Deep Bench Chronicles

From regular-season dominance to a tougher playoff path: revisiting the Jazz’s 1998 run

The first part covered Utah’s 1997–98 regular season in depth: off-court tension, conditioning issues, questionable contracts, a slap to the face, failed trades, and a series of unusual storylines for a franchise known for its structure, at least under Frank Layden.

And yet, the Jazz still finished the season with the best record in the league, tied with the Bulls.

Now, the playoffs!

A First Round Far From Easy Against the Aging Houston Rockets

“These guys are not an eighth seed. They’re .500 because of injuries. They’re not .500 because of talent. There’s a big difference. And I’ve been beaten too many times not to know it.”

Before this first-round series, Coach Sloan is wary. Utah had beaten Houston the previous year in the Conference Finals, 4–2, on John Stockton’s famous buzzer-beater. But he also remembers 1994 and 1995, when the Rockets had gotten the better of them.

Houston’s momentum is clearly negative, with nine losses in their last thirteen regular-season games. And the wins came only against weaker teams (Warriors, Kings, and the Nuggets twice). No wins against teams with a winning record since March 25. They finished the season 41–41.

On paper, Houston looks like a veteran team at the end of its run, the oldest in the league with an average age of 32, built around three stars no longer at their peak.

Charles Barkley is limited and missed nine of the last fifteen games with multiple physical issues (hernia, shoulder, groin strain). His minutes will be managed in the playoffs, coming off the bench.

Hakeem Olajuwon missed 33 games following surgery on his left knee, and he is not at his usual level upon returning, averaging 16 points per game, the first time in fourteen seasons that he falls below 20.

Clyde Drexler had already announced his retirement at the end of the season to take a coaching job at his alma mater, Houston. He also dealt with shoulder issues all year, missing twelve games.

Add to that a locker room far from settled for players like Mario Elie, Kevin Willis, and Matt Maloney or Brent Price, with the franchise actively trying to move them during the season in a failed deal for Damon Stoudamire, another trade that never materialized, much like the Rony Seikaly situation covered in Part One.

And yet. Game 1 at the Delta Center. Houston is not here to make up the numbers and flips home-court advantage with a 103–90 win. Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and Kevin Willis deliver. Off the bench, Charles Barkley does the damage. Brent Price catches fire from deep, scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

The Rockets know how to hurt you from three, they led the league in attempts that season at around 20 per game. And on this night, everything is falling. Everyone joins in: Eddie Johnson, Matt Maloney… Utah is already in trouble before halftime.

“We just lost home-court advantage after playing eighty-two games,” Sloan snaps, sensing the familiar first-round anxiety creeping back in. Barkley gets into it with a fan, more than happy to see the sweep talk disappear from the local crowd: “They better put the damn brooms in the closet. We came to play.”

In Game 2, Sloan gets his Jazz back, tough and disciplined. Houston never gets a foothold in this one. That night, Utah responds and wins 105–90. Karl Malone (29 points, 10 rebounds) and John Stockton (17 points, 10 assists, 4 steals) take control.

The relief is short-lived. Before Game 3 in Houston, John Stockton injures his back in practice.

Still, even while looking out of rhythm, Hakeem Olajuwon takes over (28 points, 12 rebounds), with Clyde Drexler adding 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Houston wins 89–85 and takes a 2–1 lead.

The only Jazz player to show up, Bryon Russell sounds off: “It’s all about heart. We’re playing the eighth seed and the eighth seed is kicking our butt.”

Utah is struggling, Karl Malone is shooting just 24-for-58 through the first three games, and one more loss means elimination.

Game 4, still in Houston, opens in panic. Utah scores just 10 points in the first quarter, shooting 4-of-16. Then comes an unexpected break: with the Rockets up 13–4, Charles Barkley tears his triceps on contact with Antoine Carr. He tries twice to return, but has to shut it down for good. Mario Elie sums it up bluntly: “Once we lost Charles we lost a big part of the team.”

Houston fades. Shandon Anderson and Russell catch fire, and the Jazz respond with a 34–10 run. Utah wins 93–71, forcing a decisive Game 5 back in Salt Lake City.

Game 5 is a grind. Olajuwon runs out of gas, shooting 39 percent for the series, the worst playoff round of his career. Drexler is completely off, 1-for-13 in what will be the final game of his NBA career. Barkley is in street clothes, with Othella Harrington picking up his minutes. Sloan makes an adjustment, inserting Russell into the starting lineup in place of Keefe.

It pays off: 10 points, 8 rebounds, and relentless intensity. Houston hangs around, cutting the lead to three with eight minutes left, but Greg Ostertag closes the door with five blocks in the fourth quarter, seven in total. The anchor remains Malone, who delivers his best game of the series with 31 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks.

