[2级,继续招工]‘We did everything we could’: ’98 Pacers almost ended Michael Jordan’s reign由JabariIverson 发表在翻译团招工部 https://bbs.hupu.com/fyt-store
In the waning moments of Episode 8 in ESPN’s “Last Dance” documentary, Reggie Miller is being interviewed before the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals between the Pacers and the dynastic Bulls.
“We all looked at the Bulls as the standard model of success,” Miller said. “They were considered the best at that time. But we felt, and I feel to this day, we were the better team. The whole thing is, there (were) whispers that this was going to be (Michael Jordan’s) last year. So I think a perfect storm was brewing. In my mind, I was thinking, `This is it. You’re going to retire Michael Jordan.’ ”
From general manager Donnie Walsh to first-year head coach Larry Bird to Miller to Fred Hoiberg and Mark Pope, the Pacers, who had split the regular-season series with the Bulls, believed they had the tools to dethrone the defending champions. They felt they had the advantage in the low post with Rik Smits, the 7-foot-4 Dunkin’ Dutchman. They felt they had the muscle (Antonio Davis and Dale Davis) to brutalize Toni Kukoc, who was not known for his bulk or his embrace of defense.
After Eastern Conference Finals losses to the Knicks (1993-94) and the Magic (1994-95), they felt this was their time, especially after a season when they won just four fewer regular-season games than the Bulls. (It should be noted that Scottie Pippen missed 38 games that season).
“Here’s what I was thinking,” Jalen Rose, the ESPN analyst who played 16 years in the NBA, including six for the Pacers, told The Athletic Indiana recently. “ `I know the rest of the world thinks they’re (the Bulls) going to breeze through and get their second 3-peat, but we’re about to knock them off. We’re about to make a name for ourselves. We’re about to get you a ring, Reg (Reggie Miller). We’re about to get to the Finals.’ That what I was thinking. That’s what we were all thinking.”
Walsh, was not quite as sanguine about the whole thing, having previously seen his teams come up just short against transcendent players, notably a young Shaquille O’Neal. But he loved this Pacers team, one that was constructed for a deep run into the playoffs. It was an older team, deep, perfect for Bird to step in and guide alongside his trusty assistants, Dick Harter and Rick Carlisle. The chemistry was there. The talent was there. And you had to wonder how much Jordan had left, especially after carrying a heavy load while Pippen was out. Plus, Dennis Rodman, at that time sporting a Joseph’s Technicolor Dreamcoat hair design, was starting to act out and did not start Games 1 or 2 as punishment.
Still, they had home-court advantage. And that meant everything.
Both teams breezed to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls sweeping the Nets and beating the Hornets in five while the Pacers knocked off the Cavaliers in four games (in a best-of-five series) and the Knicks in five (in a best-of-seven series).
The Bulls-Pacers series would go seven games, marking the second time in the Bulls’ six championship runs they were forced to a Game 7. It was, by any measure, Chicago’s sternest test during the two 3-peats, something Jordan acknowledged after the series. Of course, that’s of small solace to Indiana.
Two years later, the Pacers would reach the NBA Finals, ultimately losing to the Kobe-Shaq Lakers in six games, but that 1997-98 team, flush with veterans like Miller, Mark Jackson, Chris Mullin, Smits, the Davis boys, Derrick McKey appeared poised to alter the trajectory of history. They believed, about to cut in on Jordan’s last dance.
But … home court.
But … Jordan.
Lots of “buts,” lots of regrets, lots of if only’s.
“Going into that series, we felt like getting Reggie open was going to dictate the actions, whether it was singles, doubles, curls, fades, flares. He was our All-Star, a future Hall of Famer, and he was going to dictate the action along with Mark Jackson, one of the best assist guys ever, controlling the flow,” Rose said.
“That’s what we were going to rely on. That, and we had to get Rik (Smits) touches down low. We had to get Michael and Pippen digging down low so we could kick it out and get some perimeter shots. Lastly, if we could keep it close, we felt like our bench could make a major impact.”
