With the 15th iteration of EA's flagship b-ball game coming to a store near you, we're reminded of the teams that have had more explaining to do than Isiah Thomas during business hours. By Gerasimos Manolatos
Actual 2003–'04 Record: 42–40, T-12th out of 29 teams Actual 2005–'06 Record: 41–41, T-14th out of 30 teams Why the Low Rating? After an off-season that saw John Stockton hang up his short shorts and Karl Malone make L.A. his mail route, EA punished the Jazz accordingly. Thing is, they finished the real season one measly game short of a playoff spot at 42–40, which would have been good enough for the No. 4 seed if they had been lucky enough to be in the Eastern Conference. They followed that up with another surprisingly OK year that might have been better if their two leading scorers, Andrei Kirilenko and Carlos Boozer, weren't injured for a combined 72 games and Illinois alum Deron Williams had gotten used to the glare of all those white Mormons.
