NBA Archives Debunked: The Jordan Saga

Chapter 26 Killer (2)

In Game 50, Jordan scored 50 points.Playing against the Cavaliers in the playoffs for two consecutive years, this is the third time Jordan has scored 1 points in a single game.But this time, in the last minute of the fourth quarter, Jordan missed two key free throws and missed a shot at the buzzer before sending the Cavaliers into overtime. The Cavaliers won 108-105.As a result, the Bulls had to go to Cleveland again to play a life-and-death knockout game surrounded by opposing fans.

The third classic battle of Jordan's career

Game 1989 of the first round of the [-] NBA Playoffs
Time: March 1989, 5

Venue: Tomita Gymnasium
Score: Bulls 101:10 0 Cavaliers
On Sunday, May 5, at the Tomita Stadium in Ohio, the Bulls and Cavaliers fought inextricably. In the last 7 minutes, the two sides even took the lead 3 times alternately.

Of course, no one is willing to lose this breath.Life and death battles, knockout matches, whoever wins will advance, there is no way out.Once this game is lost, the whole year's efforts of the team will come to an end.In the last minute, the last ten seconds, the air in the arena was about to freeze. It seemed that with a breath, people could fall from heaven to hell, or fly from hell to heaven.

6 seconds before the end, Jordan hit a mid-range shot at a 45-degree angle on the right wing, rewriting the score to 99 to 98, and the Bulls took the lead. The opportunity was great.But after the timeout, the Cavaliers completed a beautiful pass and cut cooperation in only three seconds. Craig Illo served the ball out of bounds. As soon as the ball left his hand, he immediately cut to the basket and got rid of Craig Ho, who was marking him. Keith received a pass back from his teammate and scored a layup. 10 0 to 9 9, the Cavaliers took the lead.

Cleveland fans witnessed Ilo's layup, and there were 1 reasons to believe that this was the ball that killed the Bulls.However, there was one thing about the fit that wasn't perfect: it was done so efficiently that it took only three seconds and left the bull with three seconds.

That was a really fatal three seconds.

The Bulls also called a timeout. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Jordan told Hodges, who did not guard Ilo, not to worry about the ball just now."Michael came up to me and said, 'Don't worry,' and he said he was going to make the shot, so I said, 'Go ahead, go do it,'" Hodges recalled afterwards.

Collins worked out two plans: Sellers would serve from the center line, and Cartwright would screen for Jordan. If Jordan got rid of Ilo's defense, Sellers would send the ball to Jordan; Pippen screened for Hodges, and Hodges caught the ball in the corner and shot it.

Everyone knew that Jordan would be the Bulls' first choice, and Cavaliers coach Lenny Wilkens certainly knew it too, so he arranged for Nance to help Ilo and surround Jordan from the start of the serve.Cartwright's screen didn't work. Jordan didn't get rid of Illo and Nance, but Cyrus, who was in charge of the serve, made the right choice. He didn't rush to send the ball, but watched Jordan trick Nance with fake moves. , a change of direction gains room to receive the ball.Sellers seized this opportunity and sent the ball to Jordan.

The position where Jordan catches the ball is outside the three-point line on the right. "From there, we felt that Michael could shoot the ball and drive to the basket," Collins said afterwards.

However, Jordan's confidence in his free throws is not enough.In this game, he only made 13 of 9 free throws; in the previous game, he walked to the free throw line 27 times and missed 5 free throws, including 1 in the last minute of the fourth quarter.Jordan said: "If I go in and get fouled, I don't want to stand on the free throw line." Therefore, he decided to use a jumper.

Jordan received a pass from Cyrus and sprinted to the left like a cheetah. Yiluo reached out to grab the ball at that moment, which was a devastating mistake.Jordan said: "When he went to catch the ball, he gave me a step. So I changed direction, took off, stayed in the air, and then shot."

Jordan came above the free throw line, jumped up and prepared to shoot.Nance has been completely thrown away, but Yiluo is still reluctant to follow and try to block the shot.What a Jordan, at this critical moment, he actually stayed in the air for a long time and waited until Yiluo's body fell before throwing the ball.

Go in, time is up. 101 to 10 0, the Bulls won.

Jordan, who had just landed, bounced back into the air, waved his fists, and roared with forgetfulness.This is the most unrestrained moment in his life to celebrate his actions and express his emotions.Behind Jordan jumping and punching passionately, Yi Luo fell to the ground annoyed.Throughout the picture, Yi Luo played Jordan's supporting role perfectly.Just like this life-and-death battle, if there is no Jordan's buzzer-beating lore in the last three seconds, then Ilo's three-second cut layup before this will become a classic in the NBA playoffs, but in the end, Ilo just acted as a Jordan legend A cast background.