Added Walsh: “Beating Michael is one thing. Beating Michael and that team at home in a seventh game was another thing. And we damn near did it. We damn near did it.”
Game 1
The Pacers got off to a great start in the series opener with Dale Davis, the heavily muscled forward, torturing Kukoc in the low post. But then Phil Jackson made a move that changed the game and, to an extent, changed the series.
He put Pippen, a long, athletic defender, on Mark Jackson, and he had Pippen dog Jackson all over the court. The ball pressure rattled Jackson, who had 14 assists and 14 turnovers in the first two games. The Pacers had made their bones with Jackson feeding Miller at precisely the right moment, but Pippen made that near impossible with his suffocating defense.
Never mind that Jordan, Pippen and Kukoc went a combined 14 of 48 (29 percent) from the field in that game. Defense prevailed in the 85-79 final with the Bulls forcing the Pacers into 25 turnovers, including seven by Jackson. Miller was quiet all game, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-14 shooting. Free-throw shooting, rarely a problem in the regular season, became an issue for Indiana as they made just 16 of 25. And when the Bulls needed just a little bit of offense to put the game away in the fourth quarter, Jordan and his tongue wagging took over.
Despite the outcome, the Pacers left the locker room that night with a comfortable feeling. They hadn’t played well and still pushed the Bulls to the brink.
“I still thought we could get one of the first two in Chicago,” Rose said.
Scottie Pippen and Rik Smits battle for rebounding position during the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals. (Nathaniel S. Butler / Getty Images)
Game 2
Again, Rodman began the game on the bench for disciplinary reasons. Again, the Pacers got off to a hot start. The Pacers bench, led by Travis Best, Rose, Antonio Davis and McKey, was dominating the Bulls bench. Mullin was having his only good game of the series, scoring 18 points.
And then it happened again: The Bulls defense clamped down, Pippen making Jackson’s life miserable, and Chicago continually scoring off turnovers and in transition.
Meanwhile, Miller, who was guarded by Ron Harper, was quiet for a second straight game. And then, there was Jordan, who finished with 41 points. The Pacers were down just three points with two minutes to go, but then Jordan hit two key field goals and that was that. The Bulls won, 104-98, and led the series, 2-0.
“It’s tough to beat the Bulls four out of five, but I still felt like going home to Indy, we could win both games there and make it a series,” Rose said. “We were upset we didn’t get one in Chicago, but we still believed in ourselves.”
Game 3
In the first two games, Miller was 9 of 27 from the field, but back home at Market Square Arena, he hit his first three shots on his way to scoring 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting.
It wasn’t just Miller, though. Antonio Davis, who had a very strong series, played exceedingly well with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The turnovers that dogged them in the first two games? Not a problem back home in Game 3.
Still, by the third quarter, the Bulls led by eight points and it looked like the Pacers were on their way to becoming just another speed bump on the Bulls’ road to another title. Then came a late Pacers’ run and the game was tied after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Miller suffered a badly sprained ankle and limped his way up and down the court. But it didn’t matter. While Jordan was looking unusually human, Miller went on a personal run, scoring 11 straight points in the fourth quarter.
“Reggie would have played on a broken ankle,” Walsh said.
If Miller’s heroics were the story, the role of the bench was the sidebar. Bird rode Best and Rose throughout crunch time in the fourth quarter, and they delivered. It would become a pattern; in all three games the Pacers won, all of them at home, Bird stuck with Rose, Best and, at times, Antonio Davis, in the taut, final moments.
“We knew we had a good bench going into the series and knew they’d make a difference,” Walsh said. “I thought Jalen and Travis could take advantage and that proved to be true.”
He continued.
“I remember Jalen got in the game and he went past Pippen like it was nothing, and I didn’t think he’d have a chance to do that going in,” he said. “And Travis, I realized from the regular season, they had nobody who could guard Travis. He was so quick and strong. He was built like a football player.”
In the end, Antonio Davis, a lousy free-throw shooter, knocked down two big ones in the final seconds, and the Pacers held on to win, 107-105. Indiana did what it was supposed to do, but there was still a lot of work left to be done.
