Do you think Stockton would have the assist record if he hadn’t been passing to Malone all those years?
I doubt he’s going to retire this year, so I wouldn’t write him off yet.
On a slightly less euphoric note, I hate that GP did the same thing. I actually kinda liked him, once upon a time.
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Not the 10 point spread me and my buddy Jack established. If the Pistons had one by 10 instead of ate, I’d have won $50 and Jack would have had to wear his underwear outside his jeans to work today when he punched in.
But tomorrow’s game, we’ve got the same bet going, double or nothing.
I see. That last second bucket by Shaq must’ve killed you. I think that you’ve got a pretty good shot if the Pistons get an early lead tomorrow. The Lakers just might implode. I’d love to see Shaq and Kobe get into a fight with each other. Maybe Malone and Payton too, just for kicks.
Two pairs of underpants?
Well it had to happen. Kobe has guaranteed a victory tomorrow: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2004/news/story?id=1821889
Of course, he kind of waffled a bit later. But this should be fun.
Personally Jackknifed, the lakers will have to do more than win game 5 to be back in the drivers seat of the series. They will have to kill Detroit to do so. Even in game 2, the lakers were hardly in control the game. They need to absolutely break out of the pistons defense and start to dictate the pace of the game, which is something they haven’t even come close to doing yet.
As for shaq, the pistons have no problem letting him get the shots. Didn’t he have 36 points and 20 rebounds last night (I’m pretty sure about the points but unsure on the rebounds). What the pistons have been doing is making everybody else on the team work for the shots and it’s been driving Kobe up the wall 
I won’t say that is impossible for the lakers to come back in the series, but the lakers haven’t shown me anything to indicate that it is possible at all. In the post game interviews, Shaq, Kobe, and Phil Jackson sounded like they were bored. They still sound like they are simply supposed to win instead of having to work for it.
Then there was shaq’s lil comment about the pressure being on the pistons to win next game. What an idiot. In every game the pistons have made the lakers play their game. That puts the pressure squarely on the lakers to do anything.
Go pistons. Shut em down. Shut em up. Send em home.
sigh…Just had to kill my joy, didn’t ya, Marley? 
While I’ll agree Karl put up some awesome numbers in Utah, without John Stockton he wouldn’t have been nearly that great. I haven’t noticed his numbers jumping out at me the way they did in Utah. Even taking his reduced minutes into consideration. Also, (entirely my opinion) John Stockton just outstripped him as a player. Better game, all the way around.
Malone’s technical foul record speaks for itself. Yes, I’m aware Rasheed Wallace has similar statistics, and if he keeps up the way he has been, he’ll be on a par with Malone. However; while Wallace has stacked up technicals, he has not (to my knowledge) ever thrown a tantrum on being passed over for the Olympic team, thrown a tantrum on being beat out at the scoring record three years running, or refused to play on an all-star team because he felt snubbed by the fans.
Maybe I’m being silly (I am being silly) but I hate the attitude that without Stockton, Malone would have been nothing. It wasn’t a competition.
I loved Stockton. I loved Stockton my entire life, and when he retired, I didn’t really have any interest in basketball anymore.
I loved Stockton because he was a team player. He didn’t care about numbers or a big salery or being an ass, he just cared about a team. For nearly my entire life, it was StocktontoMalone. They worked as a team. I think knocking part of the team down to build the other one up really doesn’t do service to the years they spent together on the court. And I think it really misses the point of what Stockton was doing out there–he was the assist leader for a reason.
Also, Malone isn’t putting up the numbers he used to because he’s old. I mean, let’s not put too fine a spin on it. He’s old and he’s playing on a team that’s not about teamwork. We can see that now because they’re falling apart when they need to be working together. They have a few too many egos, a few too many superstars, and a few too many dicks flopping around out there getting in the way of the game.
Don’t get me wrong, pepperlandgirl. I am not saying they weren’t a great team. They were. I’m just really turned off to Malone by the type of player he is. Dirty, that is. And the way he presented himself off court. John Stockton just always struck me as a class act. Karl Malone, not so much.
Stockton was every bit as dirty on the court as Malone is, and was. Nobody set a dirtier down-screen than Stockton.
I agree with Jimmy Chitwood. Stockton was a very dirty player. You shouldn’t let his size and country-boy looks fool you. Some of the dirtiest players, including Bird and Jordan, have non-intimidating faces. This allows them to play dirty for so long, because the refs never call fouls on them.
No one should try to whitewash John Stockton’s record. Was he a dirty player- sure! He was in their grabbing jerseys and throwing elbows in every game. Everybody saw it a hundred times.
The ONLY excuse I’ll offer for him is that practically EVERYBODY in the NBA did the same! Basketball can be a brutal game. Stockton didn’t do anything to change that, but he sure wasn’t the one who caused the problem, nor do I think he was notably dirtier than 20 or 30 players I could name off the top oif my head.
So, why did he have such a bad reputation? I believe it’s mainly because he had such a squeaky clean image off the court. When someone with a reputation as a thug elbows you in the ribs, well, you may get angry, but you’re not surprised. On the other hand, when a guy with a Pat Boone/Donny Osmond image does the same, you’re not just angry about the elbows, you’re angry because you perceive him (unfairly, in my opinion) as a hypocrite.
La la LAH la…la la la LAH… hey hey HEY… GOoooOOOOoood-ByyyYYyyeeeEEEE.
I shall now call Jack and haze him for the next 7 minutes.
UP BY TWENTY-FIVE, BAYYYBEEEEE!
Detroit-100
L.A.-87
I guess basketball is a team sport after all. There is no emoticon to express my feelings, but this’ll do
I honestly thought this would be a wee bit closer than it was. Course I thought that the lakers would win it. I’ll just have to live with the pain of being wrong. The looks on the faces of Shaq, Kobe, and Phil Jackson will get me through it.
Congratulations Detroit Pistons on exceeding everyones expectations except for your own.
Congratulations to the Detroit Pistons on shutting an entire city up by kicking the crap out of the Lakers.
I’m happy, mainly because a Wildcat got a ring. Way to go, Tayshaun, and hopefully you’ll get several more.
Larry Brown, congratulations on winning both an NCAA and an NBA championship as a coach.
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Of all the reasons I have for wanting the Lakers to go down in flames, Karl Malone NOT getting a ring tops the list. The man rode John Stockton’s talent for years, recognized the fact that he’d have to be traded to a playoff-bound team to buy himself a championship, and watching him finally get that he will NEVER HAVE ONE was the highlight of my entire weekend.
John Stockton is (was) generally regarded by NBA players as THE biggest prick in the sport. He is a nasty man. Good ballplayer, though.
Seriously, if you ever meet someone that played with/against him, ask them what they think.
Would Malone’s choice have been viewed in a different light if, say, he had joined upstanding citizen Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs in order to chase a title instead of Shaq, Kobe and the hated Lakers? Or if he had joined plucky Detroit? I, for one, was pleased to see a player choosing his team using criteria OTHER THAN being able to wring every last dollar that he could out of the deal. And he did go to a successful team, true, but was he really supposed to make a beeline for Golden State or Orlando?
Wow. The Pistons totally dominated.
Congratulations, Messrs. Brown, Wallace, Wallace, et al.
I’m curious to see how many Laker fans call into Kevin Wheeler’s show tonight. Congrats Detroit, but watch out for those Bucks next year!
woohoo!
does the snoopy dance in celebration