No one is talking about Malone . . .

[Ted]

If I were a Laker fan, I would hope and pray that by some freak chance the ball doesn't go from Kobe's hands to Karl's hands in crunch time.

Who needs to hope and pray when the Lakers have Kobe?

Right. Of course. Kobe won't be passing the ball! What was I thinking?

[gaither]

This one is too near and dear to my heart for me to pass up commenting on it.

The biggest reason Malone doesn't have a title in Utah is KARL MALONE.

In the championship serieses against Chicago, Malone settled for long-range jumper after long-range jumper.  Because of Rodman's defense?  No.  Because - the first time around, Malone was trying to prove he deserved the MVP trophy he had been awarded, and the second time around, he was trying to prove people were wrong about the first time around.  It wasn't Rodman's defense - it was the defense of BRIAN WILLIAMS that affected Malone more.  Malone didn't cut to the lane off of pick-and-rolls - he broke to the outside, over, and over, and over - with Skander and me screaming about it the entire time.

It wasn't Karl Malone's jumper that is the threat - it's the fact that he might go strong to the basket; draw a foul; get your players in foul trouble, bruise them up, or put the fear into them of getting in his way again; and hit a high percentage of shots.  But Malone kept insisting that it was the game plan for him to shoot outside.

Malone abandoned his strengths to try to compete against public perception...and he lost.  It wasn't a last-minute steal or anything of Malone "choking in the clutch."  The problem was FAR more serious.  Karl Malone abandoned the type of game that got Utah there in the first place.  It wasn't "choking," it was just plain trying to do things that you can't do.

If Shaquille O'Neal abandons his post game for hoisting up three-pointers, the Lakers will lose if they keep putting the ball in the hands of Shaq, and they'll lose if they use Shaq to get other people open.  Teams live and die by the game they typically play, and if they abandon it, bad things happen.  One only needs to look at Karl Malone's performance in the two finals to see that.

Karl's shoot-outside style in Utah is a big reason for his longevity in the NBA...that and the fact that he's always taken good care of his body. I think his injury woes in Lakerland substantiate that. When you play inside the paint, you have to absorb a lot more punishment.

[Joe Vancil]

I've got to disagree with that, gaither.  Malone was the Jazz's low-post threat.  Malone was to the Jazz what Shaq is to the Lakers or what Duncan is to the Spurs - not what Nowitzki is to the Mavericks.

Malone *COULD* shoot outside, but his primary focus was either rolling off the pick-and-roll, or in the paint on our more-common UCLA set.  It wasn't until last year - when Sloan scrapped the UCLA set - that Malone spent more time facing the basket than with his back to it.

Malone stopped pick-and-rolling and started pick-and-popping.  As a result, he didn't draw fouls and he didn't get looks from point-blank.  And that translated to an awful shooting percentage.

Just look at Malone's shooting percentages his last two years in Utah, and his percentage in Los Angeles this past year.  Compare them with his numbers over the course of his career.  His last two years in Utah - when he spent more and more time OUTSIDE - stand out as being the two worst years of his career.

Malone simply can't shoot as well from the outside.  That's no crime;  it's typical.  But it's also a sore spot for Malone, who wants to be known as a well-rounded player rather than just a banging bruiser.


 

[Joe Vancil]

Oh...and I forgot.  I CALLED THE MALONE INJURY.

It's not that he's banging.  It's that he's playing in a system that emphasizes athleticism coupled with his age.  It's a long-time fact that the more athleticism you play with, the more your game deteriorates over your career.

Utah's system is brutal on the body, but it doesn't require the stretching and exertion that a more athletic system - like the triangle - requires.