No. 12 hands out more assists on big night

Instead, Layden had it figured out that Stockton saved the franchise from being sold to Minneapolis or Toronto. The day Stockton was drafted, said Layden, "This became the turning point. I really think we wouldn't have a team here. This building. Be thought of as one of the great pro franchises.

"Thanks for making us all rich," he told Stockton.

Nada loved going to Jazz games, and among her favorites were times when there was a new young gunslinger in town. "I knew that John would get him. There'd be a lot younger guy out there, but by the end of the night, I knew who would be more tired," said the mother of Stockton's six children, adding she enjoys having her husband sit next to her now at their kids' games.

"I was pretty sure I picked the right one," she said of the man she dated through their years at Gonzaga. "He turned out to be just the greatest thing that happened to me."

The all-time NBA steals and assists leader who was a two-time Olympic gold medalist and participated in 10 All-Star games, sat courtside with his family next to Larry and Gail Miller.

Former teammates Karl Malone, Jeff Hornacek, Thurl Bailey, Mark Eaton and Adrian Dantley were there to honor him, and he was feted at dinners Sunday and Monday, with old coaches and teammates around to gush about his game.

"You appreciate a guy who shows up for work every day," said Malone, heartily cheered by a sellout Delta Center crowd. "I knew what I was going to get every night."

Though Malone was drafted a year after Stockton, he played right away while Stockton backed up Rickey Green for nearly three years. At first, Malone said he thought of Stockton, "He's an awful little fella to be out there playing. He's going to get hurt."

Instead, Stockton frustrated bigger opponents with stubborn picks and "sharp elbows," remembered current Jazzman Gordan Giricek.

And he stayed true to himself, even though on Monday Stockton showed up in an uncharacteristically formal dark suit and white shirt with tie, leading Fitzgerald to say Nada dressed him well and to note that Stockton's suit reminded of a mortuary.

Stockton reciprocated. "I feel like a dead guy with a eulogy in advance. Everybody's been so nice.

"(Assistant coach) Phil Johnson told me a long time ago, when you're finished playing, everybody remembers the good stuff," said Stockton. "And certainly that's been true because I haven't heard anything bad the last couple days."

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E-mail: lham@desnews.com