The Last Dance, Too: The ’98 Finals also marked the end of an era for the Jazz

The last shot. A mini-meltdown mid-series. Correctable mistakes and regrettable sequences.

The Utah Jazz had a lot go wrong in the 1998 NBA Finals, their second quest for a championship. They were a terrific team. They were tough and resilient. They were dominant on both ends of the floor. But, like so many stars in the Michael Jordan era, they were denied a world championship.

Why? What could the Jazz have done to earn a different outcome? Some of the answers come below.

Without further interruption, here is a breakdown from a Jazz perspective on the 1998 Finals. And why the Jazz couldn’t overcome the Chicago Bulls.

“The shot” wasn’t actually just Jordan’s shot. It was a sequence of events that did the Jazz in

A Game 7 at the Delta Center seemed imminent when with 41.9 seconds remaining. John Stockton, one of the best point guards to ever do it, hit a 3-pointer from the wing, giving the Jazz an 86-83 lead over the Chicago Bulls in Game 6. Had, the series gotten to that Game 7, one would have thought the Jazz had to be the favorite. Michael Jordan was heroic but exhausted. Scottie Pippen was trying to play through debilitating back pain. The Bulls were vulnerable.

Then came perhaps the defining 41 seconds of Michael Jordan’s career, and it came at the expense of the Jazz.

Down three, he took an inbounds pass, took a dribble and swooped to the basket for a lay-in. Needing a stop, Jordan made the defensive play of the night, correctly reading Utah’s patented baseline cross-screen action designed to get Karl Malone the ball, and stealing it from the Mailman. And then, the play that everyone recalls: The crossover/pushoff on Bryon Russell and the picture-perfect jumper with 5.2 seconds remaining to give the Bulls the 87-86 win.

It was all so avoidable for the Jazz.

The Bulls were obviously in a two-for-one situation, and Jordan was the best player in the league off the dribble. The Jazz should have anticipated the Bulls going for a quick score for a pair of reasons: In a similar situation against the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of the 1993 Finals, Bulls coach Phil Jackson had his team do the same thing. If the Bulls shoot a three and miss in that situation, game over.

In that situation, you always try to extend the game for as long as possible.

A big what-if: Russell actually played Jordan’s drive pretty well. In fact, he played it well enough that he got a hand on the ball when Jordan went to finish at the basket. If he knocks it loose, it almost certainly goes off Jordan’s leg, which effectively ends the game.

That’s how close the Jazz came to getting the 1998 NBA Finals to a Game 7.

Instead, Jordan powers through Russell’s strip attempt, scoring at the basket, and the bucket is swift enough that the Bulls have more than enough time to retreat defensively and get a stop. Had the Jazz made the Bulls work for a score, Chicago maybe doesn’t have enough time to play the defensive stop game, and then the Bulls have to play the foul game. Then, it becomes about free throws for the Jazz.

And then, maybe disaster would not have struck.

Jordan’s steal on Malone came with 18.8 seconds remaining, which allowed Jordan an eternity to get into his final offensive play. Jackson didn’t call timeout. Why would he? The ball was already in Jordan’s hands. But, much like the Jordan score out of the timeout, the Jazz made mistakes on their final offensive possession.

Stockton threw his entry pass to Malone too early. Jeff Hornacek had set the screen, but hadn’t cleared to the opposite side, thus not allowing the play the proper spacing. It allowed Jordan, who at the end of the day made an insanely good defensive read, the legality of staying in the area, and he completely blindsided Malone.

Had Stockton held the entry pass for two more dribbles: Hornacek clears through, and that places Jordan in a conundrum. If he doesn’t clear, Stockton’s read is a skip pass to Hornacek for an open jumper. If he does clear with Hornacek, Malone makes a clean catch and has the room to go one-on-one. In the end, Jordan made a better read than Stockton. At the end of the day, Jordan dominated the last 41 seconds in vintage fashion. And while hindsight is always 20/20, there were things the Jazz could have done to stave off Jordan’s final onslaught.

The Jazz were a terrific team in Games 4, 5 and 6. Of course, the Bulls were able to hold on in two of those games, including the series-clincher of Game 6.

But, five quarters in the middle of the series likely spelled doom at the end, when Utah was in the position of having to attempt a comeback.

The game that REALLY hurt? Game 2, at the Delta Center. The Jazz were playing well, and had dominated the Bulls in the third quarter, erasing a halftime deficit and forging a lead heading into the fourth quarter. But they allowed Jordan to dominate from there. He scored 13 of his 37 points down the stretch. Malone and Stockton struggled when the game slowed and isolation scoring was needed. And the Bulls stole the game, and home floor.

