Old Jazzmen Still Have Rhythm : ‘StocktontoMalone’ Combination Continues to Click for Utah

You’ve seen the highlights, over and over again. And you’ve heard it: “Stockton to Malone.” How many times have you heard the announcers say that?

How many times has Utah Jazz play-by-play man Hot Rod Hundley said it?

“Thousands,” Hundley said. “It’s like one word: StocktontoMalone.”

For 12 years they have been working together in Utah, performing at a level destined to bring them to the Hall of Fame. John Stockton owns the NBA career records for assists and steals. This season, Karl Malone joined Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone and Elvin Hayes as the only players with 25,000 points and 10,000 rebounds.

In his 13th year in the league, Stockton answered criticism that he was slowing down by shooting 55% (the second-highest shooting percentage of his career), although he did relinquish his nine-year hold on the assists title by slipping to 10.5 per game.

Malone, in year 12, has had a season that many believe will bring him the NBA’s most valuable player award. He averaged 27.4 points, 9.9 rebounds and a career-high 4.5 assists.

Now, finally, they appear to be in position to make their first trip to the league’s greatest stage, the NBA Finals. The Jazz finished off the Lakers in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals last Monday night and will have home-court advantage in the conference finals courtesy of its franchise-best 64-18 record. The team has what it thinks is its best group of complementary players around Stockton and Malone, including sharpshooting Jeff Hornacek and emerging Bryon Russell.

But as long as Stockton and Malone are there, the team will be about them. They say it didn’t take long, maybe only a year, for them to develop their cohesion, this formula that’s repeated over and over again. Stockton dribbles down the right side, gets a screen from Malone, then finds Malone charging down the lane for a basket or drifting out to the sideline for a jump shot. Or Malone grabs the rebound and throws an outlet pass to Stockton, then chugs downcourt while Stockton runs the fast break and slows at the last second to pass back to Malone for a thunderous dunk.

Ask Lakers Coach Del Harris what’s changed in the years since he was in Milwaukee and first coached against Stockton and Malone and he’ll tell you: “Not a whole lot. They’ve been awfully steady for a long period of time. They probably developed one or two of those little veteran tricks that they keep getting the referees to fall for. Other than that, their basic game’s pretty much the same.”

“They’re the best two guys I’ve ever seen together,” Hundley said. “I played with Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. Great players, two of the best of all time, but they didn’t play off one another. Stockton and Malone live off each other.” Hundley said Malone is twice as good when Stockton is on the court. Stockton, always hesitant to talk about himself, his place in history or his skills, dishes to Malone.

“He has great hands, great instincts for finishing,” Stockton said. “I don’t know if it’s just a feel or just that he’s so good at what he does. It kind of makes our jobs easier.”

*

You’ve seen the highlights, probably even seen a few games, so you think you know why they’re so good.

“You don’t see them in the locker room,” Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan said. “That’s where you find out a lot about basketball players, in the locker room. You find out a lot about them in practice. These guys practice as hard as I’ve ever had anybody practice in the time I’ve been here. They’ve been with us for what, 12 years? Thirteen years for John? And they’re in better shape than anybody that comes to camp.”

When U.S. Olympic team assistant coach Clem Haskins and his wife spent time with Stockton’s family during the 1996 Atlanta Games, attending everything from badminton to swimming events, Haskins noticed that the discipline that defines Stockton’s game could be seen in his private life as well, right down to his well-behaved children.

“Whatever (discipline) is there has to have come from my parents,” Stockton said. “I don’t think I remember them stressing discipline or anything like that, but I know it was there and understood.”

Malone grew up in rural Louisiana, yet emerged with the same qualities as Stockton, who is from Spokane, Wash.

“You’ve got to be professional about your job,” Malone said. “To play with another guy like that, that has the same things that you have, the same goals that you have, it’s fun to have.”

They take care of themselves, train properly and the results show in this remarkable statistic: They have missed only four games apiece and combined have played in 2,042 of a possible 2,050 games.

“Four games in 12 years,” Haskins marveled. “You’ve got guys that cough twice and miss four games in a week.”

Stockton is the active leader in consecutive games started, with 609. The only season he did not play all 82 games was 1989-90. Malone is second with 467 games games started. Malone’s workouts are legendary. Grant Hill wanted to experience Malone’s workouts for himself last summer and came away feeling sore for days.

“He worked out for a while, “ Malone said. “But one day he looked at me and he said, ‘God, is this what you do all the time?’ I know my weights is what has gotten me to the next level. My weights and my conditioning. I know that. It’s just something I look forward to doing every summer.”

If they sound old-fashioned, it’s because they are. Stockton might be the last player in the NBA whose shorts don’t hang down to his knees. Malone regularly uses words such as “neat” and “fun.” That doesn’t mean they are averse to using a well-placed elbow, forearm or leg to get what they want. These aren’t the things that make the highlights.

“You don’t see it, and it doesn’t show up, but he does it,” Lakers forward Robert Horry said of Malone’s tactics. “It shows up the next morning when you say, “Damn, why’s my shoulder hurting?’ He’s strong, and he’s just good.”