“Just a bump in the road,” Jordan said that night.
Game 4
This game, or at least one moment from this game, will be etched in the city’s civic DNA for time immemorial.
With Miller still limping, the Bulls grabbed a 10-point lead late in the third quarter. Once again, Chicago’s defense and rebounding were making most of the difference. If it wasn’t for Smits, who was having his first big impact of the series, the deficit could have been insurmountable.
Again, though, the bench came to the rescue. The Bulls led by three when Best made a high-arcing, running bank shot to pull the Pacers within one. After the Bulls were whistled for an offensive foul, the Pacers took possession with 21.8 seconds remaining. Eventually, the ball would go out of bounds on the Bulls, leaving the Pacers with 6.4 seconds left to make something happen. But Chicago stole the inbounds pass, Indiana fouled and Pippen went to the free-throw line with 4.7 seconds left.
He then proceeded to short-arm both shots, which bounced off the front of the rim.
Then, with the Bulls leading, 94-93, and just 2.9 seconds remaining, it happened. McKey inbounded the ball to Miller, who made significant contact with Jordan at the top of the key. He freed himself, received the pass, moved to his right and knocked down the game-winner.
So … was it a push off? It depends on your loyalties.
“When I first saw it, I was sitting at the other end of the floor and it looked like a push-off,” Walsh said. “But when I saw it again, and I saw it again with this documentary, it shows Reggie coming out and Michael is definitely waiting on him and he’s going to grab a hold of him. What Reggie did, he didn’t push him, he just kind of made contact with him really quick and he was gone. And it made Michael react a little bit. It was just a slight bump and Michael reacted.”
Said Rose: “I didn’t see a push-off. Maybe a love tap. I just saw him creating space. A push-off, you get called for an offensive foul, right? When you’ve got an all-time great player and shooter and scorer and clutch performer (Miller), a veteran officiating crew knows the game is going to be physical and they know, let the players decide the outcome.”
On the bench, Bird reacted with all the excitement of a man renewing his license at the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Not a smile. Nothing.
While fans were in a frenzy – “loudest I’ve ever heard it,” Walsh said – but there was still time left on the clock. Not much, but enough time for Jordan to get off a final shot that could win the game. How many times had we seen it happen?
Jordan got the ball and threw up a leaning, double-pump 3-point attempt that hit the backboard, then the front of the rim, teetered for a nanosecond and fell off. The Pacers had tied the series, 2-2, with the 96-94 win.
“I’ll never forget: They had seven-tenths of a second left,” Walsh said “And I’m watching it and where I’m sitting, I’m right online with the shot and I’m saying, `He might make that.’ Well, that thing hit the rim and barely bounced out. He came that close to making it. I couldn’t believe it.”
Game 5
The less said, the better.
The Bulls ran the Pacers off the floor, inspiring Bird to say after the game that the team “quit on me.”
It likely wouldn’t have made a difference in a 106-87 loss, but the Pacers had to play without Rose, who was suspended for leaving the bench during a Game 4 skirmish near the Bulls’ bench.
“Here’s what I didn’t do: I didn’t run down there and get involved in the altercation,” Rose said. “I was just trying to get a glimpse of what was happening with our best player (Miller). I didn’t get into it, I didn’t get near it, so I shouldn’t have gotten a suspension. In my mind, the league still owes me money for that. And that was one of those things, one of those times when I felt like they were still trying to help give Michael (Jordan) an advantage.”
Again, 106-87.
Enough said.
Game 6
Similar to Games 3 and 4, the Pacers got off to decent starts. Miller was struggling again – he started the night 1 of 9 from the field – and Indiana’s free-throw shooting was poor, but with 1:09 left in a back-and-forth game, it was 87 apiece.
Again, Best was in the game for Jackson, and again, he delivered, hitting a shot with 33.3 seconds left. Jordan and Best then traded two free throws, leaving the game in Jordan’s hands, again, in the final seconds. But when Jordan, defended by McKey, attempted to drive the lane, he slipped (or was tripped, as he insisted), fell to the floor and lost the ball. The Pacers won, 92-89. The series was going to go the limit.
