1997 NBA Finals Game 1 | Bulls 84, Jazz 82 | June 1, 1997
Jordan-Line: 31 points, 41 Minutes, 8 Assist
In my opinion if there was ever a team to dethrone M.J. from winning in the NBA Finals, it was the 1997 Utah Jazz by far. From having a system led by Jerry Sloan to even role players that knew their exact role in Bryon Russell and Jeff Hornacek; but more importantly one of the greatest duo’s of all time in Stocking-N-Malone; Utah had a chance to win this game and possibly the series.
With 10 seconds left in the game, Karl Malone had a chance to give the Jazz a 2-point lead by Scottie Pippen’s word of encouragement saying “the mailman doesn’t deliver on Sunday’s” caused Malone to miss two back-to-back free throws which enabled the Bulls to steal game 1. Not fazed by the pressure with 7.5 seconds left, Jordan would get the ball on an inbound with an immediate clearance of everyone shifting to the right of the court as he would put some moves on Russell and knock down an open shot winning game one with the infamous fist pump. The series was over from that point on in our opinion.