1999 was pretty much the last chance the Malone/Stockton era Jazz had at winning an NBA title but even then it kinda felt like they were running on fumes, they came that close to going home in the 1st round.
That 99 season was a what if season. How would the jazz perform in a normal 82 games season (maybe they were affected by the short intense 50 game season)? Would Vin Baker be in shape in a classic season and would the sonics reach the playoffs with GP in his best years? Hard to say, but it definitely was not a normal season
@whats_holden_up You don't know that! They beat them 4-1 the previous year, and both teams rosters were basically the same! Anything could hv happened! It's easy to "predict" after-the-fact when, the Spurs became eventual champions! They both had the best record in the shortened NBA season that year at 37-13 but, due to SA's 2-1 H2H, the Spurs had home court. Everything is about match-ups in the playoffs. Both teams were more than capable of winning in the other's home arena so, it more-than-likely would hv gone to 6-7 games. One reason the Trailblazers beat the Jazz that year 4-2 was again, match-ups- their big guards JR Rider. Jimmy Jackson, Brian Shaw, and Bonzi Wells were the difference in the series, punishing Stockton, Hornacek, Anderson, and Eisley on the block. Certain teams match-up better against others and, the Jazz did not match-up well with Portland. They lost to Portland the following year as well 4-1!
The West was stacked from '99 to '06. The East was the super conference for most of the 90's, but then it switched after MJ retired. Since the year 2000, you've had the '04 Pistons, '06 Heat, '08 Celtics, '12 and '13 Heat, '16 Cavaliers, '19 Raptors, and '21 Bucks. That's 8 winners. The West had the Lakers three peat, back to back, and bubble. The Spurs in '99, '03, ''05, 07, and '14. The Mavericks beating the Heat Big three. Then you had the Warriors winning four, and just last year the Nuggets . That's 16, twice as many.
Clutch for John Stockton! Happy and thrilled for him (an uttered reaction 25 years later; yet better late than further later). If only he made that shot in 1998 NBA Finals g6, that's way much better. Forcing the Bulls to g7 is interesting.
Vlade cost the Kings this game by not rotating onto Stockton, they easily could have won this series. I almost think this Kings team's fortunes may have changed in the years to follow had they pulled this series out their first year together, 8th seed beating 1st seed. Could've been a huge confidence boost & maybe they would've won a championship in the years to come.
Only the first round was a best-of-five series. It was years later - not sure what year - that this changed to the first round being best-of-seven. Just like the finals was a 2-3-2 format from I believe 1985 to whatever year it ended. Now it’s 2-2-1-1-1 for all rounds of the playoffs.
Oh i was never scared about this series ,lol , as a Jazz fan. Even cheating against the Jazz wouldnt have them to lose this one. All the Jazz playoffs in 99 you could tell that the league was trying hard ti get rid of the Jazz .. they didnt want them advancing anymore. ( that actually began in 98 but they were too good to keep out ) They tried pretty hard in this series to keep them out but the Jazz style was just too big of a mismatch still yet for the Kings.
You can most often tell about who the league is wanting to win the game or series by how the sellout commentators are talking. They were hyping up the Kings like they were trying to get you to believe that Kings should "win". Thats what the sellout league does. Theyre a bunch of sellout gremlins.
I don't know anyone that can say this was an "easy" series for the jazz. If that were true they would have 3-0 swept them but that wasn't the case. Even in interviews with Stockton/Malone they said the Kings were one of the toughest teams they had to beat aside from the Jordan bulls around that era. As far as the league wanting them out, I highly doubt it. Used to think that for the kings as well when the 2002 playoffs against the Lakers were fixed (now officially) but it's just money. Keep in mind this is coming from someone that while yes is a Kings fan, also respected the hell and liked the Stockton/Malone duo... they were a strong team at their prime for sure.
