Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz is a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The team was originally the New Orleans Jazz, but due to owner Sam Battistone's unhappiness in New Orleans (and perhaps his wife's Utah roots), moved to Utah in 1979. The Jazz were one of the most successful teams in the late 1980s and 1990s, winning two Western Conference Titles in 1997 and 1998 under coach Jerry Sloan, who is still the head coach. The Finalist teams were anchored by the combination of point guard John Stockton and power forward Karl Malone and made the playoffs 20 consecutive seasons (behind only the record Portland Trail Blazers' 21-year playoff streak). Malone and Stockton are generally seen as two of the best players in history at their positions and among the best two-player combinations of all time.

Franchise history

Early years in New Orleans
The mentioning of the city is not shown on the Jazz jerseys of that era.In 1974 the Jazz franchise began in New Orleans. Though Pete Maravich was viewed as one of the NBA's most entertaining and talented players, the Jazz were continually a losing team. After five losing seasons in New Orleans, they moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1979. Attendance actually went down after this move. Whatever the reason was for the move, it was not a lack of fan support.

1979: Move to Utah
Although the team nickname was not fitting for Salt Lake City at the time, with Utah not being known for its jazz culture like New Orleans was, the franchise decided to keep it. One fan quipped that "This is interesting, Utah has the Jazz and New Orleans has the Saints," referring to the city's NFL team[citation needed]. "Saints," as in Latter Day Saints, founded the state of Utah. Unlike franchise relocations today, there was little local effort to keep the Jazz in New Orleans, nor was there a public campaign to bring a team to Utah. When asked why the team did not change its nickname, one-time Jazz head coach Frank Layden (who later served a stint as team president) quipped that nobody thought the team was going to last long enough to bother with a name change.[citation needed] Before the 1979-80 season, Utah obtained high scoring guard/forward Adrian Dantley from the Los Angeles Lakers. He would go on to be the NBA scoring champion in both the 1980-1981 and 1983-1984 seasons. Maravich was waived during the season. With the #2 draft pick in the 1980 NBA Draft, they obtained Darrell Griffith from the University of Louisville.

During the 1980-81 season, Frank Layden became the head coach, and in 1982 , the Jazz selected big man Mark Eaton in the fourth round of the draft. These four additions to the team would serve to set the seeds for the future success for the team. Despite these additions, however, the team continued to languish toward the bottom of the standings. The Jazz improved slightly in 1982-83, despite the fact that Dantley missed 60 games with a wrist injury, but still fell far short of the playoffs. During the 1983 NBA Draft, the Jazz selected Thurl Bailey out of North Carolina State University in the first round.

During the 1983-84 season, the Jazz went 45–37 for their first winning season ever, winning the Midwest Division and advancing to the playoffs; this began their streak of 20 consecutive appearances. In the playoffs they advanced to the second round, where they lost to the Phoenix Suns. Frank Layden won the NBA Coach of the Year Award that season for bringing an unheralded team to unprecedented success, while Dantley was the NBA scoring champion with 30.6 per game and was also named the NBA Comeback Player of the Year.

1985-90: Early Stockton and Malone era
the Jazz drafted point guard John Stockton from Gonzaga University and the next year added the second half of one of the NBA's greatest pairings in power forward Karl Malone from Louisiana Tech. In both the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons, the Jazz barely scraped into the playoffs. In 1986, the Jazz traded Adrian Dantley to Detroit. During the next few seasons, the Jazz began to establish themselves as a respectable team in their own. Mark Eaton was perhaps one of the best defensive players of the era, while Stockton and Malone soon became superstars. Stockton and Malone developed into an almost unstoppable combo, running pick-and-roll plays with great success. "Stockton to Malone" became a common phrase, as Stockton regularly found ways to pass the ball to Malone in good scoring position. Despite the regular season successes, however, the Jazz were never able to advance past the second round of the NBA Playoffs during the 1980s. During the 1988-89 season, Frank Layden stepped down as head coach to become president of the Utah Jazz. Assistant coach Jerry Sloan took over head coaching duties. Sloan guided the Jazz to their first 50-win season ever with a 51–31 record, also winning the Midwest Division. Once again, however, the Jazz flopped in the postseason, losing to the Golden State Warriors in the first round.

1990s
Throughout the early 1990s, the Jazz's playoff woes continued, with the Jazz losing in the first round in 1990 to the Phoenix Suns and in the second round in 1991 to the Portland Trail Blazers. In 1990-91, the Jazz acquired Jeff Malone, and after the 1991-92 season they waived veteran Darrell Griffith. In 1991 the Jazz also moved out of the old Salt Palace and into the new Delta Center. In 1992 , the Jazz finally made it to the conference finals, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers in six games. In 1993, the Jazz had a disappointing run in the playoffs again, losing to the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round. During the 1993-94 season, the Jazz traded Jeff Malone to the Philadelphia 76ers for shooting guard Jeff Hornacek, who provided high three-point and free throw shot percentage. The Jazz made the playoffs with a 53–29 record, shutting down NBA scoring leader David Robinson and San Antonio 3–1, then fought off a determined, upstart Denver Nuggets team 4–3 in the Conference semi-finals, and advanced to the Conference finals, where they lost to the eventual NBA champion Houston Rockets 4–1.

