They enter the basketball Hall of Fame with Michael Jordan, David Robinson and Rutgers women’s coach C. Vivian Stringer in what may be the greatest Hall of Fame class ever.

Obviously, there was never any doubt that John Stockton was a first-ballot Hall of Famer.  Jerry Sloan’s status was a bit more undecided but it was no surprise to learn of his upcoming induction. Stockton was in Detroit during the NCAA championship game when the official announcement was made. Jerry Sloan did not make the trip to Detroit as he continues to mourn the death of his brother and prepares the Jazz for their final five games.

As a John Stockton fan, I have witnessed many of his greatest moments in person including when he broke Magic Johnson’s assist record, when he broke the steals record, when his number was retired, game four of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Bulls (Stockton’s long pass to Malone), many games winners, etc. I still get chills every time I see his game-winner against the Houston Rockets, probably the greatest single moment in Utah Jazz history.

Of course, the NBA championship eluded John Stockton, Jerry Sloan and the Utah Jazz.  They are one of a handful of teams in the modern era that competed at a championship level for at least five straight season without winning the title: 

Utah Jazz (1991-2003)
Playing during the Chicago Bulls era of titles is not exactly an excuse. Just ask the Houston Rockets. Most teams on this list do not have nearly as long a window, as the key group of players were not with the team for as long as in Utah’s case.  From 1984 to 2003, the Jazz made the playoffs each season, but reached the Finals just twice. Some may argue that the true window to win a title began when Jerry Sloan took over as head coach during the 1988-89 season, and while Karl Malone and John Stockton had been paired up since the 1985-86 season, the Jazz did not make it to the Western Conference Finals until 1992. That’s when they became title contenders.  As we all know, Stockton’s career consisted of dishing out over 15,800 assists, which is over 5,000 assists more than Mark Jackson, who is 2nd on the NBA’s all-time assists list.  Karl Malone, meanwhile, went on to finish 2nd on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.  To have that kind of talent for so long and not come away with a title is almost unimaginable, if not crushing to a franchise.  The window came to an abrupt close in 2003, when Stockton retired and Malone went to the Lakers in a last-ditch effort to win a title. The ultimate kicker?  Between 1991 and 2003, Utah’s 632 wins were the most in the NBA. 

Source: A.B.C. Teams: All But the Championship [Truehoop]

I disagree that the Jazz run began in 1991, it really began during the 1988 NBA Playoffs when the Jazz took Magic Johnson and the Lakers to a seventh game in the Western Conference Semi-Finals.  That series put Stockton, Malone and the Jazz on the map. 

Once again, congratulations to John Stockton and Jerry Sloan!

But it isn’t the end of the world either.

Minnesota did not play like the 21-54 team that they were supposed to be.  They fought behind the good play of Rodney Carney, Ryan Gomes and Sebastian Telfair.  Mike Miller was huge down the stretch. Surprisingly, Kevin Love only had 2 points and six rebounds but the Timberwolves were +16 in his 26 minutes on the floor. 

It’s really hard to see where this one went wrong by only looking at the box score, but if you saw the game you know it was the lack of Jazz defense.

Minnesota out-shot Utah 53.3% to 48.0%. And even more surprising, the Timberwolves had 5 more assists than the Jazz, 27-22.  The Jazz almost always dominate those two statistics at home.

Somehow the Jazz managed to lose despite the Timberwolves committing 13 more turnovers and despite the Jazz making 13 more free-throws. Carlos Boozer continued to struggle, shooting just 1-9 (although his one make came at an opportune time, a 19 footer that put the Jazz up 3 with 3:45 left).  

Andrei Kirilenko found his shot that was so absent in Denver and had 13 points on 6 of 7 FGs and also contributed 3 blocks.  Andrei’s jumper was flowing and he didn’t attempt a single three-pointer (AK is only shooting 25% from behind the arc this year so missing three-pointers often just ruins the confidence in his overall jump shot). 

