Chicago Bulls: 5 most dominant postseason performances in franchise history
2. Bulls give Utah Jazz a rude welcome to the Windy City in Game 3 of 1998 NBA Finals
The Bulls had defeated the Utah Jazz in a hard-fought Finals series in 1997. Coming into this series, some felt the Jazz had a slight edge as they owned the coveted home-court advantage.
Utah took the first game of the series 88-85, but the Bulls bounced back with a 93-88 win in Game 2, sending the series to Chicago tied at 1-1. Based on the slim margin of victory in the first two games, fans from both sides were bracing for another back-and-forth battle between the two teams that were fighting for the NBA title for the second straight year.
Unfortunately for the Jazz, that would not be the case. In fact, this contest proved to be anything but competitive.
The Bulls upended the Jazz by a score of 96-54 — an NBA record for biggest margin of victory in a Finals series. As impressive as that stat may be, the story doesn’t end there.
Utah’s 54 points were the lowest scoring output in a game since the introduction of the shot clock. As one would expect, this was also the lowest number of points scored in an NBA Finals game.
Additionally, the Jazz also set a record for fewest made shots in a game with 21 and they also made history with the fewest points in a half — they managed just 23 in the second half of this one.
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If that wasn’t bad enough, the Jazz shot just 30.7 percent from the field and connected on just one of their nine attempts from long range. Although Karl Malone had a respectable 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting, Chicago’s smothering defense forced him into seven turnovers. He was the only Jazz player to reach double figures.
John Stockton also had a night he would like to forget, as he registered more turnovers (five) than points (two).
"“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team play any better defensively since I’ve been in the business,” then Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said, via the Baltimore Sun. “And they ate us alive. We couldn’t get into our offense, couldn’t get up the floor. They came out and got after us. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team that quick defensively.”"
The margin of victory was no more than four points over the final three games that concluded with the Bulls winning their sixth title in eight years.