FEBRUARY 1, 1995 JOHN STOCKTON
John Stockton of the Utah Jazz was never interested in being in the spotlight. In fact, he downright avoided it whenever he could. And when he couldn’t, he deflected the attention away from himself and onto his teammates.
But on February 1, 1995, he had no choice but to let the light shine directly on him. That’s because he was on the verge of breaking an NBA record, the greatest number of career assists, which was held by one of the league’s most beloved players, Magic Johnson.
When the game began, Stockton took the floor with the other starters, including the player with whom his name will be forever linked: Karl Malone. Malone was a power forward who had joined the Jazz one year after Stockton. Despite their differences in personality and style of play — Stockton was reserved while Malone was outspoken; Malone was showy while Stockton kept a low profile — the two clicked on the court almost from the start.
After teaming up, they soon became one of the hottest basketball duos ever to play in the NBA. They worked one particular offensive maneuver, the classic pick-and-roll, so well together that the phrase “Stockton-to-Malone” has become synonymous with that play.
But when announcers bellowed, “Stockton-to-Malone!” it meant something else as well. Stockton seemed to have a sixth sense for where Malone would move. Drawing on that instinct, he hit Malone night after night with perfectly timed passes. And because Malone was just as tuned into Stockton, he would usually be ready to catch that pass — and to turn it into an assist by putting the ball right through the hoop. With every Stockton-to-Malone play, Malone’s career point total increased by two and Stockton’s assist total went up by one.
Malone wasn’t the only player on the receiving end of Stockton’s passes, of course. In fact, Stockton connected with all his teammates for shots time after time, season after season. While their point totals mounted, his assist number rose to greater heights. By 1986, he had 1,000 career assists; by 1990, he was up to 5,000. On February 17, 1992, he passed the legendary Celtic guard Bob Cousy by posting his 6,956th assist. Three years later, on January 28, 1995, he vaulted into the second-place slot when he bested the great Oscar Robertson’s long-standing record of 9,887 assists.
Now only Magic Johnson had more assists to his credit than John Stockton. Johnson left the game in 1991 with 9,921 in that stat column. Going into the February 1 game against the Denver Nuggets, Stockton needed 10 to tie and 11 to beat that record. Since he was averaging 12 assists per game, it seemed inevitable that he would take over the first-place slot without a problem.
But would it be that night? And if so, who would catch his historic pass and make the shot?
The Jazz and the Nuggets were playing in Utah before a sellout crowd of nearly twenty thousand fans. In the stands hung a huge sign with an 11 on it — the number of assists Stockton needed to beat Magic’s record. Each time he dished for a successful score that night, the number on the banner would change, in the style of a flip chart, to show how many assists remained. Every fan in the crowd hoped that before the game’s end that number would be zero.
Stockton undoubtedly hoped so, too. But at the same time, he was worried that his record-breaking run might cause problems on the court.
“I’d feel terrible if everyone’s concentration was on assists — my passing it to them, and them taking shots quickly, trying to get this record,” he said just before the game. “And if we would lose the game, that would really taint it.”
He needn’t have been concerned. That night, the Jazz leaped to an early 25–4 lead over the struggling Nuggets. In that time, Stockton handed off five assists and scored a basket of his own within six consecutive possessions.
The number on the banner was flipping so quickly that by the middle of the second quarter, it had dropped to one. Stockton had tied Magic’s record and now needed just a single assist to break it!
Suddenly, tension mounted in the arena. No one doubted Stockton would surpass Magic that night. But for his record-breaking moment to be truly memorable, there could be only one player on the receiving end of his pass. That player was Karl Malone — and he was sitting on the bench!
Malone wanted his friend’s historic pass to be a classic Stockton-to-Malone as much as anyone else did. His teammates agreed, and luckily, so did his coach. With less than seven minutes remaining in the second quarter, he ordered Malone to go into the game.
Malone checked in and joined his teammates. The Jazz had possession. Stockton brought the ball across center court. Malone posted up to the left of the key. Stockton stopped and bounced a high pass to him. Malone caught the ball, turned away from his defender, and shot. The ball arced up and fell through the net, making the laces dance!
Assist number 11! Stockton had the record!
The crowd leaped to its feet, erupting into cheers. The game stopped so that Stockton could acknowledge the applause. But true to his nature, he didn’t celebrate for long. After all, there was still a game to be won, and in John Stockton’s book, that was more important than his record.
After the game, which the Jazz did win commandingly, 129–88, Stockton took a few minutes to talk to the press. But as was typical, he turned the conversation away from himself by praising others.
“My teammates were going to make sure the record happened,” he said. “There were just some unbelievable shots that I won’t soon forget.”
He added that he was especially pleased Malone was the one who made the shot that turned his pass into a record-breaking assist. “He’s been responsible for so many of them, it does seem fitting.”
And how did Magic Johnson feel about having his record broken? He seemed positively delighted when he appeared on the JumboTron to congratulate Stockton. “John, from one assist man to another, you are the greatest team leader I have ever played against,” he said, beaming.
John Stockton played his entire nineteen-year career with the Utah Jazz. On December 5, 2000, nearly five years after beating Magic’s assist record, he helped Karl Malone surpass Wilt Chamberlain as the second-highest scorer in NBA history with a routine Stockton-to-Malone play. Stockton retired in 2003 with an astonishing, and possibly unbeatable, record of 15,806 assists.