01x09 - Episode #1.9

[bunniefuu]

Pacers lead by six, 20-14.

Pippen gets the screen, trying to go by Smits.

Moves on the baseline, lost it.

And Richardson has it.

He is one on three, takes it to the basket.

And...

it's tipped in.

Oh, and Reggie Miller came over and smacked Mike and MJ is upset.

I can't blame him.

Yes, sir, he ran right into him.

We got a brouhaha here.

Don't hold him back.

Let him go.

He and I had somewhat of a unique relationship.

Most people feared Michael Jordan, and rightfully so.

But I didn't fear him like the rest of the league did, and we had to lock horns quite a bit.

Pacers lead by ten.

Jordan, the steal!

- In on...

Jackson...

- Oh!

Throws the ball at Jackson in frustration.

He thought Jackson tried to take him out, so Michael's gonna get a technical on that play.

And then Reggie Miller came over.

I respected him so much, but he probably just thought I was some mouthy, skinny kid...

and he was one of the best trash talkers in our game.

My rookie year, we're playing against Chicago.

And as a rookie, you're gonna go 110% because you're trying to impress your vets on your team.

Miller around a Stipanovich screen, turns a corner, down the lane, lays it in, foul called.

Reggie Miller scores, and he was fouled by Jordan.

I remember I had, like, ten points at half, and MJ didn't sh**t the ball particularly great.

So, I was like, "Yeah, you're Michael Jordan, the guy that walks on water?" He looks at me.

Jordan at the foul line, comes up sh**ting, good.

Second half, I ended up with only two points.

So I had 12 for the game, and he ended up with a lot more.

Jordan's got 37.

And I remember him walking off the court.

He was like...

"Don't ever talk trash to Black Jesus." And that's when I stopped referring to him as Michael Jordan, and I always refer to him either as "Jordan," "Black Jesus" or "that Black Cat." I never called him Michael Jordan again after that.

A spectacular move!

The game's over!

Chicago Stadium is going wild!

First of all, there's no backstabbing going on here.

It's time for me to move on.

This will be Phil's last year as the coach of the Bulls.

- Are the expectations too high?

- Where do we go from here?

The only question: how long can it last?

Good afternoon.

Welcome to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls and the Indiana Pacers.

First time these two clubs have faced each other in the playoffs.

The tip to Indiana.

In '98, that was my first year coaching and it was our best opportunity to win a championship.

We were confident that we can dethrone the Bulls.

We felt like we were just as versatile.

We had Rik Smits, the Dunking Dutchman.

Mark Jackson, one of the greatest assist guys the league has seen.

We had the Davis brothers.

Chris Mullin, one of the sweet sh**ting players of all time.

And Reggie Miller, a Hall of Famer.

We had a squad.

That series with Indiana was the hardest playoff series we had.

They were big, strong, physical.

If I had to pick a team that gave us the toughest time in the east, Indiana was probably the toughest, outside of Detroit.

They were tough.

Every time I'd go in that f*cking game and come out, I got a new scratch.

It became personal with me.

Michael through the hole, reverse, plus the foul!

Here's Michael with the steal, and Chicago with the lead.

Game one to Chicago.

Welcome back to the United Center.

Game two of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

It's my privilege to present Michael Jordan with his fifth NBA Most Valuable Player trophy.

May I say on behalf of everyone this evening, thank you.

Here is Longley going strong to the basket.

Luc Longley.

Here's Kerr for three again, and if this hits...

Somehow, someway, every year, Steve Kerr gets a big basket to put a dagger in someone's heart.

Under two minutes remaining here in the fourth quarter.

Jordan...

Michael Jordan with a fallaway...

Oh!

What a sh*t by Michael Jordan!

And that may be the exclamation point for the Chicago Bulls.

The Bulls are winners, 104-98.

Bulls lead the series 2-0.

Jordan, 41 points.

It's back to the drawing board.

This is...

You play for this time of year, and we've come too far to let something like this slip away.

- My brother.

You all right?

- I'm doing good.

How's your family?

Good?

- It's gonna be a battle.

I know.

