The Golden State Warriors are back in town tonight, carrying a losing record and struggling to reach the playoffs.
At least, they'll always have Salt Lake City.Standing 48-19 and leading the Midwest Division, the Jazz just keep making the Warriors look good. They're 31-4 this season in the Salt Palace, in fact, meaning those '89 Warriors had to be something special to win twice in a row in that building in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The Warriors return to the scene tonight without All-Star forward Chris Mullin, left home with a virus affecting his lungs.
With the '90 playoffs five weeks away, a dark cloud still follows the Jazz and will stay until they win a first-round series against anybody. But Coach Jerry Sloan contends the Jazz have already shaken last season's stigma.
"A lot of people thought this was going to be a long season for us," he said. "We were supposed to be dead."
Instead, the Jazz should easily top last season's win total (51) and are still in position for back-to-back division titles. They lead San Antonio by 2 1/2 games and are tied with Portland for the second-best record in the overall Western Conference standings. Fighting for the last playoff spot, Golden State trails Seattle by 3 1/2 games.
Sloan credits All-Stars Karl Malone and John Stockton with setting a standard for his team, reporting for training camp hungry and in peak shape. He also commends the team's front office for not panicking and making risky offseason trades. In the wake of the playoff fold, other NBA executives figured the Jazz would be anxious to deal.
"Nobody made us any offers," Sloan said. "They just wanted us to give gifts to them. People wanted us to give them a player so we could help them. They thought we wanted to get rid of players, but that never crossed our minds."
Just the same, memories of the '89 playoffs are vivid to Jazz followers - no doubt, they'll be freshened by another appearance of the Warriors. The countdown to April 26 and another first-round series begins.