The bench had come to the rescue again.
Game 7
Indiana couldn’t have wished for a more inspiring start, taking a 13-point lead late in the first quarter. Time after time, the Pacers dumped the ball inside to Dale Davis, who went to work on the overmatched Kukoc.
Again, though, the Bulls defense and rebounding changed the game, not to mention Steve Kerr. By halftime, the Bulls led by three points.
In the second half, Kukoc went nuts, ultimately finishing with 21 points. The Pacers free-throw shooting was awful – they were 23 of 37 in the game – and the rebounding disparity was growing. The Pacers shot a better percentage than the Bulls during the series, but Chicago’s ability to grab offensive rebounds meant more possessions and more points. The Bulls led by four after three quarters.
The Pacers, though, weren’t going away and led by three points with a little more than six minutes left. At which point, the game changed in ways nobody could have imagined.
“The jump ball,” Walsh said ruefully. “That was big.”
“Oh, oh, oh, oh,” Rose said, sounding like he’s passing a kidney stone. “Wow, I remember that play. Damn.”
The 7-4 Smits lined up against the 6-6 Jordan, and Smits won the tip, as you might expect. But he tipped the ball directly to Pippen rather than a teammate.
“I knew Rik would get it because he was so tall, but the way the guys were positioned, they could tell which way he was going to tip it because of his feet,” Walsh said. “And Pippen’s so athletic with those long arms, I worried that he was going to get it. I was afraid of that. It ended up being more key than I thought at the time.”
Said Rose: “Oh, Lord. And then they miss, get the rebound, kick it to Kerr and he hits the three to tie the game. Damn. Damn, damn.”
After the game, Bird conceded he should have called timeout to properly align his players to win the tip.
But he didn’t.
What beat the Pacers then?
Jordan beat them by continually taking it strong to the basket, getting fouled and making his free throws.
And the Bulls, who outrebounded the Pacers, 50-34, in the game, had 22 offensive rebounds. Twenty-two.
“Get out of here – 22?” Rose said. “That’s got to be some kind of record, right? They had 22? Did you double-check that? That can’t be right.”
It’s right.
And it’s the primary reason the Bulls won Game 7 and this Eastern Conference Finals series.
Some of it, too, landed on Bird’s shoulders. Jackson, who was reinserted for Best late in the game, did not play well down the stretch. And Rose remained on the bench while Mullin, who struggled all series, played in the final moments.
“Larry told me after the series was over that Jordan grabbed him and told him he was scared about the seventh game because they (the Bulls) had no answers for Travis Best and Jalen Rose,” Walsh said. “And they didn’t.”
After the game, an angry and disconsolate Rose made his way to the team bus outside the arena and found just one person sitting in his seat: Bird.
“I got on the bus, I thought I was going to walk past him and pout and not speak to him, act like a young player and be all mad that we lost and I didn’t play down the stretch, but he looked at me and said, `My bad, I should have gotten you back out there,’ ” Rose said. “He didn’t let it linger. He squashed it right away. That was important for me.
“I mean, it was tough. Travis could get the ball up against anybody. I was a point forward and could get it up against anybody. But you’ve got to go with the guys who got you there, and Mark (Jackson) and Chris (Mullin) were those guys. This is Larry Legend on the sidelines. He’s the only guy who won MVP’s, coach of the year and executive of the year. I was mad about Game 7 but for Larry to apologize right after the game like that, that was big.”
In both the postgame locker room and on the trip home, there were tears.
“The rest of the world was like, `Yay, Michael Jordan,’ “ Rose said. “We were like, `Hell, we’re about to change the game.’ It was our turn. I hated not getting Reggie to the Finals. I wanted to get him a ring.”
Added Walsh: “I’ll tell you the truth, I remember coming back on the plane in 2000 after we lost (to the Lakers) in the Finals. I looked around that plane and remembered thinking to myself, `You know, these guys did everything they could do to win, they can’t try any harder, they can’t do anymore, so I decided to break up that team after that season. And that’s what I felt like after that Chicago series. I wanted to win that series so bad, I could taste it. But I did feel like we pushed those guys as far as we could push them. We did everything we could.