- You know it.

- I knew that coming in.

- Okay.

Pacers are gonna kick Chicago's rear end.

The Bulls are going down!

Going down!

Step up and pound...

the Bull-Crap Mobile.

We won the first two games in Chicago.

But the next game that we had, it was on the road.

And their arena was really, like, a tough place to win.

Let's give 'em something to boo about.

Let's go, boys.

Game three, Reggie was a problem.

Because Reggie had...

insane confidence.

Reggie...

When he was on...

he could make it from anywhere over anybody at any time.

Miller, catch, sh**t, score.

Reggie Miller!

Miller...

hits the three out of the corner!

Miller for three...

That may have finished the Bulls.

Twenty-six for Reggie.

And Indiana wins game three.

Now we give ourselves a sh*t on Monday to try and tie this thing up.

So, you know Chicago is never gonna go away.

As long as that Black Cat's out there, anything is possible.

We'll be fine.

I think today is just a bump in the road.

The Bulls weren't impressed by the Pacers' game three victory.

Michael Jordan called it "a bump in the road." Phil Jackson said, "Look, they had to play very well at home to b*at us, and even then, they barely b*at us." It was a hard-fought series.

The most memorable game was game four.

The tip to Indiana.

Reggie out of the corner.

Tough sh*t, air.

Pippen dishes to Michael.

Jordan's sh*t is shoved back in his face.

Michael appears to be bleeding.

It's Miller for three.

Michael starting to heat up after a slow start.

It's a one-point game with 6.4 on the clock.

Control the boards.

We gotta have everybody come in and rebound.

Mike, this kid's got a hot hand right now.

Indiana has a timeout.

They elect not to use it.

McKey looking.

Gets it in for Miller, batted away, grabbed by Pippen, and they have to foul him.

I was so upset that I felt, "Is this gonna be it?

Are they gonna go up 3-1?" Because you go down 3-1, it's going back to Chicago.

It's a death sentence, really.

We can't go out like this.

Scottie Pippen has had a great game, but he's only two of five from the foul line.

A miss!

You don't wanna give up a second sh*t.

Missed them both.

Loose ball, out of bounds, who's got it?

Indiana ball with 2.9 seconds.

And Larry Bird uses his last timeout.

When I was coaching, we always had something a little different at the end of the game, two seconds left, four seconds left or whatever.

So, if it got close, we knew what we were running.

There are a lot of players to make sh*ts the first three quarters of the game, but when you talk about who gonna make a sh*t late, get the ball to Reggie.

I remember when Larry was drawing the play.

I was thinking, "Put all the pressure on the official to make a call." Jordan is on Best.

Harper's on Miller.

When the play was drawn up, I knew they were gonna switch and MJ was gonna be on me.

So I just went right to his chest...

and lightly, lightly shoved him a little bit to create that space...

and the rest was history.

McKey...

gets it in to Miller for the win!

Four tenths of a second!

One of the greatest clutch playoff performers of his generation...

has apparently done it again.

Yeah, you can dance, Reggie.

The entire building was in a frenzy, as we should be, but please put the camera on Larry Bird.

Larry looked up at that clock.

It's like...

stoic demeanor because he knew what we all knew, that they had Michael Jordan and there was still time on the clock.

We knew where the ball was gonna go.

Everyone in the building knew where the ball was gonna go.

Kukoc to Michael at the buzzer...

I remember being underneath the basket as the ball is coming.

And I'm looking, I'm like, "This is going in." He lobs to Jordan, he got it off...

It spun out, and it's two to two!

Unbelievable!

I mean, millimeters, millimeters in and out.

And we made 'em double clutch on that sh*t, and he still almost made it.

You said Saturday's loss was just a bump in the road.

What about this game?

Where do you go from here?

You still gotta come through Chicago, Utah, Indiana.

They still got to come through Chicago.

I don't care what happens today.

I don't care what happened in the other series.

They still gotta come through Chicago.

We had our hands full out west for my entire career.

Um...

We played great teams, and we were so close so many times, and just couldn't get over the top.

Then we win in kind of a last-second fashion.

