Karl Malone and John Stockton might just be the best duo in NBA history to fall short of winning it all. That might even extend to all major pro sports. They had all the stats and all the individual acclaim, and they had all that with a franchise that won consistently for almost two straight decades. This episode of Untitled examines why, despite a basically ideal situation, two of history’s greatest players couldn’t bring Utah even one NBA championship.
There isn’t one simple answer. From the late 1980s to the mid 1990s, Utah never made it out of the Western Conference playoffs for a rotating carousel of reasons: Sometimes it was failure in the clutch, sometimes it was an unstoppable opposing star like Hakeem Olajuwon, sometimes it was missing players in crucial moments. Sometimes it was all of the above.
In the late 1990s, the Jazz finally made a couple NBA Finals against Michael Jordan and the Jazz. They lost both, of course, but neither of those losses was a foregone conclusion. Both came down to little twists of fate and momentary greatness.
This is a heartbreaking tale; it’s year after year of “almost”. But gazing upon the sheer volume of that almost-perfection helps one appreciate how consistently great Stockton and Malone were … even if they never achieved the ultimate reward for their collective greatness.
Directed and edited by Ryan Simmons
Motion graphics by Michael Das
Written and produced by Seth Rosenthal
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29 Comments
The little guy? Stockton was 6"1'
@2:26 "Stockton became the fulltime point guard and the youngster led…"- John Stockton, my good sir, has in-fact never been a "youngster". John Stockton came out of his mother with full pit bush and a full man prairie on his chest. He then slapped the doctor and proceeded to flawlessly pass the bottle to the dumbfounded nurse who in turn filled it promptly. This was the first of many assists in his lifetime.
It’s insane to me how many Hall of Famers of this era went ringless because of Michael Jordan
Simply put…they couldn't do it. They're bonafide choke artists, can't close out out. No of those dudes are him, the team is called they, because 'they' suck
Bulls
Mjs bulls.
The mother bleeping big dawg AKA antoine carr. Best line ever..😂😂😂😂 it took out all the attention from malone and stockton. Even in the description of their teamatesthey still get upstaged..😂😂😂😂😂. After a few minutes bam! Eddie "godamn" Johnson happens..😂😂😂😂
meh. they coulda won at least one if they had a real coach and a real point guard
Had Malone hit his free throws this team would've won at least 1 title.
Showtime Lakers, Bird's Celtics, Bad Boy Pistons, 2x 3-Peat Bulls, Hakeem's Rockets, Shaq/Kobe Lakers, and Duncan's Spurs. Those were the teams that won in those 18 years. Incredible.
Malone didnt deserve his MVP
Look they should tell people outside of Utah Mj's pizza was spiked and he really had food poisoning! The people Chicago knew. What was wrong our Sports announcers told the people in Chicago the truth because you know THE NBA didn't want people comin to Utah thinkin they might get Food Poisoning too??so they said the Flu' Mj Sweated that poison out for what 44 points??
They over achieved. Sloan was key. They beat several teams with more talent year in. Year out. A great love affair between a city and a duo.
Its crazy to me they never won a ring!
They were seriously one of the best 1 2 punch of all time if not THEE BEST!
4:22 actually Stockton did get the pass off.
The guy just bricked the shot!
They lost because they git out coached, lacking defense and bad free throw shooting.
Simple!
To bad they never won a ring because they deserved one!
They didn't win because the time ran out on the clock.
Larry Bird would have took a shot to the eye and still came back amd won.
Bird=G.O.A.T
Utah should have gotten 1 more star player!
Good thing Karl Malone my fault I mean “The Pedophile” didn’t win a🏆 he should’ve
“Malone compared his teammates to kids” doesn’t that mean he loves his teammates?
Always found Jazz games of that time tedious to watch. Seemed like making plays was secondary to drawing fouls which certainly shows with Malone’s free throw total.
Utah jazz were one of the weakest teams stockton and malone were that good as a duo.
all that bad mojo came from Karl Malone 🤷🏾♂
The correct answer was bald man
It just goes to show how the playoffs is a different kind of beast from the regular season
Snl voice. Da bulls
If Karl Malone was a better teammate and spent more time on the practice floor with John Stockton, instead of going raw dog, balls deep in a 13 year olds, the Jazz would have won at least one title after Jordan retired.
Why they didn't win….Michael and Hakeem.