He has been watching Karl Malone and John Stockton since shortly after Lake Bonneville receded, so you'll have to excuse Milwaukee coach George Karl if he's not altogether convinced the Jazz are finished.
Five straight losses isn't something you want make a movie about, true. And yes, Karl allows they aren't getting any younger. Still, he doesn't believe you can actually stick a fork in the Jazz unless they fail in the playoffs. Until then, he considers them a dangerous stretch of road.So it was, even with a 102--99 win over the Jazz behind him, Thursday night, Karl wasn't about to do a back-flip off the concourse. "I think they are still one of the top teams," he said prior to the game. "I don't think they're the most talented, but I don't think they ever were. Come May, it's who's the best team, not the most talented."
If any outside observer is qualified to make a judgment on the Jazz, it's Karl. He was at Cleveland in 1984-86, the years Stockton and Malone first burst into the league. From there he moved on to Golden State in 1987, the year the Warriors came back from a 2-0 playoff deficit to beat the Jazz in the first round. That was followed by seven years at Seattle, coaching in the same conference as the Jazz and meeting them in the playoffs three times.
Needless to say, he knows there have been numerous skeptics who counted the Jazz out, only to see them return. He, too, was sometimes among the critics, remarking about Malone drawing fouls and Stockton playing dirty. At times he got to be Public Enemy No. 1 with Jazz fans, who took it downright personally whenever he criticized the team.
But one thing Karl never denied was that the Jazz were tough to beat; he has seen them charge back too many times. Thus, despite the fact that the Jazz haven't lost five straight games since 1994, or three straight at home since 1996, he wasn't buying into the "Jazz are Dead" business.
"Utah is a very stable team, and they've been in the top five teams in the NBA for the last seven or eight years. I don't think that's going to change. They're going to be among the top five teams come May," he said conclusively.
That's easy for Karl to say; he doesn't have a stake in the outcome. For the Jazz, five straight losses isn't a glitch, it's a train wreck. To Stockton, Malone and Co. it's no more painful than an ordinary tonsillectomy -- performed on yourself. Without anesthetic. Stockton and Malone have never had a six-game losing streak.
"We're really struggling, obviously," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.
"We've just got to play through it. This is one of the things that I've always said is probably the most interesting part of sports -- who is tough enough to come to play tomorrow."
"Tomorrow" isn't a game for the faint of heart, either. The Jazz play the Lakers Friday at the Staples Center, followed by a Sunday home game against San Antonio. It's a real possibility that they could stretch their losing streak to seven games by the start of next week.
In any case, Thursday was the sort of night that makes struggling teams queasy. The Jazz held a five-point lead with under four minutes left but trailed by two with 8.5 seconds remaining. A driving shot by Stockton tied the score with 2.6 seconds to go and for an instant it was starting to look like old times: Stockton starting down the stretch, and the crowd was chanting (albeit without much conviction) "Let's go Jazz!"
Instead, the Bucks got the ball to All--Star Glenn Robinson, who took one step back to 3-point range and eased a shot in from 26 feet out. The Bucks dived into one another's arms, and the Jazz took on the look of someone who has been punched in the solar plexus. They had that curious blend of blankness and resolve that comes to the faces of proud teams on the skids.
"We've been spoiled. We haven't had a situation like this in a long time," said Sloan.
Karl, though, wasn't convinced. "The only thing is -- and I almost hate to bring it up -- is that I have been worrying whether they're getting a year older or a year better," he said.
Strange. The Jazz have been worrying about the same thing.