The Last Shot
by Leo
In honor of MJ’s Hall of Fame induction, Gatorade is asking fans to vote for their favorite Jordan moment.
Here’s mine
*****
With only 17 seconds left in the game, Michael Jordan brings up the ball and meets Bryon Russell near the left sideline, just about even with the top of the 3-point line. The Chicago Bulls are up 3-2 in the series, but are down one point in Game 6 of the ’98 NBA Finals. In the span of 7 dribbles, we witness destiny.
One Dribble: Jordan’s head is up and surveying the court. His teammates are spread out beyond the 3-point line – Rodman is basically at the half court line – giving Jordan as much room to work with as possible. This spacing is deliberate. The Utah Jazz cannot send anyone to help Russell defend Jordan without leaving a Bulls player wide open. But even with this spacing, Jordan still sees 2 other Jazz players lurking in his path. One of them is Karl Malone.
Three More Dribbles: Jordan turns his body to protect the ball from Russell – who’s now come close enough to put his chest on Michael’s body. Rodman runs from his spot opposite Jordan to the left corner and Pippen moves even further away from Jordan, pulling Malone with him. This clears both bodies from Jordan’s path to the basket.
Two More Dribbles: Jordan takes 2 dribbles to his right, towards the top of the key, and towards the open space cleared out for him 2 dribbles ago.
The Attacking Dribble: The next dribble Jordan takes is hard dribble with his right hand towards the basket. His entire body stretches forward, making it look like he’s committed to forward motion. Russell, in an effort to keep up with Jordan’s acceleration, turns his body away from Jordan and towards Jordan’s predicted destination. He’s already beat. Jordan places his left hand on Russell’s butt. Malone jumps into the lane, anticipating a collision with Jordan, but it never comes.
The Crossover: Jordan crosses the ball from his right hand to his left. His body, which looked like it was going forward a second ago, is now moving laterally to his left. Russell slips and ends up on the floor. To the naked eye, it looks as if Jordan’s left hand pushes off Russell, sending him five feet to his right and onto the ground. Replays would show Jordan’s hand falling from Russell’s backside to his calf, implying that there was no push; instead, the hand was there for balance. In either case, no foul was called.
The Shot: Jordan, at the top of the key, about 20 feet from the basket, shoots the ball. There are five Jazz players in the paint. None of them are within 3 feet of Jordan. Jordan’s teammates are all near the 3-point line – unless the ball takes a long bounce, they will not be able to rebound it. There will be no second chance.
Fate.
Further Reading
Here’s the play:
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