Carl Malone - NBA legend

Karl Malone is a legendary American basketball player who played for Utah Jazz. For his reliability, stamina and ability in almost any situation to score the 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 known to all basketball fans, was born in 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 miss the university league.

On the advice of his mother, Charles entered the University of Louisiana. 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, young and promising Karl Malone was selected for the NBA draft by the Utah Jazz team. The first season the athlete spent quite successfully, scoring for the game (on average) 15 points and making 9 rebounds. At the end of the season, the leadership of the club saw 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 with Moses Malone - another basketball player who played for "Philadelphia-76". Someone from the fans generally considered them brothers. In fact, Moses Malone and Carl Malone are simply namesakes. But there is something in common between them - talent and nationality.

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

Improvement of indicators

A year later, Carl Malone improved his performance a little and gained 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 1996/1997 season, Malone seemed to be reborn, again bringing the number of points per 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 history of the club. In the playoffs, "Jazz" also set a record. The team first reached 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 found themselves 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 was shortened. And Malone got the status of the most valuable sportsman of the regular championship. But the "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 of 2002/2003, Malone was able to overtake Wilt Chamberlain in the list of 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, Carl Malone 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 a title has never 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 received 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, whose brief biography was presented to your attention above, completed his career, his "32" number went to retirement. It was under him that he played in the Utah Jazz team. Malone is in 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.