Stockton, open three...

Yeah!

John Stockton sends the Utah Jazz to the NBA Finals!

We had a chance to play and test ourselves against the best, and that means as much to me as anything.

What's the biggest motivating factor going into that series for you?

Karl Malone getting MVP.

Congratulations, Karl Malone, 1996-97 NBA Most Valuable Player.

Karl Malone was the MVP that year.

Here was added motivation for Michael.

He thought he should've been MVP.

So, we knew immediately where this was going.

I'm not saying he wasn't deserving of it.

All I'm saying is that that fueled the fire in me.

I said, "Okay.

You think he's MVP.

Okay, fine.

No problem." This team likes to run, they need to get easy baskets for them to score.

They gotta get 100 points.

Remember, this team is second in the league in scoring.

They have a pretty potent offense when they run.

It is game one of the NBA Finals.

For the Utah Jazz, it is their first trip to the Finals in the history of the franchise.

Game one.

Here's Jordan...

Yes!

Karl Malone with a nice lead for John Stockton.

Defense!

The lead for Malone, off the pick and roll.

Karl Malone very aggressive offensively.

The Jazz were good, man.

Freaking Karl Malone, he's a bad match-up for us.

Down to three.

Malone...

Yes.

John Stockton's a bad matchup.

So that first game in Chicago was close.

The game is tied at 82.

Down to 7.5 seconds remaining.

They got Bryon Russell on Michael Jordan.

We had probably three guys that were typically assigned to match up with Michael, and Bryon Russell would have been first and foremost.

Bryon Russell made our team in the first place through incredible effort defensively.

So he earned the right to take on some of the tougher assignments, and it doesn't get any tougher than Michael.

Yeah.

Bryon Russell?

When I was playing baseball, Utah's in town to play the Bulls.

They're practicing at the facility.

I go over to say hello to John and Karl.

This kid, Bryon Russell, comes up to me, says, "Man, why you quit?

Why you quit?

Man, you knew I could guard your ass.

You had to quit." I said, "Karl, you need to talk to this dude, man." "Nah, he's just a young rookie." But from that point on, he's been on my list.

Bryon's a very playful guy, and he said things all the time.

I have no doubt Michael had a number of edges that he could have sharpened for whatever reason.

I knew how he played.

You know, he played on the front of his toes.

Give him a head-and-shoulder fake, go one way, he can't stop.

They're with Shandon Anderson to guard Scottie Pippen.

They got Bryon Russell on Michael Jordan.

We're down to five.

Jordan putting moves on Russell.

We're down to two.

Now one...

It's all over!

The Bulls have won at the buzzer in game one.

The jump sh*t by Michael Jordan.

Game two was...

not particularly close.

Oh, is Michael Jordan feeling it now!

Bulls blew out the Jazz 97-85 to take a 2-0 lead in that series.

But...

you know, Utah fights.

They go out to Utah, and it's a different story.

Setting up Malone...

Karl Malone went off, 37 points.

Jazz win it 104-93.

They now trail in the series, two games to one.

So, game four of that series, it's a tight game.

It's a one-point Chicago lead.

Just under one minute remaining.

Stockton throws the single best pass I've ever seen a point guard throw.

Game four of the NBA Finals with the Bulls up two games to one.

Stockton fires down to Malone!

And the series is tied at two!

Before game five in Utah, I'm at the Marriott.

So it was George, myself, Tim, and I think a couple of security guys.

The night before the game, we're all in Michael's room, hanging out.

But it's like 10:00, 10:30 at night, I'm hungry.

No room service.

Michael gets hungry.

So we're calling all these different places.

George and I are looking around, we find one pizza place open.

One.

So he ordered a pizza, and when the pizza came, there was four or five guys outside the door.

Five guys delivering one pizza.

You know, it's very rare that you get five delivery guys from the pizza place to bring you your pizza.

And they're all trying to look in, and everybody knew it's Mike.

So I take the pizza, I pay them, and I put this pizza down, and I said, "I got a bad feeling about this." I ate the pizza.

All by myself.

