CHICAGO -- Michael Jordan hit a 21-foot jumper at the buzzer after Karl Malone missed two free throws with 9.2 seconds left, giving the defending champion Chicago Bulls an 84-82 victory over the Utah Jazz in the opener of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.

The ending played right into all the pre-series hype over who was more deserving of the MVP award--Malone, who won it, or Jordan, who finished second.

And after one game, Jordan is still the man. Malone even grudgingly admitted as much after he was asked who's the better player.

"What do you want me to say, Michael Jordan, just like everybody else? Obviously it's Michael Jordan, no matter what Karl Malone says or not" Malone said. "Michael wanted the ball at the end and made the shot, and it's hard to argue with that."

Jordan, a four-time MVP, finished with 31 points on 13-of-27 shooting with eight assists and four rebounds. Malone, who missed seven of his first eight shots from the field, had 23 points and 15 rebounds.

What Malone didn't have, however, was the ability to make his two biggest shots of the game, free throws after Dennis Rodman pushed him in a scramble for a loose ball.

Scottie Pippen of the Bulls said something to Malone before the free throws.

"I said, `The Mailman doesn't deliver on a Sunday,"' Pippen recounted, referring to Malone's nickname.

With a sellout United Center crowd screaming its lungs out, Malone rolled the first one off the rim and then did the same with the second.

"I'm from Southfield, La., and we don't have any excuses down there. So I'm not going to use any," Malone said. "It was agonizing, but I won't dwell on it. They were big free throws, but it shouldn't have come down to that. It was just me up there, I just didn't make them. They felt good, I just didn't make them."

Jordan rebounded and the Bulls called a timeout, and it was no surprise who got the ball.

"I think anyone watching anywhere in the world knew who would take the shot," Stockton said.

It was Jordan, of course, who took a pass from Toni Kukoc, dribbled the clock down against Bryon Russell and then faded to his left to get open. The shot left his hands with less than a second left and hit nothing but net, and Jordan then turned to the crowd with his fist raised.

"As I was watching the clock and the defense _ I was surprised Russell was on me because he hadn't guarded me all game _ I felt they may double-team," Jordan said. "But the double-team never came and I knew I was in a one-on-one situation. I crossed over, he went for the steal and I moved to my left and put up the jump shot."

"We ran the play to perfection," Pippen said. "We gave Michael the ball and told him don't leave them any time on the clock. He just eyed it out and took the shot he felt good about."

It was a spectacular ending to a hard-fought game which Utah led most of the way. The Bulls didn't take their first lead of the fourth quarter until Luc Longley hit a jumper off a feed from Jordan with 3 minutes left.

A short jumper in the lane by Jordan put Chicago ahead 78-77 with 1:57 left, but Malone answered with a driving layup after fooling his defender with a head fake.

Jordan missed a shot on Chicago's next possession, but Ron Harper grabbed the offensive rebound and found Pippen for a wide-open 3-pointer and an 81-79 lead.

Those were the last of 27 points by Pippen, whose status for Game 1 was doubtful until a couple of hours before gametime. Pippen also had nine rebounds despite a soft tissue injury on his left foot.

John Stockton, who scored 16 points and had 12 assists, put Utah back ahead 82-81 on a 3-pointer with 51 seconds left. Fifteen seconds later, Jeff Hornacek was called for a touch foul on Jordan, who made one of two shots to tie the game at 82.

Stockton then dribbed the shot clock down and missed a screened 3-pointer, and Malone, a 77 percent foul shooter, was fouled in the race for the loose ball. His two misses were reminiscent of Game 7 of the 1996 Western Conference finals against Seattle, when he missed a pair in the final 10 seconds that could have put Utah in the finals.

Jordan and Pippen were the only players to score in double figures for Chicago. Rodman had four points and 12 rebounds.

Hornacek had 11 points for the Jazz, whose precision shooting and crisp passing seemed to stun a United Center crowd looking forward to a fifth NBA title in seven years for their team.

Stockton also had seven of Utah's playoff-high 18 turnovers, and the Jazz shot only 7-for-11 at the foul line.

"The first game is always the toughest--I don't care what anybody says," Jordan said. "Utah came in and played extremely well. I'm sure they're going to take a moral victory from tonight's game."

Utah led through most of the fourth quarter, but the Bulls finally went ahead thanks to two of Stockton's mistakes.

Able to beat his man twice in a row, he dribbled into the lane and left his feet without knowing what he would do. Both mistakes resulted in turnovers, and Chicago capitalized with a 6-0 run.

Jordan had the first four points on jumper and an 8-foot bank shot, and Longley's jumper put the Bulls ahead 76-75 with 3« minutes left.

It was a game that started and ended poorly for Malone. He missed seven of his first eight shots, including two layups, over the first seven minutes. But the Jazz got a boost late in the period from backup point guard Howard Eisley, whose consecutive jumpers in the final 33 seconds gave the Jazz an 18-17 lead after one quarter.

Utah eventually got its lead up to seven points on a 3-pointer by Stockton with 3:02 left in the half, and the Jazz led 42-38 at halftime after a 3-pointer by Russell with 5.5 seconds left.

Hornacek scored 11 points in the third quarter for the Jazz, who led for all but 17 seconds of the period. Pippen made a 3-pointer with 1:32 left to give Chicago a 57-56 lead, its first since the midpoint of the second quarter, but Utah answered with five straight points and led 64-62 entering the fourth.

Notes: Malone reinjured a sore on his right hand first suffered from a floor burn in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. --- Chicago assistant coach Tex Winter drew a technical foul in the second quarter for something he said to referee Bill Oakes. --- Stockton's seven turnovers matched his season-high. --- The Milwaukee Bucks, in 1971, were the last team to win its NBA Finals debut.

BOX SCORE:

UTAH (82)

Russell 2-9 2-2 7, Malone 10-22 3-6 23, Ostertag 1-4 0-0 2, Stockton 6-10 2-3 16, Hornacek 5-9 0-0 11, Eisley 4-5 0-0 9, Foster 3-4 0-0 6, Anderson 1-3 0-0 2, Carr 3-8 0-0 6, Morris 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 35-76 7-11 82.

CHICAGO (84)

Pippen 11-19 2-2 27, Rodman 2-7 0-2 4, Longley 3-6 0-0 6, Harper 1-6 1-2 4, Jordan 13-27 5-7 31, Kerr 0-0 0-0 0, Kukoc 2-6 0-0 6, Buechler 1-2 0-0 2, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 34-76 10-15 84.

Utah    18 24 22 18, 82 
Chicago 17 21 24 22, 84

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