Utah wins 84–70. Not pretty, but enough. The Jazz move on, 3–2. Chris Morris, meanwhile, barely sees the floor in the series.

A Physical Conference Semifinals Matchup Against the Spurs’ Twin Towers

Utah faces San Antonio in the Conference Semifinals. The Spurs are coming off a comfortable first-round win over the Suns, who were too small and overmatched inside (3–1). San Antonio enters as the fifth seed in a loaded Western Conference, after winning 56 games in the regular season, with the league’s top defense (under 89 points allowed per game).

On paper, the Jazz are the favorites. The matchup is framed as a clash of styles: discipline, continuity, and pick-and-roll execution on one side, size and rim protection on the other.

In the regular season, Utah won three of the four matchups, with the lone loss coming without John Stockton. On the other side, David Robinson (32) is back at an All-Star level after his serious injury the previous season, and the reward for the tanking is Tim Duncan: a near-unanimous Rookie of the Year (Keith Van Horn managed to steal just three votes), All-Star, All-NBA First Team, and All-Defensive Second Team. At 21, Duncan already looks like a dominant force.

But beyond the “Twin Towers,” the roster starts to thin out. Avery Johnson is coming off a strong series against Phoenix, but he has never truly held up against Stockton. Chuck Person has not been the same since his back injury. Sean Elliott, the starting forward, has been out for a while and is watching the playoffs in street clothes. Behind them, you get Vinny Del Negro, Jaren Jackson, Will Perdue.

A relatively short roster, with an extremely tight playoff rotation, Gregg Popovich using just seven players, while the Jazz can go ten or eleven deep on a given night.

These Spurs carry the label of a “soft team,” never an NBA Finals team, often accused of getting pushed around, including after Malone’s elbow on Robinson in April, which drew little real response.

Jerry Sloan knows that neither Greg Ostertag nor Antoine Carr can match the pace of Robinson and Duncan. He assigns Greg Foster to defend the rookie, while Malone takes on Robinson, a matchup he has often handled well in the past.

San Antonio’s strength lies in its two big men, who combined for nearly 40 points and 25 rebounds per game against Phoenix. Sloan therefore opts for a risky strategy: minimal help defense. His bigs stay attached to their assignments, avoiding giving up open looks on the perimeter. That is exactly what doomed the Suns in the previous round, forced to overcompensate without a true center, leaving Avery Johnson free to shine as the Spurs’ leading scorer in the series at over 20 points per game.

Popovich, for his part, looks to force mismatches. He starts Will Perdue from the opening tip: three players over 6-foot-11 on the floor. This is not about aesthetics, it is about packing the paint, cutting off Stockton’s passing angles, and forcing the Jazz to shoot from the outside. Sloan adjusts by putting Adam Keefe back into the starting lineup rather than asking Bryon Russell to defend a much bigger player.

From Game 1, the tone is set, high tension, physical defense, and Utah escapes with a one-point win, 83–82, as Tim Duncan misses the potential game-winner despite a huge performance (33 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks). It is Karl Malone who carries the Jazz down the stretch, with two key buckets and a decisive steal on Duncan.

Game 2 is just as physical, with David Robinson beginning to complain to the officials about Malone’s defense, which he considers overly aggressive. Utah wins again, 109–106 in overtime, against the imposing Twin Towers. Likely worn down after 49 minutes, Duncan comes up short at the line, going 0-for-2 with 55 seconds left. But how do you manage the frontcourt rotation when Will Perdue is already in the starting lineup? Carl Herrera is the only real option off the bench at power forward, yet Popovich plays him just seven minutes in this one.

Game 3, played at the Spurs’ Alamodome, turns into a rout: 86–64 for San Antonio. Never, since the introduction of the 24-second clock in the mid-1950s, had a playoff team scored so few points as the Jazz did that night. Even with the Spurs shooting under 40 percent themselves, they hold Utah to just 28.6 percent from the field. Malone finishes with 21 points, more than a third of his team’s total. None of his teammates score more than nine. Forty-four points through three quarters, a complete collapse. To make matters worse, Malone twists his right ankle in the second half. With 21 points, 9 rebounds, and especially 7 blocks in just 28 minutes, Robinson gets his (partial) revenge on the Mailman, even finding the edge to go at him physically, drawing a double technical late in the second quarter.

But that brief surge proves to be nothing more than a blip for the Spurs. With a chance to even the series at 2–2, San Antonio falls at home in Game 4. Karl Malone takes over with 34 points and 12 rebounds in an 82–73 Utah win. He does it without even attacking the rim, no free throws in the game, despite leading the league in that category year after year. Midrange, steady, unguardable.

