Somebody separate these two.

Karl Malone won't go any place John Stockton won't go -- except to the basket or maybe on an expedition to hunt grizzly bears -- but don't knock telepathy until you have tried it.

The Utah Jazz has pulled even in this National Basketball Association pairs competition (versus the fading Jordan-Pippen entry), and it only goes to show that luck conquers all. One is the son of a bartender, the other is the son of a cotton picker, and how they ended up in the same offense is one of the great accidents of our time.

Either the wind or complete incompetence got them here, but 15 teams passed up Stockton in the 1984 draft and 12 teams ignored Malone in 1985, and the rest is Chicago's headache.

At least Stockton and Malone have repetition going for them. They found a favorite play 12 years ago, are not sick of running it and just added the fly pattern to their repertory. That was Stockton's radar 60-foot pass to Malone for the go-ahead basket in Game 4 of this championship series.