The inevitable is finally on the doorstep, scythe in hand, unwilling to be put off any longer. Karl Malone and John Stockton aren't getting old, they're there.

In Philadelphia one forlorn night, four losses into an Eastern trip, the hardest-bitten loyalist of all, Coach Jerry Sloan, finally gives in, privately acknowledging the obvious to staffers: The Jazz is done. The ride is over ...

Of course, that was five seasons ago. OK, so there have been a few false alarms. It always looks the same. The Jazz loses control of its iron-handed grip on the pace of games, which start going up and down too fast for its elder citizens to keep up.

They start losing. Everyone agrees they've had it.

Malone gets restless and looks around. (Remember the 1999 lockout, when he hung out in Southern California, guest hosting on talk radio and saying what fun it would be to be a Laker?)

Up to now, there has always been a happy ending, or a semi-happy one anyway: The Jazz rallies and everyone lives happily ever after, at least until the next season.