Many stories from Michael Jordan's championship years have surfaced before the premiere of the 10-part docuseries The Last Dance, which is set to air on ESPN on Sunday, Apr. 19.
Yet none are more impactful than this anecdote from Fox Sports' Skip Bayless, who chronicled how Jordan responded to missing a potential game-winning shot in Game 5, only to hit the famous “Last Shot” in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz.
Via Complex:
“Tim Hallam, the PR director of the Bulls, had told me, or tipped me off before the game, that Scottie had come down with something and was going to tough it out and they were a little fearful that it would set in and that he wouldn’t be available for a potential Game 7,” said Bayless.
“Michael had missed the last-second shot, which was a rarity, of Game 5 in Chicago. It was a shocking night to me because he missed it, and he came into the post-game interview room and he said, ‘That was cute.’ I said, ‘That was cute? That wasn’t cute to me.’ But it was almost like he set us up for, ‘Oh, watch what I’m going to do to them in their house.’
https://youtu.be/NQrZbOMPWsU?t=388
As fate would have it, Jordan brushed off that Game 5 miss and went on to hit one of the most ruthless jumpers over Bryon Russell — a shot that would be immortalized in the pantheon of best moments in the NBA Finals.
That would be Jordan's last shot in a Bulls uniform and perhaps the last remnant of the joy of that era in The Windy City, one they will fully relive through the course of this docuseries.
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