Ostertag, Russell relive 90’s Jazz glory days

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) – The Utah Jazz are celebrating 90’s night tomorrow against the Denver Nuggets, and two members of the greatest Jazz teams of all time are in town for it.

Greg Ostertag played ten seasons with the Jazz, while Bryon Russell was a key member of the team for nine years.

So what’s it like being back in Utah?

“It’s cold,” Russell said.

“It’s not cold,” countered Ostertag. “You did this for ten years. It’s not cold.”

The two good friends appeared at a press conference Tuesday, and both have nothing but fond memories of their time with the Jazz.

“This is one of my favorite places in the world,” Ostertag said. “I love coming to Utah. It’s got a lot of good memories for me.”

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Ostertag and Russell were both starters on the Jazz teams that made runs to the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals, led by Hall of Famers John Stockton and Karl Malone.

“Playing with the team we played with,” Ostertag said. “Two of the best that ever stepped on the floor.”

“Me and you, right?” Russell interjected.”

“I was getting there, I was getting there,” Ostertag said with a smile.

So what are their favorite moments with the Jazz?

“For me, it’s the shot,” Ostertag said, referring to Stockton’s game-winning three-pointer in 1997 against Houston that sent the Jazz to the NBA Finals for the first time. “For one, it put us there. But that was also one of the best games I ever played for the Jazz.”

For Russell, it was ’97 and ’98 teams that went further than any other Jazz team.

“For me, it’s the Finals,” Russell said. “We went somewhere where a whole lot of teams haven’t ever been. Both years, back to back, was unbelievable.”

“I know we fell short because of the push-off,” Ostertag said, talking about Michael Jordan’s famous last-second shot in Game 6 of the Finals. “You got pushed, right?”

“Kind of, sort of,” Russell said.

“Yeah, you got pushed,” Ostertag said.

In fact, there rarely is a day when Russell doesn’t get asked about Jordan’s “push-off.”

“I’m in the history books,” Russell said. “If somebody doesn’t ask me, I’m surprised. But I made [Jordan’s] Hall of Fame speech.”

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To play for a head coach like Jerry Sloan, and play with two legends like Stockton and Malone for all those years was truly special.

“What [Sloan] did for us and for this organization, you can’t even put a stamp on it.”

“John and Karl set the bar so high,” Ostertag said. “They had a competition to see who would come in with the lowest body fat every year for training camp. I never won that. I was never in the top three. It’s pretty cool to be able to tell people that I played with two of the best that ever stepped on the floor.”

So what are these true Jazz legends up to now? Well Ostertag lives on a farm in Texas.

“I have a bunch of crazy animals,” he said. “I have two camels, way too many horses, cows, chickens, emus, and I love it.”

“And I’m a California boy,” Russell said. “I’m out there with the sunshine and having a good time. No farm, no pigs, no cows, no nothing.”

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