Riding into the sunset

Forget a box of chocolates.

For Karl Malone, life — and one's career — is like the tool of his trade.

"If you drop the basketball from the ceiling," he said, "it will bounce high, then lower, lower, and come to a roll, come to a stop."

On Sunday, Malone's ball ceased bouncing.

The 18-year Jazz star formally announced his retirement after 19 NBA seasons, suggesting during a packed Delta Center news conference that he can live without moving from No. 2 and past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar into first place on the league's all-time scoring list — but that he will go to his grave with only one real regret.

"When I got drafted 13th," said Malone, who was selected by Utah out of Louisiana Tech in 1985, "that meant 12 other teams didn't have a lot of faith in my ability. So I said in my mind then that I wasn't coming here for personal accolade.

"All records," he added, "are not —and I repeat — all records are not made to be broken."

Besides, Malone said, Abdul-Jabbar's record 38,387 points mark personal achievement. Winning a title is about team play, so that is what Malone decided to focus on after feeling slighted like he did.

The Jazz made it to the NBA Finals twice, in 1997 and '98. Those seasons, Malone said, represent the most fun he had while playing.

Both times, though, Utah lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. To this day, that fact churns in Malone's washboard stomach.

"The thing that would stick with me for the rest of our life," he said, "is not winning a championship. I'm not going to lie to you. That was my ultimate goal."

Beyond that, Malone would change nothing.

Not his intense and mercurial relationship with Jazz owner Larry H. Miller. Not what he said and did during 18 seasons here, or one with the Los Angeles Lakers. And certainly not how he played for Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.

"I don't think he realizes how much he means to me," Malone said of Sloan, "as a human being, and as a person."

Sloan on occasion would find himself caught between Malone and Miller, the two at times feuding like two brothers forced to share one Christmas gift.

Each time, though, Miller and Malone found a way to resolve their differences.