The next thing anybody knew, the Jazz's supposedly most promising season was over. The Midwest Division champs' brief, puzzling playoff run officially ended Tuesday night when Bobby Hansen punted the basketball about 20 rows up into the Coliseum Arena and the Golden State Warriors walked away with a sweep of the best-of-five NBA series.
The Warriors' 120-106 victory sent them into the Western Conference semifinals, beginning at Phoenix Saturday, while the Jazz will meet Thursday to divide playoff money and say their goodbyes for roughly five months. "It'll be the longest summer we've ever had," said Jazz general manager David Checketts, and he's right in more ways than one.Informed that the basketball world at large was surprised by the early exit of a Western Conference favorite, Karl Malone responded, "Why?" Across the locker room, though, Mark Eaton was genuinely stunned. "A state of shock . . . frustrating, more than anything," was his reaction after the Jazz lost three straight games for the first time since Coach Jerry Sloan's rough December in the East.
In the wake of the sweep, naturally, the Jazz will face all kinds of questions this summer. "We're not unhappy with this group of guys; not at all," said Checketts, who knows just the same that he has needs - the off-guard position, for one - to address between now and November.
For now, the Jazz can only wonder what happened in a series of three very winnable games and three second-half collapses. In the latest adventure, they gave up 12 straight points in the third quarter but cut the Warriors' lead to six points with 5:24 left in the game - only to have 7-foot-7 Manute Bol deliver a devastating 3-point shot.
End of series, end of season, and what a way to go. The Bol shot is the frozen moment of Jazz-Warriors '89, the case of a favored team that never caught on to the freaky other guys. "You just don't dream about sweeping a team like Utah - they're too good," said Warrior guard Winston Garland.
So the Jazz leave the playoffs quietly, asking for a disclaimer. "They really made us play the way we didn't want to play," said John Stockton, after the Warriors' small lineups and outside shooting took Eaton out of game after game and their pack-it-in defense caused trouble.
"Out there on the floor, you continually had to think," mused Eaton. "It wasn't a regular basketball game, where you could just go out and play."
The Warriors? "A very hot team, a hungry team, a very good team," said the Jazz's Thurl Bailey.
They sure looked that way against the Jazz. Forward Chris Mullin continued his three-game spree with 35 points and guard Mitch Richmond, fresh from two days of supposedly distracting NBA Rookie of the Year observances, made 9 of 10 shots for 26 points. Stockton had 34 points, 16 assists and six steals for the Jazz and Malone turned on for 17 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, but there was no rescuing even one victory.
"We couldn't ever come up with an answer to stop 'em consistently," said Eaton.
While Darrell Griffith had his moments with 21 points, Thurl Bailey was 1 of 7 from the field and Hansen was 3 of 14. "We had to get a big game out of Thurl or Bobby, and that didn't happen," said Checketts.
The Warriors had every intention of closing out the Jazz and moving on. "The longer the series went, the more it would shift in their favor," said Coach Don Nelson, fairly accurately.
After claiming to be staying cool for Game 3, the Jazz looked as shaky as ever. Just when the Jazz overcame a slow start to lead by seven in the second quarter, the Warriors went on a 17-2 run featuring Terry Teagle's 10 points. Malone and Griffith led a recovery, but Richmond's forced-up shot at the halftime horn left the Jazz with a 49-48 lead.
Third quarter, same story. Malone winked at the press table during the warmup, as if to suggest everything were under control, but instead the Jazz came through with their regular fade. Initially, they went up by five as Stockton scored six straight, only to have the Warriors reel off their 12.
"We panicked at times," admitted one player, and there were plenty of examples. Down by four after a Griffith 3-pointer, the Jazz gave up seven points in the last 36 seconds - a Mullin 3-point play, a Rod Higgins dunk and a Mullin layup for an 82-71 lead after Stockton fell and lost the ball.
The lead reached 15 early in the fourth quarter before the Jazz rallied. Stockton's steal and Malone's dunk had them threatening, but Bol launched his 3-pointer and the Jazz were never the same.
Afterward, they were announcing the Warriors as the latest playoff darlings. "Last year, the same thing happened to us," said Malone. "We got on a roll and we were beating everybody."
Well, Portland in the first round, anyway. This spring, the Jazz were swept in a series for the first time ever, not exactly a classic end to a season with the marketing theme of "Playing Proud." Mostly, the Jazz were willing to blame the Warriors.
"Golden State just played way above their heads," said Eaton. "They played consistently, they hit their open shots, they did all the little things. Basically, it boils down to they were hot and we were not."
Which is not an answer that will likely satisfy Jazz management, to say nothing of the talk-show callers. Bring on the offseason.