Delusions of Adequacy

If there's any part of me that wants the Lakers to win the series, it's the part that feels badly for Karl Malone and Gary Payton. Malone especially... Payton will be back.

But Malone... doggone it, Malone deserves a ring. Just one. After all those years coming this close with the Jazz, but always coming up against the steamroller that was the Michael Jordan/Phil Jackson-era Bulls... doing his best to rally his team against the Lakers... all the dedication, all the pain... staying in, and joining with his hated enemies (okay, I may be projecting a little bit here)... after all that, to come this close again, only to see it snatched away again... it's operatic, in a way.

I just have to think if Malone hadn't tried all those baseline jumpers back in the '97 (or was it '98?) Finals, he wouldn't be where he is today. I distinctly remember that sinking feeling as Malone went up for yet another 15-foot fadeaway, knowing it wasn't going to go in, knowing that the Bulls were going to rebound and convert, and there wasn't a thing to be done about it. If the Jazz had won just one of those series, Malone would probably enjoying his retirement, like Stockton, instead of having his dreams crushed yet again.