A huge part of being in competitive sports is knowing how to deal with losing. Nobody likes to lose, especially at the highest level, but it’s just something that goes beyond our control, at least in most situations.
However, it seems like a couple of former notable Utah Jazz players are still holding some grudge regarding the 1997-98 NBA Finals, as they just didn’t want to address the situation for Michael Jordan’s ‘The Last Dance’ documentary, as the director Jason Hehir told Andrew Perloff of the Dan Patrick Show.
Last Dance director Jason Hehir says Karl Malone and Bryon Russell were the only notable players to decline to be interviewed.
— Andrew Perloff (@andrewperloff) May 18, 2020
Apparently, both Byron Russell and Karl Malone declined the opportunity to tell their side of the story about Jordan’s legendary final shot.
Some Jazz fans and Jordan haters have always claimed that the shot shouldn’t have counted as Jordan should’ve been called for an offensive foul after pushing off Russell, so perhaps he feels the same way and doesn’t want to relive that moment.
Russell and Malone were both cornerstones of the Jazz squads that lost back-to-back NBA Finals at the hands of Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, so we get why they just don’t like the guy. However, out of pure sportsmanship, it would’ve been great to see what they had to say about him, even if it was to talk smack about the greatest player of all time.
Karl Malone eventually went down as one of the greatest players in the history of basketball never to win an NBA Championship because of Michael Jordan. To most people, that’s his legacy, that’s how he’s remembered. He had a chance to change that narrative, but I guess we’ll never hear his side of the story now. What a shame.
