NBA Archives Debunked: The Jordan Saga

Chapter 65 King's Landing (3)

The total score was 1 to 1, and the Jazz lost the home court advantage they had fought for all year.What's more, the series was going the way the Bulls coaching staff wanted it to: the guards managed to limit Stockton's freedom of movement, thereby isolating Malone from being part of a fluid offense; Mann and others forced Malone to become a jump shooter, preventing him from getting to the free throw line and preventing him from controlling the rhythm of the game.

Back in Chicago, the Bulls turned Game [-] into a frenzy.Of course, the carnival in Chicago is the nightmare in Salt Lake City.

For the first time since the middle of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls looked rested and refreshed.They were impeccable on the defensive end, reacting quickly, turning rotations, and often pushing the Jazz to the last minute of the 24-second shot clock.Malone, who made 41 of 14 shots in the first two games, performed very well in this campaign. He made all of the first 6 shots, but he was so smart that the Jazz still couldn't play, because the rest of the Jazz only made 16 of 1 shots in the first quarter.

After one quarter, the Bulls led 17 to 14; at halftime, the Bulls were 49 to 31; in three quarters, the Bulls were 72 to 45; in the end, the Bulls were 96 to 54.The 42-point gap between the two sides set a record for the largest point difference in a single game in the history of the NBA Finals; the 54 points scored by the Jazz were the lowest in a single game since the NBA established a 24-second attack time limit—not only the lowest in the finals, but also the lowest in the NBA. The lowest of the competition.Jazz coach Sloan sat on the podium of the press conference after the game, holding a technical statistics paper and asked: "Is this the real score? The whole game? I thought there were 196 points. They look like they scored 196 points." After a game with such a close score, the momentum has shifted to the Bulls, and now it's time for the Jazz to answer questions.

Asked: How to bounce back?
The process of the fourth game was much more intense than three days ago. The Jazz was more fierce and tough, but the ending did not change fundamentally: the Bulls still controlled the rhythm and competed with the Jazz on defense; Malone felt good, but still only scored 21 points; The last two and a half minutes were still the Bulls' time. They won another game 86 to 82, leading the total score 3 to 1.Since then, the Chicago media began to discuss: Should the Finals MVP go to Jordan or Pippen?Jordan is the first core, but Pippen is the key to the success of the Bulls' defense.

The format of the finals is 2-3-2, and the fifth game is still in Chicago.The pre-game atmosphere at the United Center was completely different from the third and fourth games. Everyone was happy and ready to open the champagne. "Is this the last game that Jordan will wear the Bulls jersey?" "Once the championship is won, how will the police deal with the riots after the game?" Everyone is discussing these things. It seems that there is no suspense about the outcome. .

An accident happened.Malone, who has always been criticized, played the best finals of his career. He scored 27 points on 17 of 39 shots, making the Bulls defenseless.Kukoc also played a masterpiece in the personal finals. His hands were hot in the first quarter. He took 13 shots in the game, only two goals were missed, and he scored 30 points.Unfortunately, one Kukoc can't support the entire Bulls.Jordan made only 2 of 6 shots, and Pippen made only 9 of 16 shots. Except for Kukoc, the Bulls' shooting percentage was less than 2%.

In the last 0.8 seconds, the Bulls trailed by 2 points, and the home audience was still expecting a miracle.Jordan threw a super long three-pointer from the right wing. The ball didn't touch the basket. There was no miracle. 81 to 83, the Bulls lost.All the champagne, all the party plans, all the finals MVP awards were thrown out the window.Now, the finals are going back to Salt Lake City.

Jackson said to Jordan: "Michael, we still need to win another game, we have to win away. I think, this is better." Jordan agreed.

Jordan's career classic battle [-]
Game 1998 of the [-] NBA Finals
Time: March 1998, 6

Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City
Score: Bulls 87:86 Jazz
The moment the ball passed through the center of the net, Jordan stood on tiptoe, stretched his right arm straight, and pointed his fingers towards the basket, looking like a king who ruled the world.

This is the exclamation point of Jordan's great basketball career.

This is the most majestic moment in the long history of the NBA.

This is the climax forte of a piece of music.

This is the finishing touch to a picture scroll.

This is extreme.

For the Chicago Bulls, Game 1998 of the 3 Finals was a life-and-death battle that could only be won, not defeated.Although they still maintain a 2-[-] overall score advantage, the remaining games will all be played in Salt Lake City. If they can't win the sixth game, the seventh game will only be more difficult.