San Antonio makes one last push on a putback by Tim Duncan with three minutes left, cutting the lead to 75–72, but Greg Ostertag answers twenty seconds later, somehow knocking down two free throws to push the lead back to five. Ostertag, a 48 percent free-throw shooter on the season, and just 6-for-18 in the series before that game, sees both shots bounce around the rim before finally dropping. Sloan had put Bryon Russell back in the starting lineup for Game 4, almost exactly two years after Russell had emerged as one of Utah’s most valuable playoff pieces, already against these same Spurs. It is now 3–1, with the next game in Salt Lake City.

Utah closes out the series with a solid 87–77 win in Game 5, the outcome essentially decided by halftime. Bothered by a swollen ankle and clearly exhausted, Duncan fades. Robinson, despite another inefficient night, is the only Spur to stand out. Final score: 4–1.

It is the Jazz’s fifth Conference Finals appearance in seven years, and the third time since 1994 that they eliminate the Spurs, prompting this line from Avery Johnson:

“It’s like they’re the parents and we’re the children.”

Karl Malone 4, Lakers 0: A Statement Sweep in the Conference Finals

Next up: the Lakers. A rematch from the previous year, one round earlier. In the 1997 Conference Semifinals, Utah had handled them with ease, 4–1.

Still coached by Del Harris, L.A. is coming off an excellent regular season (61 wins, second-best record in the West alongside Seattle), with the league’s top offense. A young roster (under 26 on average), four All-Stars, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Nick Van Exel, and Eddie Jones. A 3–1 first-round win over Portland, followed by a 4–1 series against Seattle. And an unstoppable Shaq.

On paper, the Jazz do not seem well equipped to deal with him, relying on a frontcourt rotation of Greg Ostertag, Greg Foster, and Antoine Carr.

Sloan therefore puts together a specific defensive plan for O’Neal: rather than doubling him every time like most teams, the Jazz mix up their help, changing both the timing and the source. At times, Foster, Ostertag, or Malone defend him one-on-one; at others, the double-team comes from different spots on the floor, depending on the situation.

The goal was to keep Shaq guessing, to prevent him from settling into a predictable defensive look. At the same time, Utah wanted to avoid leaving the Lakers’ perimeter shooters open. But for that plan to work, they had to set the tone from the opening game.

Sloan also moved away from giving Adam Keefe the spot starts he had seen against San Antonio, instead leaning heavily on Bryon Russell to help neutralize part of the Lakers’ athletic edge, especially Eddie Jones and Kobe Bryant.

Game 1 at the Delta Center. Full throttle. A complete blowout, Utah wins 112–77, the worst playoff loss in Lakers history.

29 percent shooting, an off-balance Shaquille O’Neal (6-for-16, 7 turnovers, and some clumsy travels). Outside of Rick Fox, it is a collapse. Nick Van Exel goes 1-for-9. Kobe Bryant 4-for-14. Jon Barry 0-for-6.

Flagrant fouls for Eddie Jones and Van Exel, a technical for Del Harris. Unable to defend Utah’s pick-and-roll, he admits:

“It wasn’t pretty, folks. A bad combination, with one team playing great and one team playing lousy. We’ll look at the films, lick our wounds, see if we can’t defend the pick-and-roll better and come back for Game 2. That’s why they call this a series. If this was high school, we’d be out.”

Before Game 2, the MVP award is announced. Michael Jordan takes it, with Karl Malone finishing second as the defending winner. 92 first-place votes for Jordan, 20 for Malone.

Game 2 is far more competitive. Los Angeles leads through the first three quarters, but in the closing minutes, Utah’s experience takes over. Sloan goes smaller down the stretch, using Antoine Carr at center against O’Neal. Clinical execution: John Stockton delivers 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting, while Malone finishes with 33 points on 12-of-18. Final score, 99–95. Utah leads the series 2–0.

Since moving to Los Angeles in 1960, the Lakers had come back from an 0–2 deficit just once in twelve attempts. Too many turnovers, too many missed free throws, not just from Shaq, and far too soft in the closing moments to realistically think about the Finals. Too much complaining to the officials, too, with Shaq leading the way.

Aside from the fact that the next game is at home, there are not many positives for the Lakers. Utah’s defense allows O’Neal to score, but effectively shuts down the rest of the team. Nick Van Exel and Kobe Bryant combine to shoot a brutal 12-for-45 over the first two games. Robert Horry has just 8 total points after averaging over 10 in the previous rounds. And Elden Campbell, so effective as a sixth man during the season, is a non-factor.

