Editing Utah Jazz (section)

====1990–1996: Working toward championship contention====
For the 1990–91 season, the Jazz made another move to improve the team by executing a three-way trade that brought shooting guard [[Jeff Malone]] to Utah from the [[Washington Wizards|Washington Bullets]], while [[Eric Leckner]] and Bob Hansen were sent from Utah to the [[Sacramento Kings]] and [[Pervis Ellison]] going from Sacramento to Washington.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/malonje01.html |title=Jeff Malone NBA & ABA Stats |publisher=Basketball-Reference.com |access-date=January 27, 2013 |archive-date=April 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421201717/https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/malonje01.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Jazz began the season 22–15 before going 27–8 in January and February, with new addition Jeff Malone averaging 18.6 points, giving them three strong scoring options (Karl Malone, Jeff Malone, and John Stockton&nbsp;– 64.8 of the team's 104 points per game). The Jazz finished 54–28, second in the division to San Antonio by a game, similar to their division finish the prior year. In the playoffs, they met the Phoenix Suns for the second year in a row. In Game 1 Utah won 129–90, which set the tone for the series, as Utah eliminated the Suns 3–1, earning a second-round matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers, the defending Western Conference champions.<ref name="JazzHistory">{{cite web|title=All Time History|url=http://www.nba.com/jazz/history/00400490.html|publisher=NBA Media Ventures, LLC|website=UtahJazz.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103152607/http://www.nba.com/jazz/history/00400490.html|archive-date=January 3, 2018|access-date=July 12, 2022|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Jazz played well, keeping close in most of the games, but lost the series 4–1 to a deeper and more experienced Trail Blazers team.

The 1991–92 season proved to be the most successful in team history to that time. The Jazz moved to the [[Delta Center]], a state-of-the-art arena that featured a seating capacity of 19,911. The new venue was a considerable improvement over the Salt Palace, which seated just over 12,000 and lacked luxury suites and retail space. Early in the year, a trade brought [[Tyrone Corbin]], a tough defensive forward, from Minnesota in exchange for fan-favorite [[Thurl Bailey]].

The Jazz went 55–27 and won the Midwest Division championship for the first time since 1989. In the playoffs, the Jazz defeated the [[Los Angeles Clippers]] 3–2 in the first round, then beat the [[Seattle SuperSonics]] in the second round, 4–1, to advance to the [[NBA Conference Finals|Western Conference Finals]] for the first time, where they again faced and lost to Portland, this time 4–2.

The 1992–93 season was a letdown, as the team slumped to 47–35 and third place in the division. The center position, manned by defensive workhorse Mark Eaton for most of the past decade, became suspect as Eaton struggled with injuries and age. The bright spot for the season was the hosting of the [[1993 NBA All-Star Game|NBA All-Star Game]] and the surrounding events of All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City. In the playoffs, the Jazz lost to Seattle in the first round, 3–2.<ref name="JazzHistory" /> During the postseason, the team addressed its struggles at the center position by acquiring Felton Spencer from Minnesota in return for backup center Mike Brown.

During the [[1993–94 NBA season|1993–94]] season, the Jazz traded [[Jeff Malone]] to the [[Philadelphia 76ers]] for [[shooting guard]] [[Jeff Hornacek]]. Hornacek meshed well with Stockton, and the Jazz improved to 53–29. In the playoffs, they faced San Antonio in the first round, shutting down NBA scoring leader [[David Robinson (basketball)|David Robinson]] throughout the series. Robinson had averaged 29.8 points on 50 percent shooting during the regular season, numbers that dropped to 20.0 and 41 percent in the series against Utah.<ref>{{cite web|title=David Robinson–Career Stats|url=http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/764/career/|website=Stats.NBA.com|date=June 2, 2015|access-date=June 2, 2015|archive-date=April 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401124428/http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/764/career/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Jazz then fought off a determined [[1993–94 Denver Nuggets season|Denver Nuggets]] team 4–3 in the Conference semifinals (almost blowing a 3–0 series lead in the process) to advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they lost to the eventual NBA champion [[1993–94 Houston Rockets season|Houston Rockets]] 4–1.

In the [[1994–95 NBA season|1994–95]] season, the Jazz had significant depth and talent and were expected to make a serious run for the championship. However, they lost starter Spencer 34 games into the season with a [[Achilles tendon rupture|ruptured Achilles tendon]]. Despite this setback, the Jazz finished 60–22 before again losing to Houston in the playoffs, 3–2, in the first round.

[[Greg Ostertag]] was added to the team for the [[1995–96 NBA season|1995–96]] season. The Jazz went 55–27, and reached the Conference Finals for the third time in history, nearly overcoming 3–1 series deficit before eventually succumbing to Seattle, 4–3.