The 20th anniversary of the 1998 NBA Finals will arrive in June, and yet the glow from Michael Jordan’s final title run has hardly waned. That series remains the most-watched Finals in league history, with Game 6—which ended with Jordan’s brush-off of Bryon Russell—standing as the most-watched Finals game. Jordan’s greatness, and the fact that Chicago’s run was reaching its conclusion, were unquestionably the driving factors behind that record-setting interest.
But the Jazz, led by Hall of Famers Karl Malone and John Stockton, deserve credit too. In 1997, Utah won 64 games (second to Chicago), posted a +8.