“No regrets.”
In the waning moments of Episode 8 in ESPN’s “Last Dance” documentary, Reggie Miller is being interviewed before the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals between the Pacers and the dynastic Bulls.
“We all looked at the Bulls as the standard model of success,” Miller said. “They were considered the best at that time. But we felt, and I feel to this day, we were the better team. The whole thing is, there (were) whispers that this was going to be (Michael Jordan’s) last year. So I think a perfect storm was brewing. In my mind, I was thinking, `This is it. You’re going to retire Michael Jordan.’ ”
From general manager Donnie Walsh to first-year head coach Larry Bird to Miller to Fred Hoiberg and Mark Pope, the Pacers, who had split the regular-season series with the Bulls, believed they had the tools to dethrone the defending champions. They felt they had the advantage in the low post with Rik Smits, the 7-foot-4 Dunkin’ Dutchman. They felt they had the muscle (Antonio Davis and Dale Davis) to brutalize Toni Kukoc, who was not known for his bulk or his embrace of defense.
After Eastern Conference Finals losses to the Knicks (1993-94) and the Magic (1994-95), they felt this was their time, especially after a season when they won just four fewer regular-season games than the Bulls. (It should be noted that Scottie Pippen missed 38 games that season).
“Here’s what I was thinking,” Jalen Rose, the ESPN analyst who played 16 years in the NBA, including six for the Pacers, told The Athletic Indiana recently. “ `I know the rest of the world thinks they’re (the Bulls) going to breeze through and get their second 3-peat, but we’re about to knock them off. We’re about to make a name for ourselves. We’re about to get you a ring, Reg (Reggie Miller). We’re about to get to the Finals.’ That what I was thinking. That’s what we were all thinking.”
Walsh, was not quite as sanguine about the whole thing, having previously seen his teams come up just short against transcendent players, notably a young Shaquille O’Neal. But he loved this Pacers team, one that was constructed for a deep run into the playoffs. It was an older team, deep, perfect for Bird to step in and guide alongside his trusty assistants, Dick Harter and Rick Carlisle. The chemistry was there. The talent was there. And you had to wonder how much Jordan had left, especially after carrying a heavy load while Pippen was out. Plus, Dennis Rodman, at that time sporting a Joseph’s Technicolor Dreamcoat hair design, was starting to act out and did not start Games 1 or 2 as punishment.
Still, they had home-court advantage. And that meant everything.
Both teams breezed to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls sweeping the Nets and beating the Hornets in five while the Pacers knocked off the Cavaliers in four games (in a best-of-five series) and the Knicks in five (in a best-of-seven series).
The Bulls-Pacers series would go seven games, marking the second time in the Bulls’ six championship runs they were forced to a Game 7. It was, by any measure, Chicago’s sternest test during the two 3-peats, something Jordan acknowledged after the series. Of course, that’s of small solace to Indiana.
Two years later, the Pacers would reach the NBA Finals, ultimately losing to the Kobe-Shaq Lakers in six games, but that 1997-98 team, flush with veterans like Miller, Mark Jackson, Chris Mullin, Smits, the Davis boys, Derrick McKey appeared poised to alter the trajectory of history. They believed, about to cut in on Jordan’s last dance.
But … home court.
But … Jordan.
Lots of “buts,” lots of regrets, lots of if only’s.
“Going into that series, we felt like getting Reggie open was going to dictate the actions, whether it was singles, doubles, curls, fades, flares. He was our All-Star, a future Hall of Famer, and he was going to dictate the action along with Mark Jackson, one of the best assist guys ever, controlling the flow,” Rose said.
“That’s what we were going to rely on. That, and we had to get Rik (Smits) touches down low. We had to get Michael and Pippen digging down low so we could kick it out and get some perimeter shots. Lastly, if we could keep it close, we felt like our bench could make a major impact.”
Added Walsh: “Beating Michael is one thing. Beating Michael and that team at home in a seventh game was another thing. And we damn near did it. We damn near did it.”