Nobody else ate the pizza.

I wake up about 2:30, throwing up left and right.

It's three o'clock in the morning.

I get a call in my room.

"Hey, man, come to the room right now." All right, I get in to him.

He's literally curled up in a ball, shaking.

He goes, "Man, find the team doc, now." So really, it wasn't the flu game, it was food poisoning.

Oh, my heavens.

I was in the room in Utah.

And I went over, and he says, "Oh, I'm so sick." I said, "How are you gonna play tonight?" "Mom, I have to play." And I'm thinking, "You should not play." But when we went to the stadium, there he was.

Now the big story here tonight, Michael Jordan's physical condition.

Guys, look out behind.

- I stayed in bed all day.

- Come on.

Couldn't eat anything, couldn't hold nothing down.

He had an IV hooked up to him, and he was chalky white.

Didn't look good.

And I was like, "Oh, boy, we're in trouble." Phil comes in, "What do you think?" I said, "I'm gonna try.

It's game five.

If anything, I can be a decoy.

So, I'm going out.

I'm gonna play." At 3:30 this morning, Michael Jordan woke up with flu-like symptoms.

He had a stomachache and a headache.

He couldn't go back to sleep.

He threw up all night.

And as reported earlier, he missed his sh**t.

But he was in bed all day and continued to throw up.

Utah Jazz!

Utah Jazz!

Utah Jazz!

Utah Jazz control the tip.

The key for Utah tonight is offense.

Stockton got the stuff.

Utah's got the quick start that they needed to keep the crowd into it.

Jordan to the crossover...

Way off.

Visibly shaken by the flu symptoms.

This is an ugly start for Chicago.

He'd be out there on the floor playing, a whistle would blow for a timeout.

And you could see, it was like the life just went out of his body inside, and he just...

Every timeout, he was just, like...

gassed.

He was in pretty bad shape...

but, you know, a lot of times when you're sick...

you're able to find something deep down inside that you didn't know was there.

And I think it was just one of those games where he wanted to win so badly that, you know, he stayed with it.

After that timeout, when that whistle blew, somehow, somewhere...

he got up and played.

Michael Jordan is back, putting the move on Chris Morris.

Jordan puts moves on Hornacek.

And this the best spurt of the night.

Jordan finding Longley.

And the Jazz now leading by just nine.

- He's like the Terminator.

- Steal by Jordan!

He went somewhere and he found...

a switch.

What a play!

And the Bulls actually have a chance to take the lead.

At the end of that game, he started rising up and making sh*ts...

and carrying that team.

And the game is tied at 85.

The Bulls have been here year after year.

The confidence, the poise, the determination, the discipline and organization down the stretch, all paying off right now with Jordan masterfully at the line.

Jordan able to scoop up the loose ball for the possession with 40 seconds remaining.

The game tied at 85.

Ten on the sh*t clock.

Pippen backing Hornacek.

Here's Jordan for three.

Yes!

Michael Jordan from straight away.

He had shown that no matter how sick he was...

he's still the best player in the world.

Coach, how much did you know about Jordan's condition going into the game?

What did he look like early?

And describe the effort that he put forth with the illness that he had.

First of all, I didn't know he's sick.

And I thought he played a great game.

Did everybody else know he was sick?

I guess I was the last one to know.

- Come on, chief?

- Are you crazy?

My innate personality is to win at all costs.

If I have to do it myself, I'm gonna do it.

But over the period of getting to the Finals, there have been moments that other guys really expanded their games.

I think Michael recognized that there were guys who were sort of overachievers.

Guys who maybe don't have the star power, but came in and did what we could.

Which I'm sure he looked at me as an overachiever.

Coming into the NBA, I was not a high draft pick or a highly-touted player.

Phoenix drafted me, gave me a chance and kept me around for a year.

And my first real break in the NBA was with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

...against Kerr.

They swing to Kerr, he steps up and fires.

We played the Bulls a lot, and I used to watch John Paxson.

I used to guard him when we played the Bulls, and then I'd watch him on TV when we would prepare for them.

Paxson for three...

Yes!

