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Chicago 90, Utah 86 (June 13, 1997) CHICAGO -- The Chicago Bulls got rings for the thumb and another championship for the ages, this time on a thrilling last-second shot -- not by Michael Jordan but by Steve Kerr. In a clinching sixth game that was as good as they get, the Bulls did enough down the stretch to beat the Utah Jazz 90-86 on Friday night and win their fifth title in seven years. The game hung in the balance until the final seconds against the Jazz, a dogged opponent who nonetheless couldn't avoid making crucial mistakes that cost them a chance to become the first team to take the Bulls to a seventh game in a championship series. They didn't get the chance, even though they didn't allow Jordan to beat them as he did in Games 1, 2 and 5. This time, when the Bulls needed a tiebreaking shot in the final few seconds, Jordan passed to Kerr. The pass came with the clock ticking inside seven seconds and the shot clock down to :02. Kerr, left alone as the Jazz double-teamed Jordan, sank an 18-footer to break an 86-all tie, the ball snapping the net as the shot clock hit zero. It wasn't the game-breaking shot everyone always envisions when it comes to the Bulls, but that didn't matter to anyone in Chicago. ``At the last timeout, I was sitting down my Mike, watching him,'' Kerr said. ``He sat there for about 30 seconds, then he turned to me and said, `Be ready, Stockton's coming off me. I said OK, I'll make it.'' He did and all that was needed was one more stop. After another timeout, the Jazz had to inbound at midcourt with five seconds left. Bryon Russell tried to throw a long pass, but Toni Kukoc tipped it and Utah never regained possession. Scottie Pippen dived for the loose ball, tipping it ahead to Kukoc, who streaked downcourt for a dunk just before the buzzer sounded. Just like that, the Bulls had done it again, just like 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1996: They were champions, Jordan was the Finals MVP, the Bulls avoiding a seventh game and a Western Conference opponent had come up short in the face of dynastic greatness. When the buzzer sounded, an avalanche of metallic streamers and confetti fell to the court. Pippen jumped into Jordan's arms, the two hugged and spun around and coach Phil Jackson ran to join them. ``The fifth one was great,'' Pippen said. ``They gave us a hell of a series, but we stepped up like champions do.'' The three of them, the only members of the Bulls to be around for all five championship years, had survived considerable internal discord and major questions of uncertainty surrounding their futures for next year. But at this moment, they had accomplished the one thing they had set out to do -- win. ``No, I didn't enjoy this journey -- it's been filled with injuries and suspensions, but we had a great run,'' Jackson said. And aside from Kerr's shot and Kukoc's clinching dunk, Jordan and Pippen had practically done it all in Game 6. Jordan was brilliant again, having his highest scoring game of the series with 39 points. Pippen was right behind with 23 as the only other Chicago player in double figures. The two combined for 15 points in the fourth quarter when Chicago overcame a Utah team that managed to maintain an advantage most of the game. Russell hit his fourth 3-pointer and Howard Eisley hit a tough hanging jumper toward the end of the period to put the Jazz up 70-61. Jud Buechler pulled the Bulls within six, 70-64 at the end of the quarter, by making a 3-pointer off a scramble for an offensive rebound with 27 seconds left. The Bulls quickly made up almost all of their deficit by starting the fourth quarter with a flurry. A pair of foul shots by Pippen, a jumper by Kerr and a pull-up 3-pointer by Pippen left Chicago trailing 73-71 just over 1 1/2 minutes in. Utah failed to score on its next to possessions, and the United Center erupted with 8:55 left when Kerr buried a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Bulls a 74-73 lead, their first since early in the first quarter. The Jazz took the lead back when Jeff Hornacek pulled up for a 3-pointer with 6:42 left, but they then started exhibiting signs of a team not used to the pressure that comes in the fourth quarter of games with the championship on the line. First, Shandon Anderson was wide open for a dunk that would have put Utah ahead by three. Instead, he inexplicably tried a reverse layup and missed. Jordan came down and drilled a pull-up jumper, giving Chicago an 82-81 lead. Jordan and Karl Malone then traded baskets, Jordan hit a wide open jumper with 2:01 left and Russell drilled his fifth 3-pointer of the night to tie it at 86-86 with 1:44 left. What followed were a series of