The Bulls knew the time would come when Karl Malone would play like a Most Valuable Player, teammate John Stockton would play like one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players and the Utah Jazz would play like it belonged in the NBA Finals.
That day arrived Friday at the Delta Center, where the Jazz is as dominating as the Bulls are at the United Center and the crowd can be a pain in the eardrums.
The Bulls, who aren’t a bad team away from Chicago, withstood all that. But after falling behind early, their rally fell short and they dropped Game 3 to the Jazz 104-93.
The Bulls have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, which resumes here Sunday. But so much went against them in Game 3 that they have to be wondering what they can do to quickly correct things. Or else this could be a long six days in Salt Lake City.
“I thought the Jazz’s energy was terrific,” Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. “They got out and ran early. They did the things they do that make them a great team.”
But it was more than that, starting with the crowd, which had never witnessed an NBA Finals game. The fans made so much noise for such a long time that the Bulls never quite regrouped. There also was the altitude–try as they might, the Bulls expended too much energy to fight back from 24 points down midway through the third quarter.
Utah, which has won 22 straight at home and is 9-0 at home in the playoffs, took advantage. Particularly Malone, who had a game-high 37 points and 10 rebounds, and Stockton, who had 17 points and 12 assists. Former Bull Greg Foster also inflicted heavy damage with 17 points off the bench.
“Greg allowed me to be more active, able to do more things,” Malone said. “Whenever you have a guy like that–and he can shoot the basketball too–he’ll make them play him.”
With Malone and Foster dominating the inside, Utah ended up outscoring the Bulls 48-26 in the paint. That meant Utah’s screen-and-roll was working well.
“They became a little bit more accurate on their screen-and-rolls,” said Michael Jordan, who had 26 points on sluggish 9-of-22 shooting. “Then Malone was getting into the post and making some shots. That was the difference in the game. They got the momentum and we kind of lost our poise a little bit.”
That momentum helped the Jazz build a 24-point lead in the third quarter. But with Scottie Pippen scoring 14 of his team-high 27 points in the final quarter, the Bulls made things interesting. When Pippen hit a three-pointer with 31.9 seconds left, the Bulls had cut their deficit to 100-93.
But Stockton, who scored 12 of his points in the final quarter, made six straight free throws down the stretch to help preserve the Jazz’s first-ever NBA Finals victory.
“When you’re ahead you play a little too conservative, and we kept telling them to play to win,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. “I think we got into that mode a little bit, where we were playing not to lose instead of continuing to play.”
Not that the Jazz could be blamed after the way the evening began.
Right before the opening tip, roughly 20,000 balloons were dropped and burst. A 2-minute fireworks show followed, and the Jazz mascot rode around the court on a rather loud motorcycle.
Behind Malone’s 15 first-quarter points (on 7-of-11 shooting), the Jazz had a 31-22 lead after the opening quarter.
Then Utah continued its hot shooting, connecting on 54 percent (12 of 22) of its second-quarter shots. Malone had 22 points by halftime, and Foster contributed a surprising 15, giving the Jazz its biggest lead of the half (51-33) when he connected on a three-pointer from the corner with 5:41 left before intermission.
After getting within 12, the Bulls trailed by 16 at the half (61-45), and their flat-footed defense and lethargic offense helped the Jazz open a 24-point lead (77-53) five minutes into the third quarter.
“Any time you get down by 20 points against this team, it’s almost a 30-point lead,” said Scottie Pippen, “because they’re going to control the tempo and work the clock.”