The Jazz had the ball with 2.3 seconds left and Deron Williams had a shot to win the game. Was he fouled??? Maybe. But that really doesn’t matter because you can’t expect that to be called in that type of situation.  I couldn’t help but rewind the Tivo a few times to see if Deron had enough time to pass it to Korver in the corner.  Korver’s man had slid back a bit on Deron’s drive.  With about .8 seconds left D-will could have passed Kyle the ball for a quick but more open shot.  Was there enough time for that, I don’t know.

You also can’t help but wonder if things would have been different with Sloan at the helm, better or worse (not a knock on Phil Johnson at all).  

Sure you could write off the Jazz after this HOME loss to one of the worst teams in the league, or… you could embrace the fight for the 6th/7th/8th seed and be happy that you are not a Phoenix Suns fan on the outside looking in.

61.8% (47 of 76) was also the 11th best shooting game for the Trail Blazers since the 1986-87 season (all Blazer wins).  Not since a 2003 game has Portland had a better night from the field.

It was a barrage of Portland three pointers and alley-oops with little Jazz defense mixed in.  It is of very little surprise that Jerry Sloan was ejected, in fact, it is almost a miracle that he lasted nearly until the 4th quarter. The funny (or scary) thing is, the Jazz could have been crushed much harder had Carlos Boozer not somehow found his jumper.  Booze was nearly the only offense that Utah had in the first quarter and was 10-12 with 20 points before he was inexplicably ejected along with Joel Przybilla of the Blazers.

This game was virtually over from the tip.  Immediately it was visible that the Jazz were just going to be thrashed.  In the first 4 minutes the Jazz gave up 15 points on 6-8 shooting for the Blazers.  But it wasn’t just the defense of the Jazz early that was the issue, the offense was out of sync  and were making a countless number of bad passes.

Gotta give a lot of credit to the Blazers as well. Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were a combined 20-30 with 51 points and I thought the Steve Blake played a fantastic game against Deron Williams.  The Blazers outscored the Jazz by 35 in the 29 minutes that Blake was on the floor.

For the record, I predicted on Twitter that the Blazers would get this game from the Jazz (much to the dismay of many Jazz fans).  The Blazers have been just about as good at home (31-7) as the Jazz (32-6) this season so it is wishful thinking perhaps that the Jazz could correct their road woes in such an environment on the second night of a back to back.  Sure the Jazz didn’t show up tonight but it’s just one game, it just happens to be at an inopportune time.  A loss is a loss, just like a win is a win.  So there is no need to over-analyze what went wrong. If anything I expect this game to have a positive effect on the Jazz for their game at Denver on Thursday more than a 2 point loss would have.  

• As Sloan was clearly trying to find something that would spark the Jazz, Matt Harpring started the second half for the Jazz in place of C.J. Miles.  Matt scored a 17 foot jumper just 15 seconds into the half. It’ll be interesting to see if C.J. remains in the starting lineup or if there is a shake up.
• The highest FG% game in the NBA since the 1986-87 season was 69.3% by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1997-98 season. 

The Utah Jazz teamed up with FireCatCreative to create a interactive video campaign to drive season ticket renewals and purchases.  Gotta love Jerry Sloan acting, you know he probably HATES doing that kinda stuff.  Also featured are C.J. Miles, Kevin O’Connor, Craig Bolerjack, Ron Boone, Steve Brown and the Bear.

This season it doesn’t really matter what the name on the front of the jersey says because the Washington team is just not very good. Don’t tell that to Jerry Sloan and the Jazz though, who lost in D.C. giving the Wizards their only victory of their first 11 games this season.  Another such loss could have been catastrophic to the Jazz team which is still trying to recover from the debacle on South Beach this past weekend.    The Jazz managed a victory but if you ask Jerry Sloan that is about the only thing they did right.