In the 1994-95 season, the Jazz had amazing depth and talent at their disposal and were expected to make a serious run for the championship. The Jazz finished with a 60–22 record during the regular season. Despite this, however, the Jazz lost to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs in five games. Big man Greg Ostertag was added to the team for the 1995-96 season, and the Jazz reached the conference finals for the third time in history, almost overcoming a 3–1 deficit and narrowly losing to the Seattle SuperSonics 4–3.
1997-98: The NBA Finals years
In the next two seasons, the Jazz were finally able to capitalize on their regular season success. In 1996-97, the Jazz had a legendary team[citation needed], with such players as Stockton, Malone, Hornacek, Russell, Ostertag, Antoine Carr, Howard Eisley, and Shandon Anderson. The Jazz had their best record in franchise history at 64–18. They finally reached the NBA Finals for the first time ever after beating the Los Angeles Clippers 3–0, Los Angeles Lakers 4–1, and Houston Rockets 4-2 to meet Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals. A three-pointer at the buzzer by John Stockton in Game 6 of the 1997 Western Conference Championship sent the Jazz to the finals. This shot remains one of the highlight shots of the Jazz franchise. In the 1997 NBA Finals, the Jazz lost to the Bulls 4–2, after losing the last two in the final seconds of the games (90–88 and 90–86). Malone won the MVP for the regular season for the first time ever.

During the offseason, the Jazz made no significant changes to their roster. During the 1997-98 season, expectations were high for another championship run. However, Stockton suffered a serious knee injury before the season began and missed the first 18 games. Despite the setback, the Jazz were still able to finish at 62–20. In the playoffs they beat the Rockets 3–2, the Spurs 4–1, and the Los Angeles Lakers 4–0 to advance to their second NBA Finals appearance in a row. Utah, an aged core made up of veterans Stockton, Malone and Hornacek, were facing a Lakers squad comprised of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, two young superstars of the NBA at the time. Though the Jazz were favored to beat the Lakers, since they owned home court advantage, there were doubters. Many felt the Lakers were far too talented and athletic and that the Jazz's age would show. Yet all thoughts of this were dispelled in game one, where the Jazz dominated the Lakers to a 112–77 victory. It was the worst playoff loss in franchise history for the Lakers and set the tone for the series. Though games were far closer than what occurred in game one, Utah would go on to sweep the Lakers and return to the NBA Finals for the second straight year. In the 1998 NBA Championship, the Jazz took Game 1 at home 88–85. However, the Bulls overcame a slow start to win Game 2 93–88, easily took Game 3 96–54 and won a closer Game 4 86–82 to lead 3–1 in the series. The Jazz fought back to win Game 5 83–81 at the United Center and the series returned to Salt Lake City, where the Jazz had always been dominant. The Jazz held a lead in most of Game 6, but the Bulls rallied, and in the last seconds of the game, Michael Jordan made a jump shot to win the game, 87–86. This shot is one of the most famous shots in history, as Jordan retired for the second time that off-season, and highlights the Jazz's struggles in the postseason, despite their overall, consistent success. Some Jazz fans feel Jordan pushed off Bryon Russell prior to the shot, but no foul was called.[citation needed] The game was also controversial because of two incidents early in the game. In the second quarter Howard Eisley made a three pointer, but the officials incorrectly ruled that the shot was taken after the shot clock expired. Later in the game, Ron Harper made a two-pointer after the shot clock expired, but this time the officials allowed it. Many Jazz fans also feel that these "phantom five" points also cost them the game, since the final margin was only one point.

In the 1999 season, shortened to 50 games due to a lockout, the Jazz finished the season 37–13, tied with the Spurs for the best record in the league. They defeated the Sacramento Kings in five games in the first round of the playoffs. However, they lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Portland Trail Blazers. Despite yet another disappointment, Malone was awarded his second MVP.

1999-2003: Stockton and Malone's final years
During the 1999-00 season, the Jazz won the Midwest Division but once again struggled in the postseason, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers, again during the second round. During the offseason, Hornacek retired and Howard Eisley was traded in a four-team deal that brought in Donyell Marshall. They selected promising high school basketball star DeShawn Stevenson in the first round of the NBA Draft. In the 2000-01 season, they went 53–29, but their playoff woes once again struck when they blew a 2–0 series lead in the first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Mavericks.

In the 2001-02 season, Andrei Kirilenko made his rookie debut, but overall the Jazz began to show their age and dwindling talent. The Jazz finished just 44–38 and lost to the Sacramento Kings 3–1 in the first round of the playoffs. In 2002-03, Marshall and Russell moved on to other teams. Matt Harpring, however, was brought over from the Philadelphia 76ers, contributing to the offense and experiencing his best season. The Jazz approached 50 wins going into the playoffs, ultimately going 47–35 and again losing to the Kings 4–1. After the season, the end of an era came when Stockton retired and Malone moved to the Lakers in the hunt for a championship ring with several other future Hall-of-Famers (The Lakers fell to Detroit in the Finals the following season, after which Malone retired).

**WIKIPEDIA.ORG