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 Jazz would play like it belonged in these 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 is definitely louder. Pushed by their fans, the Jazz came up with a rousing 104-93 victory over the defending champion Bulls in Game 3.
Malone was close to unstoppable for the Jazz, finishing with 37 points and 10 rebounds. Utah also got a big lift off the bench from former Bull Greg Foster, who had a career-high 17 points. Scottie Pippen led the Bulls with 27 points–along the way tying an NBA Finals record with seven threes–and Michael Jordan had 26.
The Bulls have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, which resumes here with Game 4 on Sunday.
Though they rallied from a 24-point deficit to get within seven late in the game, the Bulls might be fortunate to leave Salt Lake City with one victory, let alone two. Wednesday’s Game 5 also is at the Delta Center.
The Jazz, which improved to 9-0 at home for the playoffs, won its 22nd straight game at the Delta Center. Utah has won 47 of its last 50 at home.
And the Bulls aren’t a bad road team when it comes to the NBA Finals. Friday’s loss was their first in five tries in an NBA Finals road opener. The Bulls also fell to 4-2 on the road this postseason, their only other loss coming in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat.
With so many veterans, Bulls coach Phil Jackson figured his team had what it takes to overcome the Jazz at home, but it didn’t work out that way. The Jazz hit the Bulls hard early and kept it up. Utah held the Bulls to 30 percent shooting in building that 24-point lead, and though the Bulls began to peck away, it was still a 77-60 game entering the final quarter.
The Jazz was aggressive, something Sloan said was missing when Utah dropped the first two games of the series in Chicago.
“All our big guys have really stood around a great deal,” Sloan had said. “They’ve watched Michael Jordan kick our rear ends because they haven’t kept themselves involved defensively. If you’re not involved defensively, you’re not going to have much happen for you offensively. It basically comes down to being a lot more aggressive.”
That was evident right from the start, when Greg Ostertag nailed Pippen with a hard foul just five minutes into the game. The Bulls expected Utah to play like that on its home floor.
“They will compete,” Jackson said before the game. “They will be physical. They’re going to confront us. They’re a chest-to-chest type team.”
The intensity was evident before the opening tip, when roughly 20,000 balloons were dropped, a 2-minute fireworks show took place and the Jazz mascot rode around the court on a rather loud motorcycle. Pippen had his hands to his ears throughout.
The Bulls withstood the initial rush of energy. They were 3 of 4 from the field in the opening minutes, all on three-pointers, Jordan hitting two and Pippen adding another.
But Utah began to pull away by outscoring the Bulls 16-8 in the paint. The Jazz ran its offense rather easily, shooting 52 percent from the field. The Bulls had their troubles, shooting just 37 percent in that opening period.
Behind Malone’s 15 first-quarter points (on 7-of-11 shooting), the Jazz had a 31-22 lead after the opening period.
If at all possible, the crowd would get louder, and the Jazz would feed off the energy. Utah continued its hot shooting, connecting on 54 percent (12 of 22) of its second-quarter shots. Malone had 22 points by halftime, and the Jazz got 15 surprising points from Foster in the half. It was Foster who gave the Jazz its biggest lead of the half (51-33) with a three-pointer from the corner with 5:41 left.
The Bulls were able to get as close as 12 points on two occasions, after that, but were down 61-45 at the half and spotted the Jazz another eight points by standing around on defense and playing lethargically on offense until it was too late.
