Last shot? With Boozer free agency looming, this may be final playoff run for 1-2 punch

DENVER — They spent 12 seasons as a trio — point guard John Stockton, power forward Karl Malone and coach Jerry Sloan — before finally getting where they wanted.

To the NBA Finals, that is.

And though the Utah Jazz didn't win it all in that 1996-97 season, or after returning to the Finals the next season, or for that matter in any of their 18 years together, there is something to be said for the power of longevity and continuity.

As Sloan recalls it all, he tells the tale with purpose and a point in mind.

"Look back at the history of our franchise, when we had Stockton and Malone," he said one night late last month. "By the time we made it to the Finals, people were telling us to get rid of them."

Flash forward to 2010, and Sloan, point guard Deron Williams and power forward Carlos Boozer have been together just five seasons.

When a postseason that begins Saturday night with Game 1 of the Jazz's first-round Western Conference series against the Denver Nuggets gets under way, there is an underlying sense this could be it for the triumvirate that's given Utah its best shot at a title since Stockton and Malone went their separate ways in the summer of 2003.

"We got to make the most of these opportunities," Williams said. "We don't know where Booz is going to be next year. We hope he's back with us, but we don't know."

Boozer will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and while there's been talk from both sides about the prospect of his returning for a seventh season or more with the Jazz, there's a perhaps much-likelier chance the two-time NBA All-Star's six-year run in Utah soon will be done.

"That's a possibility," Sloan said.

"We've lost guys before. ... We don't like to lose them. We like to keep them together," he added. "But I don't write the checks. My job is to try to coach who's here. Sometimes we have great players, and don't do a very good job. But that's our ambition."

It is, and that's why even after Boozer vowed last season he'd opt out of the final season of his current contract in Utah, and even after he changed his mind about that, and even after he talked openly about wanting to be traded to Chicago or Miami shortly after opting in, and even after Jazz ownership quietly questioned his commitment, and even after management pondered dealing him, Sloan stood firm in not only his willingness but also his desire to have him back.