I don't solely blame Karl, but it is disappointing that he took so many jumpers and disappeared in two of the most pivotal games of the Finals.
-Game 5 of '97 with the series tied 2-2, Karl shot just 1-6 in the 2nd-half (1 layup, 5 jumpshots).
-Game 2 '98, Karl shot 5-16 overall and was 0-4 (all jumpshots) in the 2nd half. With Utah down 2 with 30 seconds left, he had Toni Kukoc on him but instead of posting up, he took (and missed) an 18-footer.
The lingering memory from '97 was Bill Walton constant bemoaning every time Karl would take a fadeaway "Just take this to the hoop and get a foul here...get to the basket here...no fadeaways please...MVP time, where is Karl Malone?"
Karl did have his moments in the clutch, so I think Bob Costas said it best when he said something to the effect of Sometimes Karl came through, sometimes he didn't - but nobody came through as often or as consistently as Michael Jordan."
IMO - the Jazz played better basketball than the Bulls in '97 even though Chicago was the better team, and poorer basketball than Chicago in '98 even though I thought Utah had the better team. Heck, they lost Games 1, 5, & 6 even though they led for 129/144 total minutes. Chicago just finished games better.
As for Karl's supporting cast, in '97 they (particularly Russell, Ostertag, Foster and Morris) provided more help from the 3pt line which kept Chicago's defense more honest. In '98, they used their length to force Stock baseline in the pick-and-roll and then played a zone (aka illegal defense) on the weakside and Utah couldn't make them pay from deep.
And speaking of officiating, the Jazz could've easily won Game 6 of the '97 Finals if an obvious goaltend/basket interference was called on Scottie Pippen with less than 30 seconds remaining.
It's painful to think about how close Utah was to beating Chicago both years - but sometimes you just have to live with the fact that your best just isn't as good as the other guy's best.