Is it worth going into detail on Games 3 and 4? Not really. The logical outcome. 4–0. The first sweep in a best-of-seven Conference Finals in Jazz history.

A young Lakers team, soft and still learning. Shaq battles, but aside from Eddie Jones, there is little behind him. Malone is relentless. Was this the moment Jerry West realized he would not win anything with a player like Van Exel? Probably.

1998 NBA Finals: The Same Ending, One Year Later

(The entire NBA Finals since 1990 are available for free, in 1080p, on the NBA’s official site. All you need is an account.)

This is the peak of the 1998 playoffs, and yet it is the part where I will spend the least time. Everything has already been said. These six games have been seen, rewatched, and dissected endlessly, brought back into the spotlight for a global audience with The Last Dance in 2020.

After 102 games, Utah returns to the Finals. The first team to qualify, as Chicago is pushed to a Game 7 against the Pacers, giving the Jazz veterans extra rest. Ten days off before Game 1, only the 1982 Lakers had enjoyed a similar layoff before the Finals. Enough to make Utah, at least in part, the favorite heading into the matchup, according to Scottie Pippen:

“The pressure is not on us. No one is expecting us to win. Everyone is expecting the Jazz to walk away in this series. We came here last season and we were expected to win. This season, we’re not. So the pressure is on them… It’s a great feeling being underdogs because you want to go out and prove everybody wrong.”

Game 1 belongs to John Stockton, the hero of Utah’s overtime win, 88–85. 24 points, 8 assists, 75 percent shooting, clutch plays one after another. No need for a big game from Karl Malone, who struggles again offensively in the Finals (9-for-25 from the field).

A suffocating defense, with key moments like Jeff Hornacek’s steal on Scottie Pippen in overtime, or Greg Ostertag’s block on Luc Longley.

On the other side, a slightly fatigued Bulls team, a great Michael Jordan but forcing at times, and Toni Kukoč underused. Steve Kerr defending a red-hot Stockton down the stretch while Ron Harper stays on the bench? And then there is Dennis Rodman, who heads straight to Las Vegas right after the game. Priorities.

“He’s free to go. It’s better than him hanging around this town and upsetting some Mormons.” Phil Jackson

The previous year, Dennis Rodman had insulted the Mormon Church in Utah, earning a $50,000 fine and a public apology. Rodman and the Mormons, two completely different worlds.

In a twist that fits the era perfectly, right in the middle of those 1998 Finals, Rodman and Karl Malone had agreed to face each other a month later… in a wrestling match in San Diego.

Like Game 1, Game 2 is tight from start to finish and comes down to the final minute. Karl Malone struggles badly: 16 points (5-for-16 shooting), and no field goals in the second half (0-for-4). Including the 1997 Finals, Malone is now shooting under 42 percent and averaging just 22.5 points, nearly five below his regular-season mark. The pressure? He remains unshaken, offering no excuses.

And the turnovers pile up for Utah (20). On the other side, strong performances from Scottie Pippen, a dominant Michael Jordan, and a timely contribution from Steve Kerr, who makes an impact in the fourth quarter with his first rebound of the series.

Chicago wins 93–88. Series tied 1–1, with the next three games in Chicago.

Game 3. Sloan decides he can no longer afford to start Greg Foster at center, Utah is getting crushed on the offensive glass. So Greg Ostertag gets the start at the United Center. On paper, it makes sense, his size could help contain Luc Longley, but it turns into a disaster.

Ostertag had played just 24 minutes over the first two games, totaling 9 points and 6 rebounds, riding his solid stretches against Shaquille O’Neal in the Conference Finals. But he never got back to his previous year’s level.

Heavy hands, unreliable at the line… Sloan’s idea was simply to get help on the boards and free up Karl Malone offensively. Instead, Chicago exploits the weak link. Scottie Pippen guards him one-on-one, then gradually ignores him altogether, leaving him alone, completely harmless, and freeing himself to help Ron Harper trap John Stockton and disrupt the offense.

After a strong start from Malone (12 points on 6-for-6 shooting), Utah collapses. Midway through the second quarter, after nearly six scoreless minutes, Malone drives to cut the deficit to 29–23. But he runs over Pippen, and referee Hue Hollins waves off the basket with an offensive foul. Confusion. A turning point, as Pippen later puts it:

“That was the key. We’ve been trying to force him into taking jump shots. Karl is the guy who’s going to try to get to the basket… You have to be man enough to take the charge, because he comes to the basket pretty hard.”

From there, it’s all Bulls.

