Jumper over Craig Ehlo was Jordan at his best

	Michael Jordan scored 44 points in Game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference first-round against the Cavs, including the final two baskets. Ken Levine/Getty Images
	Best Game I've Ever Seen RELATED: Click here to read all the essays REACT: What's the best game you've ever seen?

By Jack McCallum

Editor's note: We asked SI.com writers to share their memories from the best game they've ever seen. Here are their stories:

On the morning of May 7, 1989, a Sunday, I had breakfast with the Chicago Bulls at a suburban Cleveland hotel, probably a Marriott. It was a simpler time, you see, more mingling between the superstars and the unwashed, ink-stained wretches back then.

Michael Jordan, fresh off his third-consecutive scoring title and at the top of his one-on-one powers, was loose and confident. But his demeanor belied the mission of the day -- beating a strong Cavaliers team (Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Ron Harper, Larry Nance, Craig Ehlo, the "team of the '90s," as Magic Johnson described them) -- that was playing on its home court in a decisive Game 5 Eastern Conference first-round playoff game. The Cavs had beaten the Bulls six times during the regular season, and Jordan had missed a free throw that had cost Chicago Game 4.

As soon as the Bulls left the restaurant, a young man rushed to Jordan's place at the table, scooped up his fork like it was an "icon" (as I would write in Sports Illustrated that week) and squirreled it away. "Michael Jordan ate with this fork," he said. (As I recall, Jordan had scrambled eggs.)

Some four hours later, Jordan and his teammates began a game that was tightly played throughout. The crowd was loud, and the Cavaliers led 100-99 with about seven- or eight-seconds left. Brad Sellers of the Bulls inbounded at sidecourt after Chicago coach Doug Collins had called a timeout. Everybody knew Sellers was going to try to get it to Jordan, who already had 42 points, but Ehlo, a scrappy 6-foot-7 guard, had a reputation as a "Jordan stopper." Cue laugh track.

Jordan made a mad dash for the pass, like a kid trying to get loose during a playground game of tag. He got it, took a couple frantic dribbles, and, with Ehlo right on him, double-pumped in a 15-foot jumper to win it. But you know that part. You've seen it -- what? -- a thousand times.

In a career filled with iconic moments, for some reason this one, which occurred in a first-round game and did not lead to a championship, ranks with any of them. Why? Perhaps because it won the game and beat the buzzer. Perhaps because we remember Jordan's exultant leap. And perhaps because we remember Ehlo's "what-just-happened?" expression of pain, not the last time the Cavs would be tortured by His Airness.

I also remember Jordan alongside of Collins after the game. Somebody asked Collins what the final play was called.

"That was the 'get the ball to Michael and everybody get the f--- out of the way' play" answered Collins.

Jordan cracked up.

Until Jordan won his first championship two seasons later, I never saw him as happy as he was on that day.

And I've often wondered if the fork-thief still has his prize.

To read all of the Best Game entries, click here.