The Bulls take a one-point lead.

John was my guy.

I kept thinking...

"That's the spot I need to be." By the time I got there, John was entering the final year of his career.

And he kinda took me under his wing.

I learned early in my career that I was gonna be a role player.

What I did well...

complemented Michael.

So, I tried to tell Steve about how Michael had to really trust who you were out there.

If he was gonna go to battle with you, he had to know you were in it and you weren't gonna back down.

I had to fight and scrap and claw for everything I got in the NBA.

And that was just enough to make it.

Oh, man, you gotta call that sh*t.

- I got half...

- It's all good.

Michael lived a different life than the rest of us, out of necessity.

He couldn't live that normal life.

It was very difficult to reach him...

emotionally.

Did you ever discuss your fathers?

We never discussed that.

I think it was probably too painful, um...

for each of us.

My dad supported me when I was a kid.

He saw how much I loved sports.

He loved basketball, he loved watching me play.

We played together all the time, out in the driveway.

His competitiveness was honed...

by playing basketball in the driveway with his father and his older brother.

That's where the family action was: Malcolm, John and Steve playing basketball.

Naturally, they would sometimes win.

And that hurt him.

Oh, oh!

It was terrible.

My dad was a professor of Middle East history and politics at UCLA.

My mom was a full-time mom, but she became a professor later on in life.

So a very academically-minded family.

Monday through Thursday, we were not allowed to watch TV unless there was a really big game on, so my dad came in handy on those nights.

My dad's affiliation with UCLA stoked my fire for basketball.

Going to Pauley Pavilion in the early '70s as a five, six-year-old kid, it was like magic.

It was an incredible place to be.

Walton sh**t and hits the short sh*t from the left baseline.

What kind of attention did you get from college scouts - when you were coming out of high school?

- Very little.

Um, about the same attention that I was getting from girls in high school.

So, not many girls, not many college recruiters, so...

I finished my senior year of high school without a scholarship, but Arizona offered me a scholarship kind of at the last second, and I took it without ever having visited the school.

I was just thrilled to have a place to go.

And then when I went off to college, my mom and my younger brother went and joined my dad in Beirut.

My dad left UCLA before I graduated high school, and became the president of the American University in Beirut.

In the chapel of American University of Beirut, the 117th school year officially began.

With the summer of fighting in Beirut, it almost didn't occur.

AUB's acting president was kidnapped from the campus three months ago and is still missing.

AUB's new president believes Dodge is still alive.

I was looking forward to working with him as vice president.

If I'd gotten here on time on the 1st of July, it might've been me instead of him who was kidnapped.

He was a really good scholar of the Middle East.

He was trying to produce students that were tolerant, globally-minded, humanitarian citizens.

So, it was a realization of a dream...

but it didn't last very long.

The international peacekeeping force left the Beirut area last year, and life in the Lebanese capital has become increasingly dangerous.

It's bad for almost everyone who lives there, but it is especially bad for Americans.

Malcolm was the visible American.

He was representing a government that stood for values that were contrary to the sectarian militia.

What do you remember about that day in 1984?

Well, it was raining.

I'd just taught my class.

I got a call from the guard at the gate to, um...

go to the president's office, and I went there, and, um...

I was told that Malcolm had been sh*t, on the phone...

and I thought maybe just a leg or an arm.

The president of the American University in Beirut was sh*t in the head by two gunmen posing as students.

Malcolm Kerr had just gotten off an elevator and was about to go into a meeting on campus when he was k*lled.

Uh, so, I received a phone call in the middle of the night from a family friend.

My phone rang in my dorm at three o'clock in the morning, so I knew something was up, and...

And he just said...

He just said, "Steve, I have terrible news." So...

Yeah.

The m*rder*d academic had long been popular with his colleagues in Beirut.

Though he was an American, his roots within the Arab world were just as strong.

Basketball was the one thing that I could do to take my mind off what happened, you know?

Um...

So, I went to practice the next day.

I didn't know what else to do.

We all react differently to these things.

Steve reacted by throwing himself even more deeply into playing basketball.

I used to think about it all the time when I was playing.

