The 1997 Western Conference Finals battle against the Houston Rockets and the Utah Jazz was a pretty fiery one. Both the powerhouses had some big names in their squad. The likes of Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and Charles Barkley were in hopes to lead the Rockets to their 3rd title in 4 years. Whereas, Karl Malone and John Stockton aspired to help the Jazz make their first NBA Finals appearance in franchise history.
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Meeting in the WCF, both the teams seemed to be in form. As many expected, the contest was pretty well-fought. However, backed by Malone’s 23.5 points & 11.5 rebounds, the Jazz clinched a spot in the Finals after defeating the Texas-based franchise 4-2.
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“This team is a bunch of pretenders”: Hakeem Olajuwon on the Jazz
After the conclusion of the chirpy and intense series, not many were happy with the way Jerry Sloan’s boys played.
Olajuwon criticized the Jazz for being a “dirty” team. Calling his opponents out for being a “bunch of pretenders”, the Nigerian didn’t shy away from slamming the eventual 1997 NBA runner-ups. The Dream said:
“This team (Utah) is a bunch of pretenders. They want to look like good guys all of the time. They want the NBA and the whole world to believe they are good guys, (Karl) Malone, (John) Stockton, all of them. But the truth is that they are bad guys, very bad guys.
This is a dirty team. They do things that are not within the rules – elbows picks where they are trying to hurt you, a lot of stuff like that. The referees don’t see a lot of what they do, and they don’t call all of the fouls they should.”
“Play in a way I can respect”: Olajuwon to Karl Malone
In Olajuwon’s famous rant, the big man also called out the Mailman for flopping.
The 3-time block champ deemed the then-MVP as a cheater because he was “looking for fouls”. Attacking Karl for not playing smart basketball, the 7-footer criticized:
“I told him that the MVP of the league must be legitimate. He can’t be flopping, looking for fouls. It isn’t right, it cheapens the game and it cheapens him. It is not smart basketball and it is not in the rules. That makes it cheating. I told him I can have no respect for that. He is an MVP now. I am an MVP. I told him, ‘Welcome to the club. But play in a way I can respect.'”
Undoubtedly a strong opinion. However, with all the hate sent in the way of ‘flopping’ today, the statement is hard to deny.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to picture Jazz fans nodding along to this one.
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