|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Utah's Malone is great, but boring
Updated: Wednesday December 06, 2000 3:17 AM
So Karl Malone has passed Wilt Chamberlain to become the second greatest scorer in NBA history. Big deal. He is also the second most boring player in NBA history. Tell the truth, through the years, would you rather have watched the Utah Jazz in action or a good PBS documentary on the life of the carpenter ant? Here is the Utah Jazz: John Stockton passes the ball to Malone. Malone stands there, holding the ball, his back to the basket. One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand ... When the count reaches about one thousand five, he looks to see if Stockton's man has come down to double team. If this has happened, Malone passes the ball back to Stockton. If this has not happened, Malone spins, powers his way to the basket. Sometimes he scores. Sometimes -- a lot of times, most of the time -- he is fouled. He then bounces the ball about 700 times, listens to a good book on tape, says his secret mantra, and eventually takes the foul shot. Inspiring, huh? At least the carpenter ants do their work in a hurry. I know Malone is great. I know he's been durable in his 16 seasons. I know he's been on the All-NBA team a record 11 times, and I know he is probably the greatest power forward the game ever has seen. I also know he's boring, deadly, dull as a hearing on sewer variances at city hall. And if he can stay around for a few more years, score about 7,000 more points, he just might catch Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the first most boring player in NBA history.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Leigh
Montville appears regularly on CNN/Sports
Illustrated. The opinions expressed here
are solely those of the writer.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
