Michael Jordan ended his career with a game-winning jumper in the NBA Finals. It's not quite the same, but Jamal Crawford's rookie season did have a positive finish.
He had a dunk at the buzzer that sealed Wednesday's win at Washington.
Crawford is officially out for the final three games of the season after being placed on the injured list Friday afternoon. He suffered a hyperextended left knee during Thursday's practice. The Bulls activated center Dragan Tarlac to take Crawford's roster spot.
"I was coming down on the break," Crawford said. "I fake passed and I was going to lay it up and as soon as I went to lay it up, my knee ... it was all bad. It buckled backwards and everything. Brad (Miller) said it went sideways. I felt it go backward. It's still painful and sore."
Crawford joined three other former starters on the sideline for the end of the season - Ron Mercer (tendinitis in right ankle), Bryce Drew (right plantar fascia tear) and Michael Ruffin (broken left hand) were already out with injuries. Center Brad Miller missed his second game Friday with a sore left knee but expects to play Sunday against Indiana.
Back to the drawing board: Utah's coaching staff may need to do some brainstorming this summer. The pick-and-roll with John Stockton and Karl Malone has been a staple of the Jazz offense for more than a decade. But coach Jerry Sloan thinks it would be ineffective against a zone defense, which will be legal in the NBA next season.
"One of the best parts of this game has always been the pick and roll, when Bob Cousy played, when Oscar Robertson played," Sloan said. "To me, it's kind of like taking the 3-point shot out of basketball. How are you going to pick-and-roll against a zone?"
Stockton isn't ready to plan for a drastic strategy change just yet.
"Things have a funny way of working out regardless of what the rules are," he said. "Good players find a way to get it done. Hopefully, we'll be a team that adjusts the most easily to it."
Thoughts of a retired Bulls star: Utah coach Jerry Sloan was asked before Friday's game if he ever had the urge to come out of retirement once he left the Bulls in 1976.
"If I would have had a good leg, heck yeah, I would have been back," Sloan said. "They would have had to cut my head off to keep me from playing if I had a good leg. Once you know you're hurt and you can't do it anymore, you're done.
"If you're not hurt, I would have played as long as I could. I wouldn't give a (darn) what people thought. I mean, why not? This is fun. If you like to play basketball, that's the hardest thing for me to understand, why anybody would even give it a second thought about playing if you like to play."