Game 3, from a Jazz perspective, is probably as painful a game as there is in Jazz history. They scored 54 points and were beaten by 42 points. They simply didn’t show up, shooting 30 percent from the field, and scoring an NBA low.

“Is this actually the score?” Utah coach Jerry Sloan asked reporters after the game. “I thought they scored 196. Seemed like they scored 196. I’m somewhat embarrassed for NBA basketball for the guys to come out and play at this level, with no more fight left in them than what we had. It’s an embarrassment for all of us.”

Those were the two games that stand out in the series, along with the clincher, of course. The Jazz let five bad quarters cost them two games. If they finish in Game 2, the series likely goes seven and the Jazz are the fresher team. If they show up in Game 3, even if they still lose, they further wear the Bulls down.

As it stood, Chicago gave itself a significant lift in Game 3, and it carried the Bulls through the remainder of what was a difficult series.

In Sunday’s “Last Dance” documentary, Jordan denied that he pushed Russell off, which was amusing to see, given that we’ve all watched the film of the play for the past 22 years.

Did Mike push off? Of course he did.

Was it a good no-call by Dick Bavetta, Danny Crawford and company? I’m going to say yes.

Russell was pushed off, but he was beaten on the play anyway. Jordan’s hard drive right caught Russell leaning and moving hard left. Had Jordan simply crossed over with no push, there would still have been significant separation for Jordan to get into his shot. In other words, Jordan didn’t have to push off.

But, here’s the biggest argument against a call in that situation: Reggie Miller from the Indiana Pacers did the same thing to Jordan. And, honestly, officials swallowing the whistle on finals plays, before the era of the Last Two Minute report, was commonplace. Jordan committed an offensive foul, but he was Michael Jordan. Russell simply wasn’t going to get that call in that situation.

So, history was made.

What the Jazz should have done, with Pippen all but useless, was run a second player at Jordan. Either make him make a shot over two people, or make someone else win the game. Jordan scored 45 points that night, on 15-35 shooting from the field. The only other Bull who was making shots at a volume level was Toni Kukoc, who had 15 points on 7-14 shooting. Had the Jazz made someone else beat them, and had that person beat them, just shake his hand and move on.

In the end, Jackson’s decision to not call time was genius. Had Sloan had a chance to draw something up, there is probably little chance of Jordan isolating at the top of the key without a second defender running at him.

Not only for the Chicago Bulls, but also for the Utah Jazz.

As it turns out, 1998 would be the last Finals appearance for the Jazz. The Stockton and Malone core aged out. The quality of the role players dried up, and younger teams like the Sacramento Kings, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers became powers, and in the Lakers case eventually won championships.

The Jazz would have good teams. Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer went to a conference final. Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert have led three consecutive playoff teams. The Jazz would have 50 win seasons. But as an organization they haven’t reached the dominance of those two late 1990’s teams.

And that’s why the 1998 loss hurts so much. In the NBA, you never know. The window closes fast for the majority of the league. The Jazz spent a decade finding their window, and couldn’t climb through when it opened. If they had gotten one, the legacies of Stockton and Malone, vast as it is, would have surely expanded. And Jerry Sloan would, as a coach, have probably catapulted to a Jackson/Gregg Popovich level.

That’s why more than games are at stake when we talk about NBA postseasons.

Perhaps Jordan’s biggest feat in the Finals, along with the Bulls, was that he never went to a Game 7.

Beating the Jazz in 1998 was a special accomplishment for Mike. Utah was simply a great team. Stockton and Malone are among the top five players to ever play at their respective positions. Russell developed into the kind of 3-and-D guy who would be coveted in today’s game. Hornacek was a terrific shooting guard. The Jazz defended well. They were big. They were comfortable playing at a different pace. They had depth off the bench.

So, where do they rank out of Jordan’s Finals opponents?

With how well-rounded they were, with the way they defended and shot the ball, the Jazz were probably the second-best team, behind the 1992 Portland Trail Blazers. The Jazz were a better offensive team than the Seattle Supersonics, and deeper. They were a better defensive team than the Phoenix Suns. They had more star power than the Blazers, but Portland was so talented with Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter and company. And Portland was very athletic on both ends of the floor.

The 1998 Jazz had the best chance to beat the Bulls, but those five quarters early in the series truly cost them.