If Game 4 of the Utah-Sacramento NBA playoff series really was John Stockton or Karl Malone's final appearance together at the Delta Center, or Jerry Sloan's last game, for that matter — no one really knows what the future holds for any of the franchise stalwarts — Jazz faithful will be best-served remembering the evening's first two quarters.
But certainly not the third.
That is when Sacramento rallied to beat the Jazz 99-82 at the sold-out Delta Center, increasing their lead in the first-round, best-of-seven series to 3-1.
"That third quarter killed us," Jazz center Greg Ostertag said.
It might just have sapped the life out of NBA basketball as Jazz fans have come to know it, too.
The series resumes with Game 5 on Wednesday night in Sacramento, and if the Kings win then, it could mark the last game together of any sort for Stockton, Malone, and Sloan.
Or, maybe not.
No one knows if the 41-year-old Stockton will retire after this, his 19th season in Utah. No one knows if the 39-year-old Malone, after 18 straight seasons with the Jazz, will use his pending free agency to chase dreams of a championship elsewhere. No one knows if Sloan will honor the final year of his contract, and be back for a 16th season as head coach of the Jazz.
Really, no one — not even any of the three, it seems — can say they truly know.
After Wednesday, though, the Jazz can say this: If it was Stockton and Malone's final outing together at home, it wasn't much to remember.
"If that's the case," Ostertag said, "then it wasn't a great sendoff."
At least not after halftime.
"We got lost in our offense," Sloan said of the quarter where all went awry.
"Calbert (Cheaney) and (Matt) Harpring in foul trouble — that was huge for us," Sloan added. "I took them out, and then we started going crazy in our offense. I think that hurt as much as anything."
Sacramento outscored the Jazz by 18 points in that fateful third quarter, one in which Utah committed a whopping seven turnovers compared to just one from the Kings.
Down by four going into the second half, Sacramento out-scored Utah 36-18 in those telling 12 minutes — including an amazing 14-2 run in the final 2:56 of the quarter.
"We kind of didn't execute," Harpring said.
Kind of didn't score, either.
Before that decisive run began, the Kings' lead stood at two, 59-57. When it was done, it was up to14 at 73-59.
First, Kings starting point guard Mike Bibby made a 17-foot jumper, followed by a 3-pointer from Peja Stojakovic, whose 29 points did the Jazz in in Game 2. Before the quarter was over, Chris Webber would hit a 20-foot jumper, Bobby Jackson would make two fastbreak layups after two Webber steals, Bibby would connect on 1-of-2 free throws and Stojakovic would sink a pair from the line.
Utah's only basket during the run: Malone's tip of Mark Jackson's missed layup, making it 64-59 Kings. Sacramento out-scored the Jazz 9-0 from that point until the end of the third, which ended with Utah down 21-4 in the turnover count.
The Jazz used a 10-0 blitz late in the opening quarter to help open a 28-20 lead that they took into the second. And when Mark Jackson canned a 3-pointer early in the second, Utah had an 11-point advantage that was its highest of the first half.
By the time Kings center Vlade Divac made a short hook with 6:32 to in the third, however, Utah's lead was gone for good.
"It's not over," Harpring said. "We know we can beat this team."
But definitely not Wednesday, when Stojakovic finished with a game-high 27 points and Webber added 26, plus another 11 rebounds.
Malone, who played despite a strained lower back, had a team-high 24 points for the Jazz. Ostertag, meanwhile, pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds, but he went scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting after scoring a career playoff-high 22 points in Game 3.
"I got to that point where nothing was falling, and it just escalated," he said. " . . . I killed us tonight on the offensive end."
Whether or not it leads to the death of an era remains to be seen. Ostertag, like everyone else, has no idea. But he does some ideas for Game 5.
"Wednesday," he said. "I'm going to lay it out on the line. I'm going to try to lay it out as hard as I can, and when I get done, if we lose that game, I hope not to have an ounce of energy left.
"I'm gonna try," Ostertag added, "to send them off on a good night."
If it's the end. Or even if it's not.
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