Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — The way former assistant coach Phil Johnson remembers it, there was a constant uphill climb for the Utah Jazz in the 1990s before they finally reached what for them was the pinnacle — the 1997 NBA Finals against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
“We just banged our heads against the wall for so many years trying to get there,” he said Wednesday. “We had some really good teams, but we’d come up against a really good Portland team or a really good Seattle team, a good Phoenix team or a good Houston team or a good San Antonio team or a good Lakers team.