http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595067625,00.html Sloan 'rooting' for Malone to win title By Scott Soshnick Bloomberg News Jerry Sloan, who has coached the Utah Jazz for the past 16 seasons, pledges his allegiance to the Los Angeles Lakers — for two weeks, anyway. "I have to root for them," the 62-year-old Sloan said in a telephone interview from his home in McLeansboro, Illinois. "Karl is a friend." Karl Malone joined the Lakers as a free agent this season after 18 years of running pick-and-rolls for Sloan in the shadow of Utah's Wasatch Mountain Range. "We're just so happy for Karl. He gave us a lot," Sloan said. "It'd be selfish on my part if I said he didn't deserve to win." The Lakers face the Detroit Pistons in the best-of-seven National Basketball Association Finals, which begin on Sunday in Los Angeles. Malone, 40, the league's second leading scorer behind Hall- of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is among the greatest players never to win a title. Others include former teammate John Stockton, Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. They're all retired. Stockton and Malone, the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 1997 and 1999, defined the Jazz, who reached the NBA Finals twice and lost to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls both times. Finals Failures In 1997, Steve Kerr's jump shot at the end of Game 6 gave the Bulls the title. It was more painful in 1998, when Jordan stole the ball from Malone near the end of Game 6. Jordan then hit the championship-clinching jump shot, freezing his follow-through so that the courtside photographers could immortalize the moment. The near misses don't count for much, said Bill Walton, the hall-of-famer who was on championship teams with Portland and Boston during his career. Walton's son, Luke, is one of Malone's teammates on the Lakers. "There's not a lot of real good players who said 'I really remember with great fondness that time we lost in the finals,' " he said. Malone wants a ring so badly that, by NBA standards, he was willing to work for next to nothing. He accepted a $1.5 million offer to play alongside Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant with the Lakers, who won three straight championships from 2000-02 before losing to the San Antonio Spurs last season. Malone made almost $20 million in his final season with the Jazz. Malone's defense against this season's MVP, Kevin Garnett, is among the principle reasons why the Lakers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference final. He's averaging 39.8 minutes a game in the playoffs, third on the Lakers behind Bryant and O'Neal. "He's not just stepping out there and accepting a paycheck," Sloan said. "He's 40 years old. He's not just out there showing up. He's playing minutes." After banishing the T-Wolves, many of the Lakers remained on the Staples Center court to celebrate their accomplishment. Not Malone, who bolted to the locker room. If the Lakers notch four more wins there's no doubt Malone will partake in the celebration, Sloan said. "When Karl stepped on the floor, he always played the right way. If he didn't feel good, he played hard anyway," Sloan said. "He's doing his thing. I know what he's about." ----------- Sloan的柔情攻勢也該出動了XD --

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