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Stayin' alive
Pacers force Game 7 in Chicago with 92-89 victory
Posted: Saturday May 30, 1998 02:05 AM
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Dale Davis scored 19 points and led the Pacers with eight rebounds (AP) |
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The Chicago Bulls aren't going to the NBA Finals just yet -- and maybe not at all. Instead, they'll be going where Michael Jordan hasn't been in six years -- a Game 7.
Jordan had an unusually mortal moment when the Bulls needed him most, slipping and falling as he drove to the basket for what would have been a tying hoop with less than five seconds left.
He lost the ball, the Pacers recovered and finished it off with a free throw for a 92-89 victory in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals on Friday night.
Game 7 will be Sunday night at the United Center, and one more slip-up could mean the end of the Bulls' dynasty.
It will be Chicago's first Game 7 with Jordan on the team since the second round of the 1992 playoffs.
For the Pacers, it will be their third Game 7 in a conference finals in five years. They lost in 1994 to New York and in 1995 to Orlando.
This time, they can thank Travis Best, Rik Smits and Dale Davis -- and not Reggie Miller -- for getting them there.
Best refused to flinch despite being guarded by Jordan for most of the final minute. He hit a driving 6-footer with 33 seconds left for an 89-87 lead and actually drew a foul on Jordan with 8.5 seconds left that led to two free throws that gave Indiana a 91-89 lead.
Larry Bird watched as Indiana scored eight points off 13 Chicago turnovers (AP) | |
"A game like that you have to keep playing basketball, you can't worry about having five fouls or whatever," Pacers coach Larry Bird said. "Travis Best made the big plays down the stretch."
Chicago called a timeout to set up a final play, and it was no surprise to anyone when the Bulls inbounded to Jordan.
Guarded by Derrick McKey, he made a move to his right and stumbled. Coach Phil Jackson popped off the bench looking for a foul, but the ball popped loose, and McKey grabbed it and was fouled.
With confetti prematurely falling from the rafters, McKey made the first free throw and then purposely missed the second so that the clock would expire.
Jackson continued his criticism of the officials.
"Obviously they swallowed the whistle on that last call," he said referring to the play when Jordan slipped. "He got tripped -- what in basketball is more evident than a guy getting tripped? He didn't fall on his own."
Smits finished with 25 points on 11-for-12 shooting, Davis had 19 points and eight rebounds and Mark Jackson added 13 points for the Pacers. Miller shot just 2-for-13 and had eight points.
"We have a bunch of game people on this team, a lot of character and I think we showed that tonight," Best said.
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Rik Smits led the Pacers with 25 points on 11-for-12 shooting (AP) |
It was the Pacers' eighth straight home victory in the playoffs.
"I didn't think we'd see a line like we did from Reggie Miller and that if we did we'd win the ballgame," Phil Jackson said.
Indiana hasn't lost at Market Square Arena in two months, and now they'll need to get a road victory in a building where the Bulls have never played a deciding seventh game.
"We still haven't played well in Chicago," Smits said. "I think we're due."
Jordan, who needed 40 points to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the leading playoff scorer in NBA history, finished with 35. But he also missed two jumpers in the final minute in addition to his final slip.
The game featured 20 lead changes and 17 ties, the last coming when Miller made a foul shot after a technical for an illegal defense violation to tie the game at 87-all with 1:27 left.
Best then forced up a shot against a double-team and missed everything, but Jordan missed a wide open jumper for Chicago.
Best gave Indiana the 89-87 lead with his running 6-footer off the glass.
Michael Jordan (23) led the Bulls with 35 points on 12-for-23 shooting from the field (Matthew Stockman/AllSport) | |
"It was a case where both players broke down and I had to go to the hoop and make a play," Best said.
Jordan missed another jumper, but the Bulls got the offensive rebound and Jordan was fouled on a drive to the basket. With the crowd roaring, he calmly made both shots to tie it.
The Pacers elected not to call a timeout, and Best was isolated against Jordan near the top of the key. With a quick move to his right, Best got around Jordan and was headed to the basket when Jordan committed a reach-in foul. Best's two foul shots made it 91-89.
Miller was only 1-for-11 from the field until his 3-pointer with 8:54 left gave Indiana a 75-74 lead. Smits hit consecutive jumpers as the Pacers stayed in front by at least one and by as many as three while the clock was ticking under five minutes.
Jordan had a chance to tie the game with Chicago trailing 82-80, but was called for an offensive foul for lowering his shoulder. Scottie Pippen came up with a steal on the Pacers' next possession, and Jordan hit Ron Harper for a backdoor layup that tied it with 3:34 left.
The Pacers played about as well as they could in the first half, especially in the early stages of the second quarter when they made nine straight shots and 11 of 12 in taking a 49-39 lead.
But the Bulls then scored the final seven points of the half, making it 49-46 at the break. Jordan (15) and Pippen (14) had more than half of Chicago's points, and Indiana was having trouble at the foul line (6-for-12) along with not getting much production from Miller (1-for-7, four points).
Jordan scored the first two baskets of the third quarter to give Chicago the lead, and had eight of his team's first 10 points in the period as the Bulls move in front -- a position they would stay in until Smits made two foul shots to give Indiana a 63-62 lead with 4:26 left in the third.
Jordan hit a 15-footer with 3:13 left, then stole a pass after Indiana grabbed an offensive rebound and fed Luc Longley for a layup and three-point play that made it 69-64. But the Pacers, going with four reserves and one starter, closed the quarter with a 6-0 run for a 70-69 lead entering the fourth.
Notes: The Bulls hadn't lost a Game 6 in the conference finals since 1989 against Detroit. They had won their last three Game 6s. ... Hundreds of fans watched the game on a giant video screen set up in the middle of Market Street outside the arena. ... Abdul-Jabbar scored 5,762 playoff points for the Bucks and Lakers.
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NBA Finals
