JAZZ WINS IN OT : STUNNED SONICS AREN'T IN FINALS YET UTAH 98, SEATTLE 95.The fans stood in line to buy Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are a professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois. They play in the National Basketball Association. The team was founded in 1966, and has won six NBA Championships since. tickets, the team entourage was ready to tour the Second City and the question of the evening was, ``Who on the Sonics can stop Michael Jordan This article is about the former basketball player. For other uses, see Michael Jordan (disambiguation). Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player. ?'' All the talk and all the plans pointed to a Sonics-Bulls showdown to begin Friday night. The Utah Jazz, however, didn't cooperate. Winning a road game in the conference finals for the first time in franchise history Tuesday night, the Jazz surprised the Sonics 98-95 in overtime of Game 5 to send the series back to Salt Lake City for another game Thursday night. ``We knew they were trying to blow us away and we knew they were selling Bulls tickets,'' Karl Malone The momentum has swung in the direction of Utah, but the Jazz still trails 3-2 in the best-of-7 series. Utah is 7-1 at home in the playoffs, with the victories coming by an average of 21.7 points, The Jazz broke an eight-game losing streak in conference finals road games and handed the Sonics just their fifth home loss of the season. ``If anybody on our team was thinking about the Bulls, they got a lesson tonight,'' Gary Payton
Malone scored 29 points, Jeff Hornacek Jeffrey John Hornacek (IPA: /ˈhɔrnəsɛk/); (born May 3 1963 in Elmhurst, Illinois) is a retired American basketball player who played at the shooting guard position in the NBA from 1986–2000. had 27 and John Stockton This article is about the professional basketball player. For the U.S. Senator from New Jersey, see John P. Stockton. John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is a retired American professional basketball player who spent his entire career (1984–2003) as a made a key steal with 18.1 seconds left to make up for another poor game - four points and six assists in 38 minutes. ``Whether I'm contributing or not, I always try to play well. But we'll take a win like that any time,'' Stockton said. During overtime, Seattle made four turnovers and went scoreless over the final 2:48. The Sonics had a chance to send the game into double overtime, but Payton missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Key Arena crowd, strangely quiet in the final seven seconds of action, turned mute as the shot missed, then filed out stunned as they contemplated another battle with the Jazz on Thursday night instead of the Bulls on Friday. ``We said that this team always responds when things are tough on us,'' Malone said. ``We always believed in ourselves when everyone else didn't. It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.'' If Utah wins Thursday, Game 7 would be Sunday at Seattle. ``Those guys are capable of beating us in our building if we're not ready to play,'' Malone said. ``But I guarantee we'll be ready to play in our own place.'' The Jazz outscored Seattle 8-5 in overtime, taking the lead for good at 97-95 on a pair of foul shots by Stockton after he grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled by Shawn Kemp Shawn T. Kemp (born November 26, 1969, in Elkhart, Indiana) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association. He is widely regarded as one of the best slam dunkers of all-time. . Seattle committed turnovers on its next three possessions, but Malone missed two straight jumpers and Antoine Carr Antoine Labotte Carr (born July 23, 1961) is a retired 16-year National Basketball Association journeyman player well known for the sunglass shades he wore onto the court. He was nicknamed the Big Dog. Early life Antoine Carr was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. overthrew an inbounds in·bounds adj. 1. Basketball Involving putting the ball into play by passing it from out of bounds to a teammate on the court. 2. Sports Within the designated boundaries. pass with 37.7 seconds left to give the ball back to the Sonics. Payton, who led Seattle with 31 points, then missed a jumper in the lane, but the Sonics recovered a loose ball and called timeout with 18.1 seconds left. That's when Stockton, who has struggled through the series while being thoroughly outplayed by Payton, made his biggest play of the night. Detlef Schrempf's inbounds pass went off Payton's fingertips "Fingertips" is a 1963 number-one hit single recorded live by "Little" Stevie Wonder for Motown's Tamla label. Wonder's first hit single, "Fingertips" was the first live, non-studio recording to reach number-one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the United States. , and Stockton grabbed it for a steal. Hornacek was fouled with 7.8 seconds left and made one free throw, making it 98-95 and setting up the final sequence. The Jazz had a foul to give, but Stockton let Payton fire and the shot drifted to the right. ``We didn't want to foul him on a 3-point shot, obviously,'' Utah coach Jerry Sloan Gerald Eugene Sloan better known as Jerry Sloan, (born March 28, 1942 in McLeansboro, Illinois), is an American National Basketball Association coach. He is one of professional basketball's most successful coaches, with a career win-loss record of 1035-689 (as of April 18, said. ``But as it worked out he missed and we got a little bit of luck.'' Carr came off the bench to score 16 points and Bryon Russell had 15 for the Jazz, who won going just 26 for 40 from the line. Kemp had 24 points and 13 rebounds, avoiding foul trouble for the first time since Game 1, and Hersey Hawkins scored 12. The Jazz is trying to become just the sixth team in NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= history to win a series from a 3-1 deficit. The last team to do it was Houston in 1995, and no team has done it in the Western Conference finals. ``We've got a tough assignment ahead of us, we know that,'' Sloan said. ``We just got to go play and realize if you don't play hard, you go home.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1--color) Utah's Chris Morriss (43) goes up fora shot while being guarded by Shawn Kemp, center, of the Sonics and Ervin Johnson in the first quarter of Game 5. The Sonics lead the series 3-2. (2) Sam Perkins (14) falls to the floor as Utah's Byron Russell goes up for a shot and Shawn Kemp looks on. Utah won the game 98-95. Associated Press |
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