With less than 20 seconds left in Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Finals, Nick Anderson put on his best defensive stance against Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls, who was in his comeback year. In one of the most iconic plays in franchise history, Anderson poked the ball away from Jordan, preventing the legend from unleashing his signature clutch shot.
In an episode of Inside the Magic with Dante Marchitelli, Anderson and then Magic coach Brian Hill recounted the great moment. Anderson said that Hill's instructions were simple to “play good defense” on Michael Jordan.
“I guess that’s the way it was supposed to happen,” Anderson said.
In addition, Anderson tagged the moment as one of the greatest moments in his personal history. What makes it special is that being a Chicago-native himself, you could only dream of facing up and stealing the ball from Chicago's greatest athlete.
“These are things that you’ll never, ever forget,” he told Marchitelli, as transcribed by Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel. “You can talk about for a lifetime.”
Below is the play:
For Hill, he didn't take it against Jordan that he just played 10 games in the regular season and had played seven games in the postseason come Game 1. He knows what Jordan is capable of. However, he knows that his squad had the hunger and passion to upset the raging Bulls.
“Well I don’t buy into the Michael isn’t Michael. 17 games is plenty of time to get into basketball shape. Our biggest concern was Michael and the other guys were going to have to beat us” – Brian Hill on the Nick Anderson steal of MJ 25 years ago today pic.twitter.com/ibAbtvHu90
— 96.9 The Game (@969thegame) May 7, 2020
It's one the of little-known moments in Jordan's history. But Anderson did steal the ball from him. And the Magic got game 1 and took care of the Bulls in six games.
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