John Stockton looks like the boy every mother wants her daughter to date. His haircut is out of “Leave It to Beaver” and all of his body parts remain unpierced. His skin is not decorated with even a single tattoo and, at work, he is businesslike, his actions unadorned by shuck, jive and trash-talking.
Stockton, the all-time assist leader, a perennial All-Star, a future Hall of Famer, is a quintessential professional who has missed but four games in 13 NBA seasons. His stature is average, his manner is unassuming, his countenance is angelic and, when he smiles, it’s enough to make all those mothers want to embrace him themselves.
But that is only his surface. At root, he is something else again.
He is the angelic assassin, the class nerd who is the master of all those tricks normally associated with the town bully.
The two-hand hold? There he was applying it to Brian Williams as he set a pick Sunday night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
The lowered left shoulder? There he was sending it into the chest of Michael Jordan and getting called for a charge.
The flying left elbow? There he was sending it toward the throat of Randy Brown and getting himself some space to run the offense.
None of these acts is out of the ordinary for an NBA game. Each is also nothing more than part of the basic package needed to survive as a pro, a necessary commodity right along with vision, quickness and a decent jump shot.
That reputation he has among his peers as one of the dirtiest players in the league? He wouldn’t blatantly live up (or down) to it Sunday night. But he did flash enough to strip away that cloak he wears.
Always this guy calculates and responds, which is what he did as he handed out a dozen assists and scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. His three from the right wing put the Jazz up a point with 51.7 seconds remaining.
Yet this night would not end as one for his scrapbook, mottled as it was by his game-high and career-playoff-high seven turnovers.
“If you don’t handle the basketball, you don’t deserve to win,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said after the game.
It was Stockton’s final two turnovers that helped doom the Jazz to defeat.
The first came with Utah up three and 4:24 remaining, and the turnover was followed quickly by a Jordan 8-footer. The next came on his team’s next possession as he drove the lane in traffic, found himself confronted by Jordan and he tossed the ball right to Dennis Rodman.
Luc Longley gave the Bulls the lead after that one and, although the Jazz team would retake it 30 seconds later, those were wasted opportunities that left it susceptible to the heroics Jordan unfurled in the Bulls’ 84-82 victory.
“I felt most of the turnovers came when they turned it over first and we turned it right back,” he said. “Maybe that’s a sign of being a little overanxious. I don’t know. guilty as charged.”
“Harp (Ron Harper) bothered him with his long arms. Randy (Brown) stayed in front of him,” Steve Kerr said. “So even though he had a big game, he didn’t kill us tonight.”