Game 1
The Pacers got off to a great start in the series opener with Dale Davis, the heavily muscled forward, torturing Kukoc in the low post. But then Phil Jackson made a move that changed the game and, to an extent, changed the series.
He put Pippen, a long, athletic defender, on Mark Jackson, and he had Pippen dog Jackson all over the court. The ball pressure rattled Jackson, who had 14 assists and 14 turnovers in the first two games. The Pacers had made their bones with Jackson feeding Miller at precisely the right moment, but Pippen made that near impossible with his suffocating defense.
Never mind that Jordan, Pippen and Kukoc went a combined 14 of 48 (29 percent) from the field in that game. Defense prevailed in the 85-79 final with the Bulls forcing the Pacers into 25 turnovers, including seven by Jackson. Miller was quiet all game, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-14 shooting. Free-throw shooting, rarely a problem in the regular season, became an issue for Indiana as they made just 16 of 25. And when the Bulls needed just a little bit of offense to put the game away in the fourth quarter, Jordan and his tongue wagging took over.
Despite the outcome, the Pacers left the locker room that night with a comfortable feeling. They hadn’t played well and still pushed the Bulls to the brink.
“I still thought we could get one of the first two in Chicago,” Rose said.
Scottie Pippen and Rik Smits battle for rebounding position during the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals. (Nathaniel S. Butler / Getty Images)
Game 2
Again, Rodman began the game on the bench for disciplinary reasons. Again, the Pacers got off to a hot start. The Pacers bench, led by Travis Best, Rose, Antonio Davis and McKey, was dominating the Bulls bench. Mullin was having his only good game of the series, scoring 18 points.
And then it happened again: The Bulls defense clamped down, Pippen making Jackson’s life miserable, and Chicago continually scoring off turnovers and in transition.
Meanwhile, Miller, who was guarded by Ron Harper, was quiet for a second straight game. And then, there was Jordan, who finished with 41 points. The Pacers were down just three points with two minutes to go, but then Jordan hit two key field goals and that was that. The Bulls won, 104-98, and led the series, 2-0.
“It’s tough to beat the Bulls four out of five, but I still felt like going home to Indy, we could win both games there and make it a series,” Rose said. “We were upset we didn’t get one in Chicago, but we still believed in ourselves.”
Game 3
In the first two games, Miller was 9 of 27 from the field, but back home at Market Square Arena, he hit his first three shots on his way to scoring 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting.
It wasn’t just Miller, though. Antonio Davis, who had a very strong series, played exceedingly well with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The turnovers that dogged them in the first two games? Not a problem back home in Game 3.
Still, by the third quarter, the Bulls led by eight points and it looked like the Pacers were on their way to becoming just another speed bump on the Bulls’ road to another title. Then came a late Pacers’ run and the game was tied after three quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Miller suffered a badly sprained ankle and limped his way up and down the court. But it didn’t matter. While Jordan was looking unusually human, Miller went on a personal run, scoring 11 straight points in the fourth quarter.
“Reggie would have played on a broken ankle,” Walsh said.
If Miller’s heroics were the story, the role of the bench was the sidebar. Bird rode Best and Rose throughout crunch time in the fourth quarter, and they delivered. It would become a pattern; in all three games the Pacers won, all of them at home, Bird stuck with Rose, Best and, at times, Antonio Davis, in the taut, final moments.
“We knew we had a good bench going into the series and knew they’d make a difference,” Walsh said. “I thought Jalen and Travis could take advantage and that proved to be true.”
He continued.
“I remember Jalen got in the game and he went past Pippen like it was nothing, and I didn’t think he’d have a chance to do that going in,” he said. “And Travis, I realized from the regular season, they had nobody who could guard Travis. He was so quick and strong. He was built like a football player.”
In the end, Antonio Davis, a lousy free-throw shooter, knocked down two big ones in the final seconds, and the Pacers held on to win, 107-105. Indiana did what it was supposed to do, but there was still a lot of work left to be done.
“Just a bump in the road,” Jordan said that night.
Game 4
This game, or at least one moment from this game, will be etched in the city’s civic DNA for time immemorial.
