house!

Controversy was swirling around at this time, with tapes of Utah's illegal defense and picks being sent in by the Rockets. There was even talk of John Stockton being fined for the elbow incident with Maloney after it was reviewed by the NBA. I mean Stockton didn't even apologize to Matt after it happened which just added to the fact that it looked like a flagrant foul. Matt seemed to shake the incident off after game 2 and although he only scored 3 points he cracked down on his defense on Stockton which is what we really needed from him, to stop Stockton as much as possible. With Matt and Threatt hunkering down on Stockton, they held him to just 8-19 from the floor, he did have 10 assists but also 4 turnovers. Matt dished out 6 assists for the night, made 1 3-pointer (out of 5 tries), 1 steal, just 2 turnovers, and 1 block and played for 30 minutes. It was his defense though that made this a great game for Maloney!

GAME 4 - At this time the Jazz were complaining that (get this) The Dream walked with his Dreamshake! But game 4 was no cake walk for the Rockets, they trailed by every quarter except the one that really counted. The Big 3 delivered great, Olajuwon would get 27 points with 10 rebounds, Barkley with 20 points and 16 rebounds and Drexler with 16 points and 4 assists. But the most amazing play would come down the very end of the game.

Maloney had 8 points for the night. He played some great defense even though Stockton would have a better game than game 3 with 22 points and 8 assists. Matt played for 34 minutes, made 6 assists, grabbed 2 defensive rebounds, had only 1 turnover, and fought through some picks that delivered some pretty low blows by the Jazz. He was 3-8 from the floor and 2-6 from 3-point range. But his 2 3-pointers came at critical times. The 1st came with 7:22 on the clock which he drilled from the corner with the Rockets down 63-56. It sparked a 17-3 run by the Rockets that included Matt's 2nd 3-pointer. The most important play by Maloney wasn't a 3 but an assist. With 6.7 seconds left in the game, the game tied and the Rockets had the ball but had to inbound from about 27 feet from the basket. They got the ball into Matt but the Utah defense began to close in, he heard Eddie Johnson (amazingly enough over the very enthusiastic home crowd) and made the pass. When Eddie got the ball he immediately fired it up with 0.1 showing on the clock as Hornacek made a last desperate attempt to block the shot. That ball seemed to be in the air for an eternity but as it began to fall towards the hoop you knew it was going to be nothing but net! It was! It was incredible....again Eddie was the man for 2 games in a row but it was Maloney who had the assist.

GAME 5 - For game 5 it was back to Utah and it was bad news! At the half this was a close game with the Rockets down by 47-44. But as the game went on things began to fall apart and at the end with the game close the Rockets couldn't convert. The only true remarkable play by the Rockets in this game was Olajuwon who had 33 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. He is the man! Oddly Matt had his best game of the series. He had 14 points, was 5-9 from the floor but hit 4-6 from the 3-point arc, he had 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 steal and played for 34 minutes. Of course Maloney had to concentrate so much on defense, you have to wonder if it was hard for him to get his offense going in games before while having to wrestle with guys like Malone, Ostertag and Carr while they set those moving picks.

GAME 6 - This was the game that hurt so much I think I walked around in shock for about a month! It was a close one throughout the entire game. Drexler had an amazing night with 33 points, 8-8 from the free-throw line, was 10-15 from the floor, had 5 3-pointers (out of 7 tries), and 3 assists. Maloney was scoreless in game 6. He played for 24 minutes and was 0-6 from 3-point range and took no other shots besides 3's, he had 2 turnovers and 1 assist. It was not his game by any means. At the stretch of this do or die game for the Rockets things just didn't work out. With 3:13 on the clock the Jazz were down by 10 points but put together a 12-2 run to tie the game at 98. Sir Charles hit a pair of freebies but Stockton had a lay-up with 10 seconds left to tie it up at 100. After that a missed lay-up by the Rockets with 2.8 seconds left led to Stockton getting the ball and launching a 3 that hit and put a dagger in the hopes of the Rockets for a 3rd title.