misses, each one more excruciating than the next. Pippen missed twice from in close, Dennis Rodman missed a tip, Malone missed a turnaround, Jordan missed a drive and Anderson -- a rookie who drew the defensive assignment on Jordan for most of the fourth quarter -- blew a left-handed layup attempt with 28 seconds left to set up Kerr's game-winner. ``Stockton had been leaving me all series (to double team) and I haven't been making them,'' Kerr said. ``It's about time I finally made one.'' The Jazz were the fifth Western Conference opponent to face Chicago in the final round. They ended up the same as the Lakers, Portland, Phoenix and Seattle -- going home second-best. Utah gave basketball fans everywhere a taste of unselfish team play and a glimpse of the greatness of future Hall of Famers Malone and Stockton. But the world also got to see the latest chapter in the Bulls run of supremacy, and the argument can be made that this dynasty has become the second-greatest in the history of the league, second only to the Boston Celtics of the late 50s and 60s -- a team that won 10 championships in 11 years. This season's accomplishments were greeted with an almost ho-hum expectedness. They won 69 regular-season games, an accomplishment achieved only once before, yet went into the postseason being called vulnerable by a league searching for hope in the fact that the Bulls didn't always look perfect. Yet they won. They always won. Whether it was close games, blowouts or playoff games, the Bulls always managed to come out ahead in the end. This series was a perfect example. The Jazz could have -- maybe should have -- won Games 1 and 5, but instead went down to heartbreaking defeats as Jordan won the opener with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and took over the fifth game with one of the more memorable performances in NBA Finals history, scoring 38 points. In the end, Jordan did it with a pass to Kerr. Someone else got to make the championship shot, and somehow that had to make this one seem all the better to the Bulls -- a team that became a dynasty Friday night. Notes: Malone led Utah with 21 points, Jeff Hornacek had 18, Russell 17 and Stockton 13. --- The Bulls arena operating crew played music at earsplitting levels, but Todd Martin, the NBA official monitoring a noise meter, said it was at or below the allowable standard of 95 decibels. During Games 3, 4 and 5 in Salt Lake City, the league ordered the Jazz to turn down the volume on the arena rock and the public address announcer. --- Rodman drew Stockton's third foul in the third quarter by flopping and drawing a charge. The refs seemed to make up for it by not calling fouls when Jordan was hacked on his next two shots.
UTAH (86) AT CHICAGO (90)
UTAH
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
RUSSELL F 43 5-10 2-2 0 3 3 0 4 1 3 17
MALONE F 44 7-15 7-15 3 4 7 2 3 4 2 21
OSTERTAG C 21 0-2 1-2 0 8 8 2 3 0 1 1
STOCKTON G 37 5-9 3-3 0 6 6 5 3 1 3 13
HORNACEK G 36 4-9 8-9 0 4 4 1 5 1 0 18
EISLEY 11 2-5 2-2 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 6
FOSTER 5 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 0
CARR 6 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2
ANDERSON 26 2-10 4-6 1 2 3 0 1 1 0 8
MORRIS 11 0-2 0-0 1 2 3 0 3 0 1 0
HOWARD DNP - COACH'S DECISION
KEEFE DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 26-65 27-39 5 31 36 14 25 8 11 86
(.400) (.692) TEAM REBS: 16 TOTAL TO: 11(11 PTS)
CHICAGO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
PIPPEN F 43 6-17 10-12 3 6 9 2 5 2 5 23
RODMAN F 33 0-4 1-2 3 8 11 3 4 1 1 1
LONGLEY C 14 0-4 0-0 3 0 3 0 4 1 4 0
HARPER G 18 1-4 0-0 2 1 3 2 3 0 0 2
JORDAN G 44 15-35 8-10 1 10 11 4 2 1 1 39
WILLIAMS 23 2-5 0-0 2 5 7 2 4 1 1 4
KUKOC 25 3-6 2-4 0 4 4 0 0 1 1 9
KERR 25 3-5 2-2 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 9
CAFFEY 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
BUECHLER 8 1-1 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 3
BROWN 5 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0
PARISH DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 31-81 23-30 15 35 50 15 28 7 13 90
(.383) (.767) TEAM REBS: 6 TOTAL TO: 13(9 PTS)
UTAH 23 21 26 16 - 86
CHICAGO 17 20 27 26 - 90
BLOCKED SHOTS: UTAH - OSTERTAG 4, STOCKTON 2. CHICAGO - PIPPEN 3, JORDAN.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: UTAH 7-15 (.467), RUSSELL 5-8, STOCKTON 0-1, HORNACEK
2-4, ANDERSON 0-1, MORRIS 0-1. CHICAGO 5-14 (.357), PIPPEN 1-4, RODMAN
0-1, HARPER 0-1, JORDAN 1-4, KUKOC 1-1, KERR 1-2, BUECHLER 1-1.
TECHNICALS: UTAH - MALONE, CHICAGO - WILLIAMS, RODMAN, ILLEGAL DEFENSE.
OFFICIALS: JOE CRAWFORD, STEVE JAVIE, BENNETT SALVATORE.
A - 24,544. T - 2:33.
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