During the 90s, led by Karl Malone and John Stockton, the Utah Jazz were one of the best teams in the league and a perennial championship contender. Yet the Jazz could never get to the promised land of the NBA Finals, always falling just short in the playoffs. But all of that changed in 1997.
Facing off against a star-studded Houston Rockets team in the Western Conference Finals, the Jazz had a 3-2 lead heading into Game 6 in Houston. The game was tightly contested throughout and with less than three seconds left in the game, the Jazz ran a beautiful out of bounds play that resulted in Stockton nailing a wide-open three at the buzzer that sent Utah to their first ever NBA Finals.
Stockton's buzzer-beater became known as “The Shot” in Jazz history and is one of the franchise's more iconic moments. So with Stockton and other members of that Jazz team in Salt Lake City for the team's 20th anniversary, the Hall of Fame guard appropriately recreated the shot to perfection:
John Stockton just reenacted The Shot!!!! He made Bryon Russell inbound it to him. Pretty awesome. pic.twitter.com/9prZwtFjQC
— Jody Genessy (@DJJazzyJody) March 22, 2017
The Jazz may have lost to the Bulls in the 1997 NBA Finals but the whole experience, including Stockton's shot, is one that the franchise and their fans will never forget.
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