For the second year in a row, Karl Malone carried the Utah Jazz to the final possession of Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
And for the second year in a row, that’s where he left them.
Utah’s star power forward played superbly in Game 6 Sunday night, but his 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists weren’t enough to stave off the Jazz’s 87-86 loss in the Delta Center.
“It was tough,” Malone said. “We fought hard.”
In the last two weeks, Malone has gone through a panorama of emotions. The peak came when his wife, Kay, delivered the couple’s fourth child shortly before the Finals began. The valley was Sunday evening.
But disappointment is hardly new to Malone. It appears that, as long as Michael Jordan is playing, the only title Malone will own is Most Frustrated.
Make that Co-Most Frustrated. Malone has appeared in 137 playoff games without an NBA title; only one player in league history–teammate John Stockton, with 147–has more.
For the first four games of the series, Malone had barely made a dent in the Bulls. Then he took a ride in the patrol car of an Illinois state trooper and came out and torched the Bulls for 39 points in Game 5.
In the first half of Game 6, Malone looked as if he were still in the same groove. He scored 20 of Utah’s 49 first-half points on 8-of-11 shooting.
Malone toyed with Dennis Rodman, who had bragged that he could stop Malone any time he pleased.
He cooled off in the second half, but he still found ways to contribute. With 41 seconds to play, he pirouetted like a second baseman turning a double play and fired a cross-court pass to Stockton, who buried a three-pointer to make it 86-83 Jazz.
That set off pandemonium in the Delta Center, where all the true believers were certain that the Jazz were going to force Game 7. And anything could happen in Game 7, right?
But it never got that far. For Malone and for Utah, the Finals ended in eerily similar fashion to last season’s series.
In the decisive Game 6 in the United Center, responsibility for the potential game-tying shot fell to Shandon Anderson, who missed a layup while Malone stood out at the top of the key.
Sunday night, Malone didn’t get to touch the ball when Utah made its final thrust, down a point with 5.2 seconds left. The Jazz had hoped to get the ball to Malone, but the Bulls collapsed on him and Stockton was forced to heave an awkward three-pointer with a second to go.
“I thought we did a very poor job of executing the play that we drew,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. “They forced us out and John had to take the shot.”
Malone had already had his chance, and he hadn’t come through. After Jordan drove for a bucket to slice Utah’s lead to 86-85, Utah got the ball to Malone in the low post. But as Malone banged bodies with Dennis Rodman, Jordan reached around and made a clean strip.
Malone never touched the ball again. Asked what had happened on the play, he said, “I don’t know. They got the ball. That’s fine. Whatever.”
He spoke through gritted teeth. It obviously wasn’t fine. Left unanswered was whether Malone, who turns 35 next month, wants to return for his 14th NBA season. He made no promises.
“I’m not a quitter,” he said. “I’ve just got to get away for a while and think about things.”