With Miller still limping, the Bulls grabbed a 10-point lead late in the third quarter. Once again, Chicago’s defense and rebounding were making most of the difference. If it wasn’t for Smits, who was having his first big impact of the series, the deficit could have been insurmountable.
Again, though, the bench came to the rescue. The Bulls led by three when Best made a high-arcing, running bank shot to pull the Pacers within one. After the Bulls were whistled for an offensive foul, the Pacers took possession with 21.8 seconds remaining. Eventually, the ball would go out of bounds on the Bulls, leaving the Pacers with 6.4 seconds left to make something happen. But Chicago stole the inbounds pass, Indiana fouled and Pippen went to the free-throw line with 4.7 seconds left.
He then proceeded to short-arm both shots, which bounced off the front of the rim.
Then, with the Bulls leading, 94-93, and just 2.9 seconds remaining, it happened. McKey inbounded the ball to Miller, who made significant contact with Jordan at the top of the key. He freed himself, received the pass, moved to his right and knocked down the game-winner.
So … was it a push off? It depends on your loyalties.
“When I first saw it, I was sitting at the other end of the floor and it looked like a push-off,” Walsh said. “But when I saw it again, and I saw it again with this documentary, it shows Reggie coming out and Michael is definitely waiting on him and he’s going to grab a hold of him. What Reggie did, he didn’t push him, he just kind of made contact with him really quick and he was gone. And it made Michael react a little bit. It was just a slight bump and Michael reacted.”
Said Rose: “I didn’t see a push-off. Maybe a love tap. I just saw him creating space. A push-off, you get called for an offensive foul, right? When you’ve got an all-time great player and shooter and scorer and clutch performer (Miller), a veteran officiating crew knows the game is going to be physical and they know, let the players decide the outcome.”
On the bench, Bird reacted with all the excitement of a man renewing his license at the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Not a smile. Nothing.
While fans were in a frenzy – “loudest I’ve ever heard it,” Walsh said – but there was still time left on the clock. Not much, but enough time for Jordan to get off a final shot that could win the game. How many times had we seen it happen?
Jordan got the ball and threw up a leaning, double-pump 3-point attempt that hit the backboard, then the front of the rim, teetered for a nanosecond and fell off. The Pacers had tied the series, 2-2, with the 96-94 win.
“I’ll never forget: They had seven-tenths of a second left,” Walsh said “And I’m watching it and where I’m sitting, I’m right online with the shot and I’m saying, `He might make that.’ Well, that thing hit the rim and barely bounced out. He came that close to making it. I couldn’t believe it.”
Game 5
The less said, the better.
The Bulls ran the Pacers off the floor, inspiring Bird to say after the game that the team “quit on me.”
It likely wouldn’t have made a difference in a 106-87 loss, but the Pacers had to play without Rose, who was suspended for leaving the bench during a Game 4 skirmish near the Bulls’ bench.
“Here’s what I didn’t do: I didn’t run down there and get involved in the altercation,” Rose said. “I was just trying to get a glimpse of what was happening with our best player (Miller). I didn’t get into it, I didn’t get near it, so I shouldn’t have gotten a suspension. In my mind, the league still owes me money for that. And that was one of those things, one of those times when I felt like they were still trying to help give Michael (Jordan) an advantage.”
Again, 106-87.
Enough said.
Game 6
Similar to Games 3 and 4, the Pacers got off to decent starts. Miller was struggling again – he started the night 1 of 9 from the field – and Indiana’s free-throw shooting was poor, but with 1:09 left in a back-and-forth game, it was 87 apiece.
Again, Best was in the game for Jackson, and again, he delivered, hitting a shot with 33.3 seconds left. Jordan and Best then traded two free throws, leaving the game in Jordan’s hands, again, in the final seconds. But when Jordan, defended by McKey, attempted to drive the lane, he slipped (or was tripped, as he insisted), fell to the floor and lost the ball. The Pacers won, 92-89. The series was going to go the limit.
The bench had come to the rescue again.
