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2018 NBA Playoffs: Last time the Thunder-Jazz met in the postseason

By Dante Nelson

OAKLAND, CA - FEBRUARY 06: Paul George #13 and Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder looks on against the Golden State Warriors during the second half of their NBA basketball game at ORACLE Arena on February 6, 2018 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - FEBRUARY 06: Paul George #13 and Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder looks on against the Golden State Warriors during the second half of their NBA basketball game at ORACLE Arena on February 6, 2018 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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What happened the last time the Oklahoma City Thunder met the Utah Jazz in the NBA playoffs?

The Oklahoma City Thunder have spent most of their history known as the Seattle SuperSonics. The Utah Jazz have moved from being in New Orleans originally.

Well, this might be one of the richest, yet underappreciated, battles of the 90s. This was a battle of pairs of legends.

The last time the Jazz and Thunder faced off was in 2000. Back then, the Thunder were known as the SuperSonics, or Sonics, for short. However, I will refer to them as the Thunder for now. I may catch some heat for this decision, but Miami is playing in Philly so we’ll see how that goes.

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Sorry, I got caught up.

OKC and the Jazz met in 1992, 93, 96, and 2000. In those meetings, the Sonics had Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. The Jazz, of course, had Karl Malone and John Stockton. This had to be one of, if not the greatest battle of duos in the 90s, and perhaps in NBA history.

Now, in the year 2000, the Thunder didn’t have Shawn Kemp. They went up against the Jazz, whose duo of Stockton and Malone were in their late 30s, but still destroying the league.

The Thunder lost in five games in a best of five game series. Here’s what’s potentially strange: Four of the games were decided by double digits. In the end, however, the average points per game difference was only 1.2 points. Simply amazing. It was a close series, full of…not quite blowouts, but there were no buzzer beaters.

Karl Malone wrecked the Thunder’s world with 30.6 points and 9.6 rebounds. Payton had himself a nice series, too. He was 25.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 7.4 assists.

Must Read: 2018 NBA Playoffs: Last time Celtics-Bucks met in the postseason

Well, in all, these teams played 22 games. The Jazz have 12 and OKC has 10. The Jazz have won two of the four series and you can tell how many OKC won. Considering 2018’s seeding has the Thunder as 4th and the Jazz as 5th, it could be another interesting series. Another decent entry in this formerly classic matchup.