Jordan's classic goals and classic stays in the air deeply hurt the people of Cleveland.In the locker room after the game, Jordan's North Carolina junior Doherty said dejectedly: "I can't believe he made that ball. We did everything right. I just can't believe it. I don't know how he is." To stay in the air for that long, it's the best shot I've ever seen."

This is Jordan's first great lore in the NBA playoffs.Before this, Jordan also had a lore, but none of them were so critical, so deadly, so far-reaching, and so unforgettable.This lore mid-range shot has an exclusive crisp name in NBA history, called "The Shot" (that shot).

In this life-and-death battle, Jordan scored 44 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and 6 assists.The last two points made up for the mistakes of failing to score a lore and missing free throws in the fourth game two days ago.Jordan said: "This is probably the most important shot I made in the NBA. Mainly because, in the crunch time, I proved myself to be credible. I thought we could beat them, but on Friday, I missed the final The free throw and the last shot, we lost, and that was my lowest moment on the basketball court. Like I didn’t make the varsity team in high school, I was so disappointed in myself, tears came out.”

If The Shot fails to become The Shot, then Jordan may struggle with missing two consecutive lore shots for a long time, and it is difficult to extricate himself.Fortunately, the goal went in, preserving and growing Jordan's confidence.Jordan told the media that the shot was even better than the one he made in the 1982 NCAA All-American Finals.To be precise, this was the beginning of Jordan becoming the number one killer in the NBA playoffs, and it was also the introduction for the Bulls to build a great dynasty in the 20s.In the long run, The Shot was Jordan's biggest fortune in 90.

With a total score of 3 to 2, the Cavaliers were eliminated. The Bulls passed the first round and advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals to face the New York Knicks.The Knicks won 52 games in the regular season and are the No. [-] seed in the Eastern Conference. Against them, the Bulls are of course on the weak side.But after the first round, the situation has changed, at least on a psychological level.The Cavaliers are stronger than the Knicks, and their grades are better than the Knicks. The Bulls still won, so why not beat the Knicks?Now, the Bulls have become a bomb in the lower half of the Eastern Conference.

Like playing against the Cavaliers in the first round, in the first game of this series against the Knicks, the Bulls made a head start in the away game and got off to a good start.After the two battles, the two sides tied 1-1.Then move to Chicago, according to the NBA schedule at the time, the two teams will play "back-to-back", the third game will be played on Saturday afternoon, and the fourth game will be played on Sunday night.

For the Knicks, it was a nightmarish weekend.

In the second quarter of the third game, Jordan strained his thigh while doing a 360-degree turn. The old injury aggravated, but he still endured the pain and took off and scored again and again.In the second quarter alone, Jordan scored 16 points, giving the Bulls a 20-point advantage in the first half.Oakley, who has played for the Knicks, said: "I don't even understand what happened. I went out and played hard, and the next thing I knew, we were 2 points behind." The Bulls won 0 to 111. Jordan scored 8 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, 4 assists, only one assist is a large triple-double, and 0 steals.

Jordan did not give interviews after the game and went to muscle therapy, and reporters had to try to dig out more from Knicks coach Rick Pitino.Pitino was optimistic. He said: "I think one of the key points for us is that we kept Michael Jordan in the game until the end." The reporters were very surprised and wanted to know if Pitino was joking, but Pitino Tino is serious. His reason is: Jordan played almost 40 minutes, which may affect the next game, because the fourth game will start in 24 hours.

Pitino is very famous in the United States. He is not only an excellent basketball coach, but also an excellent speaker. He often gives motivational speeches to executives in the business field, earns a lot of money, and even wrote A bestseller for that matter.However, motivation can sometimes be bad for you, because you may accidentally motivate your opponent, such as Jordan.

On the night after Game [-], that is, Saturday night, Jordan watched the sports news on TV while undergoing treatment under the guidance of his trainer.Suddenly, Pitino appeared on TV, implying in his words: Jordan may have faked his injury in order to raise the attention of the outside world to him.Hearing this, Jordan sat up. He later said that Pitino's words made him very angry. "He didn't understand my situation at all. I think those remarks are very inappropriate. I am more than anyone Knowing my body. So, I decided to turn his words into motivation."

(End of this chapter)