Carl Malone - NBA legend

Carl Malone - the legendary Americanbasketball player who played for "Utah Jazz". For his reliability, stamina and ability in almost any situation to score a ball in the basket 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 knownall fans of basketball, 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 three times the state championship. But the boy was studying rather badly. Low ratings almost did not cause him to fall into the university league.

On the advice of his mother, Charles entered the Louisianauniversity. In the first year, Malone focused exclusively on learning to improve his academic performance. In the next three years he became the leader of the university team, gaining an average of 18 points per game.

Career in the NBA

In 1985, the young and promising Karl Malonewas selected for the NBA draft by the Utah Jazz team. The first season the sportsman spent quite successfully, scoring for the game (on average) 15 points and making 9 rebounds. At the end of the season, the club's leadership looked at the potential in it and decided to put Karl in the attack. He was actively helped by defender John Stockton. They became a key pair of the club.

It should be noted that it was then already confused withMoses Malone - another basketball player who played for the "Philadelphia 76". Someone from the fans generally considered them brothers. In fact, Moses Malone and Carl Malone are just namesakes. But there is something in common between them - talent and nationality.

In 1988, Malone participated in the game of NBA stars. In the course of 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 games on the flight, the Californians needed all seven matches.

Improvement of indicators

A year later, Carl Malone improved hisand scored 29 points for the match. He took second place in the league, right after the legendary Michael Jordan. In a match of all the stars, Carl managed to win the MVP title. The ratio of wins and losses of the team "Jazz" at the end of the season was 51 to 31. In the first round of the playoffs, "Utah" lost in a five-match stand against the team "Golden Warriors." In the following season Malone again improved his statistics. Now, on average, he earned 31 points for the match. Unfortunately, the first stage of the playoff series ended quite quickly for the Utah team. This helped basketball players from the "Phoenix".

Recession and a new upsurge

Further, Karl's statistics began to deteriorate. Up to 1996, the indicators were constantly decreasing, although in general they were not bad. In the season of 1996/1997, Malone seemed to be reborn, again bringing the number of points per game to 27. Thus, he achieved for Utah the best statistics in the regular season. The result of 64 wins to 18 losses was unique in the history of the club. In the playoffs, "Jazz" also set a record. The team first entered the NBA Finals. But there they collided with the Chicago Bulls, which was headed 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 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 wasshortened. And Malone got the status of the most valuable sportsman of the regular championship. But "Jazz" failed to get the trophy of the league. In the 2nd round of the playoffs they were beaten by the Portland team.

In the regular season 2002/2003 Malonemanaged to overtake Wilt Chamberlain in the list of the top scorers in the history of the NBA. Karl took the second line of 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, KarlMalone played for the Los Angeles Lakers. In his opinion, she had the highest potential for winning the title, which the basketball player wanted so much. The native number of Charles "32" was withdrawn from circulation and permanently fixed for Magic Gold Johnson. Although the latter was not opposed to the Postman sometimes used it. But Malone decided not to offend the feelings of the fans of the "Lakers" and began to speak under the number "11". Unfortunately, Karl's dream of the 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"

Carl is the owner of two goldOlympic medals. The basketball player got them, playing for the team "Dream Tim". The first award was received in Barcelona in 1992. Then in 8 games the players never lost. The second gold "Dream Tim" won in 1996 in Atlanta, also without a single defeat.

Completion of career

After Karl Malone, a brief biographywhich was presented to your attention above, completed his career, retired and went to his number "32". It was under him that he played in the Utah Jazz team. Malone is among the top 5 league players in its history for the following indicators:

attempts to throw - 26 thousand,
accurate throws - 13.5 thousand,
collected points - 37 thousand,
held matches - 1,5 thousand.