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Show CHRONICLE SportS IHlsiirdllbsiDDeirs IMIake School! HlDstoiry Ute Rasebalfc Rapid Rise to Nat9! Prominence Earns Chrony Award c ;fiv it flxYYACTonrnamcnt. This untidy, phrnrmrnal RICK VAZQUEZ Chronicle Sports Writer r threc-yo- ngrtfHxba Coderdb story has the 1997 Utc sluggers the rs Athletic kam of the Hear Rash back to the accobdes and me utcs conopaea ubs season, a fade optimism from Utah's head coach would probably be in order. Don't count on it There's no way Tm satisfied with our season. We didn't do what wc set out to," said Utah head coach Tim Aiwrf Ue and detected team meanders slowtjr their beads bung to die Wkfa afl off die fidd, grand, rbink-abo- ut t their dnaacr of a non-had crawkd along about as skiwry as a Paufy Shore movie and featured just about as many season which rabie moments. Although die Esmay. Esmay, their game 9- it Utcs won final a dm was only 4. i Their 721 conference record confined them to t f It ' X guitar. Before the beginning of the 1995 and there were very few signs of hope. Esmay, then an assistant coach. first-yebead coach Bill , and Itowoer-afrhnu- gh may have known it A bik- freshman outhesacr Casey Quid had finished the with a 266 average, five homers and 32 RBk A good player? Definitely. But be hardly sconcd Bx the type that could turn around a program. Three years btex. Child is the first AD American in Uurvusky cfUtah hisand the Utcs have just inwludrd tory their season ever (3621-1)- , wrongest with WAC Northern a compkte nut many Drvisian ar for a team , that three years ago couldn't hit a basketball with a OF THE YEAR the basement in the WACs Eastern Division, There was one, " first-ye- had much lsghn' aspira-tion-s CHRONIGJjb hi 1S39 season, the wont in school history. a coach, ,THE DAILY UTAH - B aooorn-pmnmco- ehanawirdsp and a berth in ar raided die junior college ranks to icvatup the Utc hneup. d The rrmriring cbss inrkidrd hitter Travn Flint, third baseman Curtis Hal, first baseman Mike Hckicmann, right fielder Dusty Adunson and let fiddcr Matt Edes. AB five started for the Utcs and the ion's share of the offense owr the past two seasons. This year was no dtScrcflt, as the five rnrnhirrrl for 52 homers desig-nate- AvV W N r-.u- con-tribut- cd and2S6RBIs. rkwcbaIT on page 10 : Many happy returns: Ute first baseman Mike Heklrmann is mobbed by teammates after a home run earner this campaign in 1997-t- he winningrst season in school history. year. Hektemann was a key part of Utah's 36-w- in Jazz Blasted by ' . - The Chicago QIICAGO (AP) Bulls did indeed disassemble something their once formidable opponent Michael Jordan was at his unstoppable best, nearly getting a triple double, the Bulls played team defense at the highest level and Chicago humbled the Utah Jazz 9745 fcdnesday night in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. "We came out on the heels of what wc did in the first game," Jordan said "Yk basically stayed in the same focus as last game. Right from the beginning of die game through the end wc maintained our defensive pressure." The victory came amid considerable Big, the third as Bryon Russell tried to guard him. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, the Bulk didn't even need him. But Jordan stayed in and went for the barely missing k when Scottie Fippcn blew a layup with 3 12 minutes left, a 3 pointer with 2:15 to go and a jumper in the lane a minute later all of which would have given Jordan his 10th assist. "Pippen made me aware of k when he missed that layup. ... That's OK," Jordan said "I should have made the layup,' fippcn admitted the The scries resumes Friday night at over in Chicago handwringing Salt Lake Gty, w licrc the Jazz have a future of the Bulls, whose coach, best winning streak. Utah wiQ be player and leading rcboundcr will be free agents at season's end. trying to become the first team in 20 But if Game 2 proved anything, it's years and die third overall to come back defkk in the finals. that Chicago management would have from an need bunch. This something out of Karl to be crazy to break up this ThcyU have kiokcd less facet couldn't who in Malonc, was the Bulls at their best every like MVP. Malonc an of the game , actually gave a 13 the had indication of who 38 points way this game huge Jordan,; "would go when.he stepped to the rebounds and nine assists to hardy th first NBA Finals triple double of his ltic'93secoiid4'mtrt die" game antf T career, simply ioyed with everything die hiisscd two free throws. ; failure It riu.' him. Threw a was the of at at Jazi repeat As the crowd once again chanted end of Game 1, and a roaring United for Jordan, he burned Center crowd rouklii't have been more "M V P, M V first for Ilomacck ,11 pleased as k laughed at Malunc vduk Jeff quarter '' he ran tWncourL " pripoints, scored nine in the second Before kxg; die Bulls were dung marily ' against rookie Shannon when the Bulls pulled some bugfi'mg of tlicir own, with those Anderson away for good, and added 10 more in oil so familiar smiles on lltcir faces. And - triple-doubl- e, wide-ope- n - e 0-- 2 fir xu. , , ' '. , ... x,"' ..... .' . . . A. P - Jhn Stockton - and -X lost Game 2 oft&K NBA Fatal 975 Wrdnesday. , Bad Bulls they should be smiling. Having won four of the last six tides, the Bulls seem to have an overwhelming edge in corifkknce. The Jazz, meanwhile, were passing up open shots on the outside, failing to penetrate inside and relying too much on Malonc to carry the load. He finished with 20 points on shootiiig, and had 12 rebounds. Ilomacck added 19 and John Stockton 14 for the Jazz, who never led and didn't cut their sccoixl half deficit below double digits until 1 Si remained It wasn't enough to undo the damage inflicted primarily by Jordan, the finals MVP who made the winning shot at the buzzer in Game 1 and seems to be on his way to a fifth award He shot 1 1 for 20 from the field and 15 for21 at the line, and k got to a point in the second half where Jordan was kinking down at his defender, giving him a grin and then making his moves with his tongue hanging out of his mouth." Nobody else on Chicago' did anything spectacular numbers wise, but tlua didn't mean the rest of the team didn't contribute. Ron Harper, scored 13 points and became the first player in a long, time to contain Stockton. " Pippen scored only 10 points, with six icbounds and four assists, but he set the tone defensively for the Bulls by blocking the first shot of the game, a layup attempt by Russell. wcD four-tim- e |