Utah fans have suffered ever since the team has arrived to Salt Lake City.
Not only did the get stuck with the washed-up Pistol Pete Maravich, In 1976, the team traded its future first round draft pick to the Los Angeles Lakers for Gail Goodrich.
Guess who the Lakers obtained with that pick in the 1979 draft? Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Ouch.
In 1982, the Jazz drafted Dominque Wilkins with the third pick before trading him to the Atlanta Hawks. Ouch.
But the Jazz luckily drafted another great point guard, John Stockton in 1984, and Karl Malone the next year, who would form one of the best duos in NBA history for almost twenty years.
The Jazz made the playoffs every year after Stockton was drafted, but it would be 12 years before they made the NBA Finals. During the only title window in the early 90's, when Jordan was swinging maple bats, they were defeated twice by the eventual champion Rockets.
They finally beat the Rockets in '97 in the conference finals, and who do they meet in the Finals. Michael freaking Jordan!
The Jazz lost in six games due to a late game shot by...Steve Kerr (assisted by Jordan of course), but also had memories of a buzzer-beater and miraculous flu performance courtesy of MJ.
The next season, the Jazz finished with the best record locking up the all-important home-court advantage (the Jazz had the loudest fans in the league) and were facing the Bulls team on its last dynasty legs.
The Jazz had brought the series back to Utah for Game 6, and if they won, would play Game 7 at home. With Scottie Pippen nursing a back injury and a 35-yr old tired MJ singlehandedly carrying the Bulls, the advantage was with Utah.
Game 6 swung back and forth, and with one minute left, the game was tied at 83. Stockton blew the roof off with a 3-point shot with 41.9 seconds left.
If Utah pulled this out, they would have winner-take-all Game 7 on their home court. H-O-P-E.
Then the closer went to work.
First he quickly went down the court and drove for a lay-up that ate up all of five seconds, which is exactly what the Jazz didn't want to happen.
Then showing off his all-world defensive skills, he stripped the ball from Malone setting up one final shot.
Ice flowing through his veins, he drove to the right, gave Brian Russell a love-tap, and buried the iconic jumper pictured above.
There was still five seconds left, setting up one final dramatic moment. Stockton shot a 3-point prayer that rimmed in and out, allowing the Bulls to celebrate their sixth championship on Utah's court.
Forgotten Moment: Utah's Howard Eisley earlier in the game had made a 3-point shot that had been incorrectly ruled as a shot-clock violation.
The NBA! Where Amazing Happens...with a little referee help.
The Jazz get bonus points for being the only professional sports franchise in Utah, so their fans really don't have other other teams to ease the pain.
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