Carl Malone is the legendary American basketball player who played for Utah Jazz. For its reliability, durability and ability in almost any situation to score a ball in the basket, it received the nickname Postman. In this article we will describe a brief biography of the athlete. So let's get started.
Childhood and study
Carl Anthony Malone, whose biography is known to all basketball fans, was born in the city of Summerfield (Louisiana) in 1963. In total, the family had eight children, and he was the youngest. Thanks to the efforts of young Karl, the school basketball team won the state championship three times. But the boy studied quite poorly. Low grades almost became the reason for his failure to enter the university league.
On the advice of his mother, Karl entered Louisiana University. In the first year, Malone focused solely on his studies in order to increase his academic performance. In the next three years, he became the leader of the university team, gaining an average of 18 points per game.
NBA Career
In 1985, a young and promising Carl Malone was selected by the Utah Jazz team in the NBA Draft. The athlete spent the first season quite successfully, scoring 15 points per game (on average) and making 9 rebounds. At the end of the season, the club management discerned the potential in him and decided to put Carl in the attack. He was actively helped by quarterback John Stockton. They became a key pair of the club.
It should be noted that even then they began to confuse him with Moses Malone - another basketball player who played for Philadelphia 76. Some of the fans generally considered them brothers. In fact, Moses Malone and Karl Malone are just namesakes. But there is something in common between them - talent and nationality.
In 1988, Malone participated in the NBA star game. During the season, for each match he scored an average of 27 points. In the playoffs, Utah met with the Lakers. To prevent her from participating in the next series of relegation games, the Californians needed all seven matches.
Performance improvement
A year later, Carl Malone improved his performance a little and was already gaining 29 points per match. He took second place in the league, right after the legendary Michael Jordan. In the all-star match, Karl managed to win the MVP title. The ratio of victories and losses of the Jazz team at the end of the season was 51 to 31. In the first round of the playoffs, Utah lost in the five-match standoff to the Golden Warriors. The following season, Malone again improved his stats. Now, on average, he earned 31 points per match. Unfortunately, the first leg of the playoff series ended pretty quickly for the Utah team. This was facilitated by basketball players from the Phoenix.
Recession and a new rise
Further, Karl’s statistics began to deteriorate. Until 1996, indicators were constantly decreasing, although overall they were not bad. In the 1996/1997 season, Malone seemed to be reborn, again bringing the number of points for the game to 27. Thus, he achieved the best statistics for Utah in the regular season. The result of 64 wins to 18 losses was unique in the club’s history. In the playoffs, "Jazz" also set a record. The team first reached the NBA finals. But there, they ran into the Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan. Utah lost with a score of 4: 2. A year later, they again ended up in the finals and hoped to take revenge. But the Postman’s team could not cope with the pressure of the “Bulls” and again lost, and with the same score.
Due to the lockout, the 1999 season was shortened. And Malone gained the status of the most valuable athlete in the regular season. But "Jazz" failed to get the league trophy. In the 2nd round of the playoffs they were knocked out by the Portland team.
In the 2002/2003 regular season, Malone was able to overtake Wilt Chamberlain on the list of top scorers in NBA history. Karl took second place in this rating. At the end of the season, the Postman became a free agent.
The game for the Lakers
The last year of his sports career, Carl Malone played for the Los Angeles Lakers. In his opinion, she had the highest potential for winning the champion title, which the basketball player wanted so much to possess. Carl’s native number “32” was removed from circulation and forever assigned to Magic Johnson. Although the latter was not opposed to the Postman sometimes using it. But Malone decided not to offend the feelings of the Lakers fans and began to perform under the number "11". Unfortunately, Karl’s dream of a champion title did not come true. In the final match, the Lakers lost to the Detroit Pistons with a score of 1: 4.
Game for Dream Tim
Karl is the owner of two Olympic gold medals. The basketball player got them playing for the Dream Team. The first award was received in Barcelona in 1992. Then in 8 matches, the players have never lost. Dream Tim won the second gold in 1996 in Atlanta, also without a single defeat.
Retirement
After Karl Malone, a brief biography of which was presented to your attention above, completed his career, his number “32” also retired. It was under him that he played in the Utah Jazz team. Malone is in the top 5 league players in its history according to the following indicators:
- throw attempts - 26 thousand,
- accurate throws - 13.5 thousand,
- points scored - 37 thousand,
- matches held - 1.5 thousand.