Michael Jordan knew it would be his last shot as a Bull, so he turned the play into a moment to remember.
Michael Jordan
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Isiah Thomas isn’t friends with Michael Jordan. The two have a beef that began all the way back to MJ’s first All-Star appearance where, he claims, Thomas led a conspiracy to make him look bad in the game.
The two continue to hold their grudges and feud up to this very day but despite Thomas hating on Jordan and vice versa, Zeke only has good words to say when describing MJ’s iconic final basket as a Chicago Bull.
“Everybody knows the ball is coming to him. All eyes are on him. He’s gotta get a shot. Somehow, he maneuvers, gets his man off-balance. Even though he got open, and that’s what I mean by clutch impression, because everybody knows it’s coming to him. You gotta make it. You gotta get open,” Thomas said.
“He finds a way to get open and now he’s standing at the foul line after you know, a historic career, you standing at the foul line and you knock that shot down and he captures the moment after he makes the shot.”
The Last Shot was the culmination of a 13-year NBA career with the Chicago Bulls which led to six NBA championships won during an 8-year span.The Last Shot
Jordan was Chicago’s No. 3 overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. He first led the Bulls to three straight titles from 1991 to 1993 then suddenly retired to pursue his dream of playing professional baseball. Two years later, he came back and led them to three more championships from 1996 to 1998. Among the six of them, the 1998 title win was perhaps the most memorable.
The Bulls were the dominant force during the 90s but as we would later find out, there was trouble brewing on the inside. With 1998 likely their final season as a group, they wanted to go out with a bang. But facing them in the Finals was a Utah team that was looking to avenge the previous season’s defeat. The Jazz were up 2-1 in the series and with less than a minute to go in Game 6, they were down 3. Then MJ went to work.
Jordan scored a lay-up to cut the Jazz’s lead to one point. Then on Utah’s next play, MJ ᵴtriƥped Karl Malone of the ball, giving his team a chance to win the game. He dribbles to their side of the court and calls for a one-on-one with his defender. And with 5.2 seconds left, he knocks down a foul-line jump shot off what Thomas called the “Reggie Miller shove”. Nothing but net. Chicago defends Utah’s final attempt and the Bulls win a sixth NBA title.Like Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston
Hitting the game-winning shot was one thing. Immortalizing it was another. And that’s what Thomas said Michael Jordan did after knocking down that championship-winning basket over Bryon Russell. Before that moment, that game even, Jordan knew that it was going to be his last shot because, after all, it was their Last Dance.
“I think he understood the moment, the Utah fans in the building understood the moment, and it was just one of those priceless moments in sport when he stood there and just held the goose neck. The ball was in the hole. It was like Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston saying ‘Get up! Get up!”
True enough, Michael Jordan’s last shot is one of the most iconic moments in sports. It’s probably the most iconic basket in NBA history. It’s also the last image we have of Jordan in a Chicago Bulls uniform. Although he had a not-so-epic career in Washington, nobody remembers that. What everyone (most of them) knows is that MJ is the GOAT and he rode off into the sunset with a championship-winning shot no one will ever forget.
Source: basketballnetwork.net