By Brandon Griggs
Salt Lake Tribune

SALT LAKE CITY, May 29 -- It's the most celebrated 2.8 seconds in Utah Jazz history.

John Stockton nails the biggest jumper in Jazz history.

A year ago today in Houston, John Stockton snatched an inbounds pass from Bryon Russell, dribbled once and launched the Jazz into their first NBA Finals.

The team mobbed Stockton at mid-court. In bars, restaurants and homes across the state, clusters of Utah fans erupted in riotous celebration. And that snippet of videotape, replayed hundreds of times these past 12 months, became the stuff of legend.

"That was The Shot Heard 'Round the Wasatch Front," said Scott Layden, Jazz vice president of basketball operations."It's etched in everyone's mind. I'll never get sick of watching it."

Since that night, the Jazz have built an impressive highlight reel: Two victories over the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals, a 62-win season and a four-game sweep of the vaunted Los Angeles Lakers. But for sheer drama, nothing the Jazz have done since last May can match Stockton's Houston heroics.

The Shot, as it has become known in Utah, capped a remarkable fourth-quarter comeback by the Jazz, who trailed the Rockets by 10 with 2:59 to play. It gilded the already glittering NBA resume of Stockton, the future Hall of Famer who scored his team's last nine points of the game. And it ushered the Jazz franchise onto the world stage opposite Michael Jordan and the reigning NBA champs.

"It's the greatest moment in Jazz history, without a doubt," said David Locke, director of operations for KFNZ (1320 AM), the radio station that carries all Jazz games."I don't think there's a Jazz fan who can hear that call and not get shivers."

Final score: Utah 103, Houston 100. Here's how it happened:

The Play: As Russell readied to inbound the ball, the other four Jazz players lined up at the top of the key, facing him in what coaches call a"picket fence." When the whistle sounded, Antoine Carr headed for the basket, taking Hakeem Olajuwon with him."I was trying to get ready for the rebound if it came off," Carr said.

Jeff Hornacek dashed toward the corner. Karl Malone smothered Stockton's man, Clyde Drexler. When Stockton stepped back to catch Russell's pass near mid-court, no Rocket was near him. With typical economy, he bounced the ball once, set himself four feet beyond the three-point arc and fired over the outstretched arms of Charles Barkley.

"As he shot it I saw the ball," said Hornacek, who raised his arms in triumph as the ball snapped through the net."I knew it was going in."

The play, which the Jazz have run since Frank Layden coached the team, is designed to create several open shots. Russell could have passed to Malone or hit Hornacek streaking down the sideline. The courtside NBC announcers predicted Malone would get the shot. But that night, said Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan, Stockton was the only target.

"You can run any play you want in this business, but if the guy doesn't get open, it's not very good," Sloan said this week."You have to have a player you know will do everything he can to get open. He got open."

Strangely enough, Sloan was one of the few people in the Summit that night who did not witness the ball arc through the net.

"I didn't even see it when it happened. I was watching to see what was happening with the other guys. I was wondering who was setting the screen and all that stuff," said the coach, ever the fundamentalist."I don't remember the shot."

Bedlam ensues after Stockton downs the Rockets.

The Call: "Stock for 3 ... got it! Unbelieveable! John Stockton! John Stockton! It's over! The Jazz win it! We're on our way to the world championship!" cried Hot Rod Hundley, broadcasting the game on the Jazz radio network.

"Here's the three for the game. Utah goes to Chicago! Utah goes to Chicago! They've won the West!" shouted Brent Musburger, who handled the play-by-play for ESPN Radio.

But it was Greg Gumbel, calling the game for NBC, who supplied the rousing,"John Stockton sends the Utah Jazz to the NBA Finals!" Despite Hundley's close ties to the Jazz organization, Utah TV and radio stations replay Gumbel's call most often.

"If I sound excited, it's because I was. I don't fake anything," said Gumbel, now with CBS Sports. Gumbel recalls chatting with color analysts Bill Walton and Steve Jones during the final timeout. With 2.8 seconds left, they predicted overtime -- and an eventual Rocket victory.

"We were all expecting to go back to Salt Lake City for another game," he said."And then Stockton pops out and hits that shot."

Those final seconds earned Walton some attention as well. As Stockton snared Russell's pass and turned toward the basket, Walton blurted,"Uh-oh." Some Utah fans took offense, interpreting his utterance as anti-Jazz. But Walton simply meant the Rockets were in trouble.

"What a great shot it was, beautifully conceived. It was a work of genius," Walton said this week."I saw the defense totally break down. As soon as [Stockton] got the ball, I knew the series was over." Walton views the shot as a turning point for both franchises."The Rockets have never recovered. And the Jazz have gone on to brilliance."

The Celebration: As the ball dropped through the net, Stockton leaped in the air and pumped his fist. Hornacek reached him first, followed by Malone, smiling wide as a lottery winner. The trio -- arguably the team's three best players -- locked arms in a jubilant group hug before the rest of the team reached them and piled on. Even the stoic Sloan joined in from the bench.

"It's maybe the only time we've seen emotion on that level from Stockton and Sloan," said Locke."That's the uniqueness of that moment -- to see them showing the same human emotion we as fans show every day."

The crowd at the Summit stood in stunned silence. But in Salt Lake City, bedlam reigned. Thousands of fans at the Delta Center for a Tina Turner concert ignored the diva's first three songs to watch the game's climax on the concourse TVs. When they flooded, cheering, back into the arena, the confused Turner thought the ovation was for her.

Motorists cruised the Salt Lake City streets, honking their horns until well past midnight. And at Iggy's Sports Grill, Stockton's shot had the standing-room-only crowd dancing on the tables.

"They were getting up faster than we could get them down," said bartender Chris Porter, who worked that night. "Everybody was screaming and yelling. It was a zoo."

The Aftermath: Since last May, radio and TV clips of Stockton's shot have been used to promote the team, to rally fans at the Delta Center, to sell Hondas and even Taco Time tacos. Brad Pearson, director of Jazz productions for KJZZ-TV, spliced it into a highlight reel that preceded every KJZZ telecast of a Jazz game this season.

"From a broadcast standpoint, it's well-worn," Pearson said."I've seen it more times than I want to. But a lot of people tell me they still get goosebumps."

Indeed, many Utahns seem to have an insatiable appetite for watching The Shot. The familiar footage provokes a lung-bursting, Pavlovian response in most Jazz fans, which explains why the team screens the clip on the Delta Center's JumboTron before player introductions.

"We show that every night," said Grant Harrison, Jazz vice president of game operations."And people still cheer."

A year later, in the calm before another NBA Finals showdown, Jazz fans are happy to relive that stirring moment in Houston. But the Jazz players have more immediate concerns on their mind.

Especially John Stockton.

"I really haven't seen it [much]. It's not something I try to replay," the Jazz guard said this week, with the enthusiasm of someone recalling a trip to the dry cleaners."It happened, I'm glad it did, and onward you go."