The 1997 Western Conference Finals were a tense duel between the Utah Jazz and the Houston Rockets . Karl Malone and John Stockton went toe-to-toe against the Hall of Fame trio of Hakeem Olajuwon , Charles Barkley, and Clyde Drexler.
Malone’s hefty screen
In Game 6, with 2.8 seconds left in a tied game, the Jazz could book their ticket to the NBA Finals. To win it all, Jerry Sloan drew up a play that involved Stockton coming off a Malone screen.
The strategy worked perfectly as the guard found himself open from 3-point country and nailed it. But the play wouldn’t have developed properly without Karl’s solid screen on Drexler.
“I was able to get pretty good meat on him,” Malone said of Drexler. “It was the best pick I set in my life.”
Malone completely erased Drexler in the play. Meanwhile, Barkley was too slow to switch to Stockton, who promptly nailed the game-winning 3-pointer that sent them to the 1997 NBA Finals.
However, Clyde offered his perspective on the final play of the series. While Malone claimed it was a pretty good screen, Drexler felt the Mailman’s muscular arms around him. In other words, it was an illegal screen.