I can.
Kobe Bryant is/was flat out better than Karl Malone.
The second go around the Jazz were pretty much felt to be dead even with Chicago. Utah was the #1 overall seed and at worst the series was a coin flip. The Bulls weren't really necessarily "favored"
That's your opinion. But you can't really deny that Malone was the dominant defender of the two.
We are talking about guy A who can average:
37 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists on 46% shooting.
vs. guy B who can average:
30 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists on about 53% shooting.
It's tough to say that Player A is better; especially when you consider his own struggles in the playoffs.
And yeah, I know there were a lot of fools who said that Utah would beat the Bulls in 1998. But there wasn't a lot of rationality behind that thought process. The Bulls were obviously the better team going into the series. Most of it had to do with people saying the Bulls would be tired after surving Indiana in 7 games and the Jazz having all of that rest after a long lay-off. The Bulls were the rightful favorites in that '98 series despite not having the home-court advantage.
Something tells me that you laughed at the people who thought the Jazz would win, too...
