Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal had some high words of praise on Instagram for the 1998 Utah Jazz squad.
Ask any long-time Utah Jazz fan what some of the greatest memories of their fandom are, and they’ll all undoubtedly mention something about the back-to-back NBA Finals squads in 1997 and 1998. While, unfortunately, the Jazz fell short of the ultimate prize on both occasions, falling to Michael Jordan and the prolific Chicago Bulls, those seasons and playoffs were still certainly full of momentous occasions.
One of which that isn’t heralded nearly as often as it perhaps should be was Utah’s performance in the 1998 Western Conference Finals in which the Utah Jazz swept the Los Angeles Lakers to advance to the NBA Finals. That Lakers team was a dominant one that went 61-21 in the regular season, and toppled the second-seeded Seattle SuperSonics 4-1 in the previous round.
Not only that, but the squad boasted four All-Stars in Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel. The Jazz, meanwhile, had just one that season – Karl Malone. That’s right, not even John Stockton made the All-Star Game that year, though such was largely due to the fact that he missed the first 18 games of the season with a knee injury. And even so, he probably still should have qualified.
Nevertheless, come playoff time, it was the top-seeded Jazz and their ‘lone All-Star’ team that proved to be the Lakers undoing in a big way. Utah won the first game in commanding fashion by a score of 112-77, won Games 2 and 4 by four points apiece and Game 3 by 11. Despite some good battles in those contests, it was clear that the Jazz completely outmatched the star-studded Lakers squad.
Recently on Instagram, NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal recognized as much with a simple but accurate comment. He shared a post stating how the Jazz swept a Lakers squad with four All-Stars that added that “the team with more All-Stars isn’t always the better TEAM” and called the Jazz a “great TEAM.” Shaq then added his own thoughts, stating. “This is true we couldn’t beat these boy for nothing.”
I think all true Jazz fans feel a sore spot for the fact that this incredible team led by the amazing duo of Karl Malone and John Stockton never won a championship. And while there’s really nothing that can ever truly fill that void, hearing praise from other legends such as Shaq who managed to pick up plenty of championship hardware themselves is always a refreshing gesture.
Though the Kobe and Shaq Lakers squads would ultimately go on to greater heights than a team that was swept in the Western Conference Finals by the Jazz, it’s still pretty awesome to see O’Neal recognize the greatness of that Utah team. No doubt about it, the 1997-1998 Jazz team was one of the greatest collective units this league has ever seen, even if it was ultimately stopped short by yet another great team and a transcendent player in Michael Jordan.