Five minutes after feeling his left knee tear apart, Larry Krystkowiak was wheeled into the training room on a gurney, where he saw the first replay through a haze of pain.
It was the third game of the 1989 Eastern Conference semifinals between Milwaukee and Detroit, only 25 seconds into the contest. He had planted his foot, but somehow stepped on a wet spot on the court. In the nightmarish moment to follow, the knee collapsed, twisting at a grotesque angle and snapping ligaments as it moved."It looked like he slipped on something," says then-and-now teammate Jay Humphries. "Then you could see his knee went a direction it's not supposed to. I could see him grimace and I saw the knee start moving around. You could tell there was no stabilization."
There was also no knee. What had once been a healthy leg now looked like fleshy gelatin. The following day he underwent surgery to repair the medial capsule and colateral ligaments and a torn medial meniscus ligament. It was an injury that often ends careers.
Nevertheless, Krystkowiak looked up on the training room monitor shortly after the injury and watched the replay. "If you're gonna get hurt, there's no better place to do it than on national television," says Krystkowiak with a laugh. "They've got 15 different angles on it."
Three years later, Krystkowiak can look back with humor on a play so graphic it made observers squirm. He has weathered months of rehab and returned to prove he can still play effectively. Krystkowiak, or "Krystko" as he's been called since his college days at the University of Montana, was traded to the Jazz in June along with Jay Humphries. The move should at least bolster the Jazz bench; at best it could push them toward their first-ever NBA Finals appearance.
Such thoughts must have seemed a dim prospect that May night in 1989. When doctors examined the knee, they discovered they could lock it flat on a table and still swing the lower leg 50 degrees. After surgery, 60 stitches were required on the inside of the knee to close the surgical incisions. He was in a cast for six weeks.
Despite the severity of the injury, Krystkowiak says he always felt optimistic he could recover. He worked on rehab all the 1989-90 season, returning to play in the final 16 games of that year. However, a second operation was performed the following August, and he missed the 1990-91 season.
These days, Krystkowiak plays with a black brace on the knee, but shows no limp. Last year he played in 79 of 82 regular-season games with Milwaukee, the only absences being due to a sore back. If he holds up reasonably well, he could provide starting power forward Karl Malone with more rest than he's had in his pro career. Nevertheless, Kyrstkowiak holds no illusions about replacing the Mailman in the Jazz starting lineup.
"I just try to do the little things," he says. "The things you're supposed to do if you want to be a decent player. I'm not going out to try to create my own shot. I take a lot of pride in playing hard and trying to get my hands on loose balls. I'll just try to do things defensively and play full steam ahead."
Full steam ahead is apparently the only speed Krystkowiak knows. At the University of Montana - a relatively unknown school - he became and honorable mention all-America, averaging 22 points and 11 rebounds a game as a senior. Although a second-round draft choice of Chicago, his rights were traded immediately to Portland, who subsequently traded the rights to San Antonio. He was the property of three teams before playing a minute in the NBA.
Krystkowiak played in 68 games as a rookie for the Spurs, averaging a respectable 6.6 points and 3.5 rebounds a game.
In November 1987, he was shipped to Milwaukee in exchange for Charles Davis, cash and future considerations.
Although less publicized than Humphries, Krystkowiak could become nearly as important to the Jazz. In past years, Utah's backup power forward duties were handled occasionally by Mike Brown, but the rest of the time they fell on the shoulders of Dan O'Sullivan, Pat Cummings and Bob Thornton - none of whom was ever in danger of making the All-Star team.
In Krystkowiak the Jazz added a blue-collar player who is less concerned about personal stats than getting possession of the ball. "We've always liked his work ethic," says coach Jerry Sloan. "That's what got him in the league and what's kept him there. That's his game. He's one of those guys who scoring 20 points a night doesn't have to be his game. He does a lot of the little things."
Krystkowiak admittedly is glad to be with a contender after five seasons in Milwaukee with the fading Bucks. After the Jazz beat Milwaukee in the Delta Center last year, he told a radio station, in essence, how enjoyable it would be to play for a contender.
"I know, honestly, most players have five or so teams they'd be thrilled to go to. And there's just as many they would prefer not to go to. I was thrilled to go to Utah," he says.
Being with a contender is just one advantage Krystkowiak enjoys. A Missoula, Mont., native, he now has a home on picturesque Flathead Lake, near the Canadian border. "I left home at 10 in the morning last Sunday and got here at 5," he said. "That's quicker than it took to fly home from Milwaukee."
Having been on the outside looking at the Jazz until this year, he says he sees a team that could get to the league finals. "Without a question," he says. "There's no reason why we can't."
CAMP NOTES: Saturday morning's practice included only 10 players. John Stockton, Karl Malone, Mark Eaton and Jeff Malone were resting, while free agent Mike Higgins was out with a sprained ankle . . . Sloan said after two days of practice that things "are going very well. I've been pleased with the way they've worked." . . . Sloan says with only 15 players in camp, he's "not looking to cut anybody for awhile." He added that, though the Jazz could use another two-guard, they plan to keep the best player of the group to fill the final roster spot.