Game 7
Indiana couldn’t have wished for a more inspiring start, taking a 13-point lead late in the first quarter. Time after time, the Pacers dumped the ball inside to Dale Davis, who went to work on the overmatched Kukoc.
Again, though, the Bulls defense and rebounding changed the game, not to mention Steve Kerr. By halftime, the Bulls led by three points.
In the second half, Kukoc went nuts, ultimately finishing with 21 points. The Pacers free-throw shooting was awful – they were 23 of 37 in the game – and the rebounding disparity was growing. The Pacers shot a better percentage than the Bulls during the series, but Chicago’s ability to grab offensive rebounds meant more possessions and more points. The Bulls led by four after three quarters.
The Pacers, though, weren’t going away and led by three points with a little more than six minutes left. At which point, the game changed in ways nobody could have imagined.
“The jump ball,” Walsh said ruefully. “That was big.”
“Oh, oh, oh, oh,” Rose said, sounding like he’s passing a kidney stone. “Wow, I remember that play. Damn.”
The 7-4 Smits lined up against the 6-6 Jordan, and Smits won the tip, as you might expect. But he tipped the ball directly to Pippen rather than a teammate.
“I knew Rik would get it because he was so tall, but the way the guys were positioned, they could tell which way he was going to tip it because of his feet,” Walsh said. “And Pippen’s so athletic with those long arms, I worried that he was going to get it. I was afraid of that. It ended up being more key than I thought at the time.”
Said Rose: “Oh, Lord. And then they miss, get the rebound, kick it to Kerr and he hits the three to tie the game. Damn. Damn, damn.”
After the game, Bird conceded he should have called timeout to properly align his players to win the tip.
But he didn’t.
What beat the Pacers then?
Jordan beat them by continually taking it strong to the basket, getting fouled and making his free throws.
And the Bulls, who outrebounded the Pacers, 50-34, in the game, had 22 offensive rebounds. Twenty-two.
“Get out of here – 22?” Rose said. “That’s got to be some kind of record, right? They had 22? Did you double-check that? That can’t be right.”
It’s right.
And it’s the primary reason the Bulls won Game 7 and this Eastern Conference Finals series.
Some of it, too, landed on Bird’s shoulders. Jackson, who was reinserted for Best late in the game, did not play well down the stretch. And Rose remained on the bench while Mullin, who struggled all series, played in the final moments.
“Larry told me after the series was over that Jordan grabbed him and told him he was scared about the seventh game because they (the Bulls) had no answers for Travis Best and Jalen Rose,” Walsh said. “And they didn’t.”
After the game, an angry and disconsolate Rose made his way to the team bus outside the arena and found just one person sitting in his seat: Bird.
“I got on the bus, I thought I was going to walk past him and pout and not speak to him, act like a young player and be all mad that we lost and I didn’t play down the stretch, but he looked at me and said, `My bad, I should have gotten you back out there,’ ” Rose said. “He didn’t let it linger. He squashed it right away. That was important for me.
“I mean, it was tough. Travis could get the ball up against anybody. I was a point forward and could get it up against anybody. But you’ve got to go with the guys who got you there, and Mark (Jackson) and Chris (Mullin) were those guys. This is Larry Legend on the sidelines. He’s the only guy who won MVP’s, coach of the year and executive of the year. I was mad about Game 7 but for Larry to apologize right after the game like that, that was big.”
In both the postgame locker room and on the trip home, there were tears.
“The rest of the world was like, `Yay, Michael Jordan,’ “ Rose said. “We were like, `Hell, we’re about to change the game.’ It was our turn. I hated not getting Reggie to the Finals. I wanted to get him a ring.”
Added Walsh: “I’ll tell you the truth, I remember coming back on the plane in 2000 after we lost (to the Lakers) in the Finals. I looked around that plane and remembered thinking to myself, `You know, these guys did everything they could do to win, they can’t try any harder, they can’t do anymore, so I decided to break up that team after that season. And that’s what I felt like after that Chicago series. I wanted to win that series so bad, I could taste it. But I did feel like we pushed those guys as far as we could push them. We did everything we could.
“No regrets.”
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