Such an important game, not long after the start, the Bulls were in trouble.Pippen had back spasms and had to go back to the locker room for treatment, where a masseur beat him hard on the back to relieve the spasms.On this day, Pippen only played 26 minutes. Even if he was on the court, it was extremely inconvenient to move, and it was difficult to bend over to pick up the ball.

Under such a situation, Jordan still didn't have any luck. Even if he was the only one in the team to score, he had to win this game instead of waiting until the next game. "I never doubted myself," he said, "I knew we had a chance to win this game."

41.9 seconds before the end, Stockton made a three-pointer, and the Jazz led 86 to 83, almost killing the Bulls.After the timeout, Jordan made a layup in just 5 seconds, narrowing the point difference to within one goal.

What gave Jordan such unwavering confidence?It's defense.Jordan said: "We defended well throughout the series. If it wasn't for defense, we wouldn't have been able to play here." In this series, the Bulls defended the Jazz to an average of 80.2 points per game, setting the NBA Finals with the fewest points conceded in six games record.The most exciting, critical, and deadly defense came from Jordan himself.

With about 21 seconds left in the game, Malone received a pass from Stockton in the low post and was about to punch Rodman back. He didn't notice that Jordan was not far behind him and didn't run away.It was too late to say, but soon, Jordan slipped to Malone's side without a sound, and slapped the ball off.Malone fell to the ground and watched as Jordan took the ball. "Carl never saw me coming," Jordan said.

This decision won Jordan himself precious time to turn things around.If the ball is not broken, the Jazz may extend their advantage to three or four points.Even if the Jazz fails to attack, the Bulls probably only have three to five seconds left to execute the final blow.Therefore, Jordan's break is priceless, no less than the next last shot.

Jackson waved his hand on the sidelines to signal Jordan to go straight to the frontcourt and not to call a timeout.Jordan took the ball over the halfway line with more than 15 seconds to go.He slapped the ball from beyond the three-point line, watching the seconds tick by.The Jazz adhered to Sloan's defensive principles and only used Brian Russell to mark Jordan.

"That moment, that moment that started to become me," Jordan said, "when you get into that moment, you know it's coming. Everything around you starts to slow down, the vision starts to become incredibly clear, and you start to read the defense. ...I saw it, I saw that moment (coming). Russell came to guard me and I took advantage of that moment."

9 seconds before the end of the game, Jordan started to break through from the right, followed by Russell.At the top of the key above the free-throw line, Jordan made a sudden stop and pulled the ball back.Russell couldn't turn around and slipped to the ground.There was nothing in front of Jordan, he jumped up calmly, shot, and the ball went into the basket neatly. 5.2 seconds, 87 to 86, the Bulls overtook.

Jordan stood on the field in a shooting position, with his right hand raised high, and time seemed to freeze.Since then, almost all the historical classic rankings of the NBA have listed this moment, this shot, and this battle at the top of the list. The reason is: the most classic works should belong to the greatest artist, and Jordan is that artist; In the perfect situation of Jordan's basketball career, this moment, this shot, and this battle push it to the extreme. You can't think of a more exciting and touching ending than this.

Jordan scored 45 points, more than half of the Bulls' total.After Game [-] of the previous year's Finals, Jackson thought Jordan was "impossibly beyond" and yet—"Tonight, he did," Jackson said. There's drama involved."

Jordan later recorded in detail the mental activity of the final shot in his autobiography:

The last shot in Game 1998 of the [-] Finals, I remember everything clearly, as if the TV screen was playing in front of my eyes in slow motion.

I broke the ball, looked up at the clock, and dribbled the ball upfield.I can see everyone on the field and remember where they stand.Steve Kerr in the corner, John Stockton staring at me, pretending to help, Dennis on the left, bottom of the box, Scottie on the right wing.I could hear things around me, but it was like a rustling noise, and at that point, I couldn't tell what each sound was, but I could identify every opportunity on the field.

I'm going to go to the right because I know there will be a shot there.Every time I have to score, I go to the right, unless the defense makes a mistake and opens a channel to my left.When you dribble to the right, the defender has to go around your body to get to the ball. In Game 1997 of the 1998 Finals, I hit the game-winning shot and went to the left because Brian Russell jumped to his left side and caused him to lose his balance. This time in [-], I was still going to put myself on the right side and start from the left side of the court.

I didn't want to change direction and stop, but thinking about it this way, when I finally made the shot, I completed the series of actions by instinct.Everything on the pitch is changing slowly, slowly enough for me to pick out every detail.I sensed that Russell made another mistake, and this time he jumped forward again, and I knew what to do.

