Friday March 24, 2006 - 10:50am (CST)
The Jazz retired the number of Karl Malone,who is the NO.2 leading scorer of the NBA league.Which surprized me,I just have impression he played toughly and he hurt many players,incluing Micale Jorden,Steve Nash. I never know he is a greatest scorer. Malone scored 36,928 points totally. I once sticked a poster of Malone during my high school's time.But I didn't know him,even didn't know his name.
This is a report distilled from yahoo sports below:
Karl Malone emerged as one of the greatest players in NBA history during his 19-year career. There's never been anyone better to put on a Utah Jazz uniform.
The Jazz will retire the number of the league's second all-time leading scorer when they host the Washington Wizards.
Malone scored 36,928 points in 18 seasons with the Jazz and one with the Lakers before retiring in February 2005. The 13-time All-Star averaged 25.0 points and 10.1 rebounds in his career and was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 1997 and 1999.
Utah also will unveil a bronze statue of Malone outside the Delta Center before the game. The Jazz erected a bronze statue of John Stockton last March, next to an empty pedestal already in place for Malone.
The pick-and-roll combination of Stockton and Malone led the Jazz to the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals, but the team lost both times to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Still, the pair presided over the greatest stretch of success in team history, advancing to the playoffs in each of their 18 seasons together.
"We will be retiring the jersey of one of our heroes, Karl Malone, to hang in the rafters forever among those whom we have already enshrined," Jazz owner Larry Miller said in January when he announced the date of the ceremony. "In addition to his excellence on the court, Karl and his wife Kay also made great contributions to this community with their time and financial commitments to many worthy organizations."