• The Jazz would not have beat many teams with their play Tuesday night, the Wizards were just really, really bad. Of course, Washington was missing Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler but that is the norm for them, not the exception.  The Wiz are 0-14 in their own division, ouch. I can’t help but think of a article I recently read (sorry can’t recall where) that talked about the no-care attitude that the Wizards locker room has regardless of win or lose… Apparently Darius Songaila is the only player taking things seriously and other players and the team could benefit by following his lead.  Reading stuff like that makes you appreciate what the Jazz have with Jerry Sloan and the team culture.
• Ronnie Brewer was replaced in the starting lineup by Andrei Kirilenko after Brewer showed up late to the team’s 10 a.m. shoot around because he slept late.  Ronnie had a decent game with 13 points on 6 of 10 and logged 24 minutes.  
• Utah started out by shooting 40% in the first half but finished the game at 50.6%.  Washington shot an atrocious 35.6%, it is hard to imagine how bad the Jazz would have had to play to get beat.
• D-will had 8 turnovers to go along with his 8 assists and stuggled with his jumper going 0-5. Deron scored all 4 of his buckets on layups or dunks. 
• Although the Jazz were only +4 while he was on the court, Kyle Korver seemed to be the catalyst in putting the game out of reach.  Kyle was 6-9 shooting and led the Jazz with 15 points on his 28th birthday.

The ejection did not give the Jazz the kick in the butt that Jerry was probably hoping for, instead Orlando widened its margin to 15-3 and never looked back.  Utah was playing very little defense and the offense was stagnant and off from the get go.

Most loses consist of some underlying lessons or a glimmer of hope.  This loss was different and should be put out of memory as quick as possible.  It now seems like forever ago that the Jazz were riding high and on their way to great things, now every Jazz fan is just looking for  a victory at home on Tuesday against the lowly Washington Wizards.

Looking for any sort of encouragement from this game, I guess it would have to be Carlos Boozer’s offense, particularly in the 2nd quarter.  Booze hit three jumpers on three straight possessions (all Brevin Knight assists) for the Jazz at the beginning of the quarter.  In all the Jazz scored on 6 straight possessions but only made up one point on the Magic during that stretch… obviously, there was a lot to be desired in the Jazz defensive effort.  

Dwight Howard really did look like Superman and the Jazz didn’t have anything remotely resembling kryptonite. Howard finished with 28 pts and 20 rebs but the damage seemingly could have been far greater had this been a close game or had he not missed nine free throws and committed 7 turnovers.

Coach took a small step toward the elusive COY award by taking home the award for the month of February.  But really how could he not have won it… the Jazz finished the month with only 1 loss (best record in the NBA and a new franchise best for Feb.), Jazz dealt with major injuries to Boozer and Kirilenko, Jazz dealt with death of Larry H. Miller, Sloan also dealt with deaths of former teammates Kerr and Van Lier at end of month. Deron Williams was somehow overlooked when it came to Western Conference player of the month, that honor was given to Pau Gasol (and Dwayne Wade for the East).

Competition in Action

The Mavs lost to the Thunder giving the Jazz a ounce of breathing room over Dallas.  On the flip-side, both San Antonio and New Orleans picked up W’s.

If the Jazz can win their next two home games against Houston and Denver, Utah has the potential to be at or near the third seed by the start of their Eastern road trip.  By the time they take the court in Toronto on Sunday, their are a potential 17 losses that could be had by the other Western Conference playoff contenders and of those 17 their are 6 guaranteed (for example, Portland at Denver on Thursday).

Report: Majority Of Utah Jazz Players Have Never Heard Of Themselves

SALT LAKE CITY—In a USA Today poll of NBA players and fans published Tuesday, four out of five Utah Jazz players admitted to never having heard of their team, their teammates, or themselves. “Wait, who the hell is that guy?” Utah forward Paul Millsap said while looking at a picture of Jazz forward Paul Millsap. “I seem to remember the Jazz playing pretty well for the past few seasons, and they always have a bunch more white guys than other teams, but I don’t know any of their names or what they do. Ostertag’s not on the team anymore, is he? Though to be honest, it’s not like I’d know him if I saw him.” During last night’s game against the Warriors, the Jazz were charged with their 49th consecutive delay of game penalty when no one got up from the bench after coach Jerry Sloan announced the starting lineup.

[Source: Report: Majority Of Utah Jazz Players Have Never Heard Of Themselves]

The Jazz may never break the stereotypes and relative anonymity that have been cast upon them so might as well enjoy the laugh.  It seems that most the country still thinks the Jazz are same team went to the finals in ‘97 and ‘98… hey, why isn’t Greg Foster in the lineup tonight?