20 Playoff Years: 1984-2003 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Denver Nuggets

The Jazz held the home court advantage over the Nuggets and split the first two games at home. However, after a game three loss in Denver, the Jazz regrouped and came up with a key Game 4 road victory and won the series in 5 games. They would go on to lose to the Phoenix Suns 4-2 in the second round.

The Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-2 to win the NBA Championship that year.

Answer: False

The Jazz won in the opening round, 3-2 over the Houston Rockets and did so with a 104-97 road win in Game 5. However, they met up with the Denver Nuggets again in the Second Round and were knocked out of the playoffs, 4-1. The Lakers would go on to avenge their loss to the Boston Celtics the previous year with a 4-2 victory in the NBA Championship.

Answer: It was Jerry Sloan's rookie year.

The Jazz faced Portland in the first round of the NBA Playoffs after Utah was eliminated in that round for two consecutive years. They defeated the Trailblazers 3-1 won though and split with the "Showtime" Lakers, 1-1 in the first two games of the next series.

The Lakers grabbed game #4 in Utah however and each time won on its home court as the Lakers took the series, 4-3. The Jazz however, finally had household names on its team. Karl Malone was now known as "The Mailman", John Stockton was the assist king, and Mark Eaton was the giant in the middle. Frank Layden was their coach at the time. Jerry Sloan was not with the team just yet.

Answer: They lost in the first round.

After the Jazz thrilled fans in the 1988 playoffs in a grueling 4-3 loss to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, they built high expectations. A solid 1989-90 season followed and the Utah Jazz were the #2 seed and faced the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.

A young Chris Mullen shocked the Jazz with a 3-0 sweep of Utah including two straight wins in Utah. The following year, the Jazz were the #4 seed and lost in the opening round to the Phoenix Suns, 3-2 disappointing a packed crowd for Game 5 in Utah.

Answer: Houston Rockets

The Utah Jazz had gotten out of the first round following the 1991-92 season, avenging their first round exit the year before to the Phoenix Suns by defeating them 3-1. In 1992, they made it all the way to the Western Conference finals losing 4-2 to the Portland Trailblazers after victories over the Los Angeles Clippers 3-2 and the Seattle Supersonics 4-1.

In the 1993-94 season, they opened up with a #6 seed and were eliminated by the Seattle Supersonics 3-2. However, the Portland Trailblazers defeated them 4-1 in round 2 The following year, they won a first round match with the Los Angeles Clippers 3-2 and followed with a 4-1 second round victory over the Seattle Supersonics.

The Houston Rockets won the Western Conference handily though, 4-1.

The Rockets did not have a great regular season and the Jazz were primed to get their revenge. The Rockets knocked the Jazz out of the playoffs again however, 3-2. They would go on to defeat the heavily favored Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, and the Orlando Magic to win back-to-back titles as a #6 seed.

Answer: True

The Utah Jazz knocked off the Portland Trailblazers 3-2 in the first round and followed it with a 4-2 elimination of the San Antonio Spurs in the second round. They were blown out of game 1 in Seattle and down 3-1 heading back to the Pacific Northwest but did not panic and evened the series at 3-3. They lost game 7 to the Supersonics however.

Answer: The Jazz had home court advantage over the Chicago Bulls the second time that they met in the NBA Finals.

The Utah Jazz finally made it to the NBA Finals after defeating the Houston Rockets 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals during the 1997-98 season. They did so again, dispatching Shaquille O'Neal and the Lakers 4-0 in the 1998-99 season. The first year they had to travel to Chicago for games 1 and 2 which both ended in Bulls wins.

The Jazz did manage to tie the series at 2-2 but could not be the first team in NBA History to win three straight home games in an NBA Finals match up as Michael Jordan had a career game and the Bulls took a 3-2 series lead.

The season ended for the Jazz in Chicago a few days later and they lost the series, 4-3. A year later, however, the Jazz owned home court advantage throughout the playoffs and split the first two games with the Bulls in Utah.

They lost games 3 and 4 badly in Chicago falling behind 4-2 before stepping it up a notch and winning game 5 in Chicago. They lost again in 6 games however as the Bulls won in Utah in game 6.

Answer: Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings gave the aging Utah Jazz all they could handle in the first round of the playoffs splitting the first two games in Utah. The Jazz returned the favor in Sacramento setting up an epic battle for Game 5 in Utah. On the Kings, at that time, was Jason Williams, known as "White Chocolate" that had on on-running feud with Karl Malone.

The Jazz prevailed in overtime, 99-92. They would go on to lose in the second round to the Portland Trailblazers.

Answer: False

They did it once. The Utah Jazz finished the 2000-01 seasn as the #2 seed and defeated the Seattle Supersonics 3-2. They would fall in Portland again however, in the second round, 4-2.

Answer: Roy Tarpley

I admit that when I think of the Utah Jazz, I immediately think of Karl Malone and John Stockton. However, the Jazz had several solid role players over the years. Roy Tarpley was a solid player with the Dallas Mavericks in the late 1980s and early 1990s but fell into problems with the law and with drugs and disappeared.