I go to Kerr, Stockton is not going to leave Kerr like he did in Game 1997 of the [-] Finals, so he just pretends to jump on me and then turns back to guard Kerr.Whatever happens, I have no intention of passing the ball this time.I thought, since I broke the ball, this is my chance to decide the game.Even if the opposing team has five guys on me, I'll take the shot myself.Ironically, I had a hard time pulling up on the right because I had a tendency to burn out.Normally, I'm used to leaning back a little bit, but I didn't want to lean back on that ball because every time I've shot a jumper before, it's been a little short.

Come to think of it, I had enough time to think that much, which is kind of weird even to me.But that was the way it was, and I don't have to lie.

I consciously kept my hand out, pointing at the hoop, because my first couple of shots were a little short.It looks like I'm doing a pose, but it's actually the basic movement of shooting a basketball.

It's really amazing that I can break down the game into so many details in such a small amount of time, and then execute the shot.All of this happened in just 11 seconds.

In this game, Jordan took 35 shots and only scored 15 goals, which is not a high hit rate.That last shot was neither a trademark flying snap, nor a difficult flash and move, but the most common mid-range jumper, without even adding a habitual fallback, which seemed to be missing something.But the reality is often like this: the most classic and legendary is not the invincible and magnificent, but the ability to defeat the enemy with the most ordinary methods in the environment of repeated misses and difficult steps, and return to the original.

Jordan missed five jump shots in the fourth quarter. Most of his shots were short due to the impact of his receptor performance.When it was a matter of life and death, he resolutely changed his attack method-in the last two and a half minutes, Jordan wasted only one of the five offensive opportunities, which was a mid-range fadeaway jumper, which was still short; The choices are: break through and make a foul, break through again and make a foul, continue to break through and make a layup, and that mid-range shot without a fadeaway.In these two and a half minutes, Jordan scored 8 points. This is the last 8 points of the Bulls team and 8 points to win the championship.Throughout the fourth quarter, Jordan scored 16 points without missing 8 free throws.

Jordan's last shot, everyone was amazed. "You have to salute him," Sloan said. "You can throw all your philosophies out the window. You can double-team him, you can force him in the middle, but great players always make great shots."

After Jordan scored the goal, there were 5.2 seconds left in the time, and the Jazz were only 1 point behind, not without a chance.But the Jazz's final attack was a little sloppy, and Stockton hurriedly shot from beyond the three-point line, and the ball bounced off the basket.Jordan jumped high, stretched out six fingers, and the Chicago Bulls won their sixth championship.

In the crowd, Jackson and Jordan embraced for a long time.

"Oh my god, it's beautiful," Jackson lamented. "What a wonderful ending!"

"I have confidence! I have confidence!" Jordan said.

"I bet you have."

In the 1998 finals, Jordan averaged 33.5 points per game in six games before and after, and was unsurprisingly re-elected the finals MVP.In eight years, he won six championships, two three-peat championships, and six finals MVP winners. Jordan's career has come to a complete conclusion.He became the greatest player in NBA history recognized by most people, or, the greatest player in basketball history.

The Bulls returned to Chicago with the latest championship trophy and held a grand parade locally.On the night of the parade, the players, coaches and their families had dinner at the Jordan restaurant. Except for the maverick Rodman, the whole team was present.It was a jolly and raucous night.These guys have achieved great things together, and all this wonderful thing will soon be history. Many of them will not be here again next season, so they celebrate and remember emotionally.At the end, the family members walked away tacitly, allowing these men time to talk to each other, and the scene immediately became warm and sad.

Jackson toasted Harper for his selfless sacrifice for the team.Harper is one of the few people who will still be on this team, and everyone made a few jokes about him.When Pippen stood up to toast Jordan, everyone present felt that this was the last chapter of the Bulls' "Last Dance".It is almost certain that Pippen will not stay in the Bulls, and his departure heralds the departure of Jordan and the end of the Bulls dynasty.

Pippen stood up and said to Jordan, "None of this would have happened without you."

At that moment, it was extremely beautiful.

Everyone stood up, cheered, raised their glasses.All the pain, struggle, cooperation, and glory all melted into the glass of wine in their hands and flowed into their bodies.

1997-1998 season
Regular season: 82 games, 28.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.7 steals, shooting 46.5%
Playoffs: 21 games, 32.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 steals, 46.2% shooting
Finals: 6 games, 33.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.8 steals, 42.7% shooting
NBA championship

NBA Finals MVP
NBA MVP of the Year
NBA All-NBA First Team

NBA Defensive First Team of the Year

NBA scoring champion

NBA All-Star Game MVP
(End of this chapter)