Number Two
Karl Malone, John Stockton, Mark Eaton, 1986-92
Playoff Appearances: Seven. Made it to the first round (1986, 1987, 1989, 1990), second round (1988, 1991), conference finals (1992)
All-Stars: Karl Malone (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992), John Stockton (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992), Mark Eaton (1989)
Ah, finally a Stockton/Malone trio makes the list! The early Jazz playoff teams had a dominant defense thanks to the towering 7-foot-four behemoth Mark Eaton.
The big man helped shut down Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and his backup Mychal Thompson in the 1988 playoff series, a seven-game showdown that awoke the league of just how dangerous the Utah Jazz were.
The @utahjazz took on the Showtime Lakers in May of 1988 in the Western Conference semifinals and scared the defending NBA champs to death. Here's our look back at what was the Jazz's big playoff breakthrough on the national stage, from @tribjazz: https://t.co/VnABmQV2Ub
— Salt Lake Tribune Sports (@sltribsports) April 25, 2020
Most people tend to forget that the Jazz were only a bucket away from taking a 3-1 series lead over the Lakers, and All-Time great team which featured Kareem the scoring machine and Magic Johnson, the greatest point guard of All-Time.
They did it with their own version of the 1-2 punch of a point guard and a big man. John Stockton was the table-setter for the Jazz offense and racked up a plethora of assists every time he stepped on the court.
He saw passing lanes that seemingly didn’t exist, at least not until Stock was fired the ball down the lane to one of his cutting teammates.
And his partner in crime was no other than The Mailman, Karl Malone. He was quickly becoming one of the best scoring and rebounding bigs in the league at a ripe old age of 24 when the Jazz nearly upset the Lakers.
This trio only reached the conference finals once, in 1992. It’s fun to imagine how far they could have gone if Eaton was born a few years earlier and his prime years coincided better with his All-Star teammates.