They force nine turnovers in the quarter, trapping Stockton at half court with Harper and Pippen before he can even initiate the offense. Utah complains about illegal defense, Pippen sitting in the lane, but Hollins, Nunn, and Bavetta let it go. 49–31 at halftime.

And it only gets worse. Utah makes just 4 of 15 shots in the third quarter, while Michael Jordan reaches 24 points and Harper flirts with a triple-double. By the end of the third, the Jazz are down 28 (72–45). Nine points in the fourth. Final score: 96–54.

A historic collapse:

Worst loss in NBA Finals history.
Lowest point total in an NBA Finals game.
Lowest scoring output in any NBA game since the introduction of the 24-second clock in 1954.

Ostertag grabs 9 rebounds (4 offensive), but his overall impact is disastrous. He will play just 7 more minutes for the rest of the series. Even a fraction of Rony Seikaly would have been more useful.

Game 4. Sloan turns to Adam Keefe as the starting center.

The move nearly works. Keefe gives them 20 solid minutes, and Utah commits just 11 turnovers, its lowest total of the series. But Pippen explodes offensively with 28 points, including five three-pointers, while Dennis Rodman overwhelms Malone, holding him to just one field goal in the fourth quarter while going 5-for-6 at the line himself. Malone, like in Game 3, starts strong before fading, 4-for-12 over the final three quarters. 86-82.

Chicago leads 3–1. No team has ever come back from a 3–1 deficit in the NBA Finals. Add to that the fact that the Bulls have not lost three straight games since January 1995, before Jordan’s return. They are also riding a five-game Finals winning streak against Utah.

Everything is in place for a perfect ending: Jordan, potentially playing his final home game, a roaring crowd, a sixth title in reach…

But the Jazz are no longer playing tight. That release might be what allows them to steal Game 5 in Chicago. No one believes they can win the series anymore, but the lack of pressure frees them. Their best game of the Finals. Starting with Malone: 39 points, including 25 in the second half, to secure an 83–81 win. Antoine Carr adds 12 points and two crucial free throws with 10 seconds left. Toni Kukoč hits a three, Jordan misses the buzzer-beater, and Utah heads back to Salt Lake City with a second win in the series.

Game 6. Malone comes out hot, hitting his first four shots and adding five free throws for 12 early points. Well supported by Jeff Hornacek, and Carr off the bench, Utah is right there.

Dick Bavetta, Utah’s Real Nemesis

But barely three minutes into the second quarter, the officiating breaks down.

Toni Kukoč had just cut the lead to 28–24 when, with the shot clock winding down on the next possession, Howard Eisley buried a deep three, a desperation shot. But before the points could even go on the board, referee Dick Bavetta shut it down:

“No basket! No basket!”

The Delta Center erupts. On the replays, there is no doubt, the shot is off in time. But in that era, no replay review. Neither Hue Hollins nor Danny Crawford steps in to correct the call. Three officials miss one of the most obvious calls of the Finals. Utah still hangs around, 49–45 at halftime.

The third quarter is just as tense. After a made shot from Karl Malone in the opening 20 seconds, the Jazz go eight full minutes without scoring. Not much better for Chicago. Two tip-ins from Dennis Rodman keep the Bulls afloat. Pippen is clearly limited by his back, playing just seven minutes in the first half before heading to the locker room for treatment. Michael Jordan keeps firing, with some help from Kukoč.

Another officiating break goes Chicago’s way in the fourth, as a basket from Ron Harper is allowed to stand despite coming after the shot clock expires. 79–79.

The rest, we know. The Stockton three over a slightly undersized Ron Harper, off a nice feed from the Mailman. 86–83 Utah. Timeout. Michael Jordan drives, 86–85. The double-team on Karl Malone, that same Jordan stripping him with 20 seconds left, and then the final dagger over a helpless Bryon Russell, 87–86. Five seconds remain, but John Stockton’s three falls short. It’s over.

And so ends this anti–Last Dance. A final, unsuccessful run for Utah, which would never return to the NBA Finals, and only once make it back to the Conference Finals, in 2007, where they were handled easily by Tim Duncan’s Spurs.

1998 stands as the last great Jazz team.

Back-to-back Finals appearances, a peak of intensity and cohesion, but against Jordan’s Bulls, unbeatable when it mattered most, Jerry Sloan’s group managed just four wins in twelve games.

Not much. Far from enough.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for sticking with this (very) long two-part look at the Jazz’s 1997–98 season.

Also thanks to the YouTube channels that made the full games featured in this article available.

Along with the newspaper sources cited throughout, two books played a key role in this piece:

To the Brink by Michael Lewis and You Gotta Love It, Baby by Hot Rod Hundley, both published in 1998.