During the national anthem, I would always...

think about my dad and think he would love this right now.

He wouldn't even believe it.

He would love this.

♪ By the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ What so proudly we hailed ♪ ♪ At the twilight's last gleaming? ♪ ♪ Whose broad stripes And bright stars...

♪ And the latest on Michael Jordan's physical condition.

Jordan feeling much better.

He's apparently made it back from the difficult siege with the flu.

I sense that Michael Jordan is almost out of gas and will make a concerted effort to end it tonight to avoid a seventh-game showdown.

Chicago starting slowly, and Utah is taking advantage of that.

Hornacek...

Yes!

Look out, Chicago.

It's not gonna be easy wrapping it up tonight.

Karl Malone with 12 points.

The Jazz leading 46-39.

The ultimate trust from Michael comes in the playoffs if you come through.

I think he respected me because he knew I fought, and I was competitive, and I worked, and I got the most out of myself, but I hadn't performed very well in the Finals.

That's a good block there.

Kerr for three!

I was struggling, and, you know, I was so hard on myself.

As a role player, I'd get five sh*ts a game.

And so every sh*t took on way too much importance.

Jordan...

Yes!

The Bulls 86-83.

The Jazz tied the game with less than two minutes to play.

Hornacek gotta save that pass...

Russell for three!

An enormous sh*t by Bryon Russell.

He's tied the game at 86.

Phil calls timeout, and Michael knew what was coming.

Earlier in the series, in a very similar situation late in the game, John Stockton had come over and doubled him and stolen the ball, which helped seal the win for Utah.

He mumbled something like, "Hey, Steve, Steve, be ready." He knew the camera was always on him...

you know, and I'm oblivious.

He comes off, I'll be ready.

And then I'm yelling back, "I'll be ready, I'll be ready!" I know if they're gonna double-team me, Steve's gonna be open.

It is Michael Jordan time.

Did not have the sh*t, Kerr does.

Steve Kerr with five seconds remaining!

Kerr hits the big sh*t, cranked up the John Paxson '93 comparison.

One last chance now for Utah.

Five seconds remaining in regulation.

Inbound...

Stolen by Pippen.

Pippen rolls it to Kukoc.

And the Chicago Bulls have won their fifth championship in the last seven years.

Just six tenths of a second remaining.

It's a four-point lead.

Whoo-hoo!

Tonight, Steve Kerr earned his wings, and I'm very happy for Steve.

And now...

your 1997 world champions!

A lot of people have been asking me about the sh*t the other night, and there've been some misconceptions about what actually happened.

I wanted to clear it up.

When we called timeout with 25 seconds to go...

we went into the huddle, and Phil told Michael, he said, "Michael, I want you to take the last sh*t." And Michael said, "Phil, I don't feel real comfortable in these situations.

So, maybe we oughta go in another direction.

Why don't we go to Steve?" So I thought to myself, "Well, I guess I gotta bail Michael out again." Anyway, the sh*t went in, and that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

It is game seven in Chicago.

This could be the last time we see the Bulls as we know them.

The dynasty's been shoved up to the brink.

Game seven with the Pacers.

If the unthinkable occurs and the Bulls do go down in flames, life might return to the pre-Jordan days, also known as the Tom Boerwinkle era.

It's bigger than just being knocked out of the playoffs.

It's the end of an era.

I told them today that you can lose.

You have to face the possibility you can lose a game like this.

Everybody thought if the Bulls were to be broken up, the dynasty was to be ended, it would be ended by somebody in a suit someplace.

There'd be more closure and more justice if it happened on the floor.

Mr.

Jordan is taking a page from Joe Namath's book.

We all remember he predicted the Jets would win Super Bowl III.

We're gonna win game seven.

We will win game seven.

At that time, I hung around with my security guys, with George.

They became my "entourage." I knew that the maturity that I gathered from them would help me make sound decisions.

I needed good, sound, open-minded older guys saying...

keeping my focus.

Relax.

Relax...

Michael had a real warm spot with his security guards, and the head of them was Gus.

Gus was a Chicago police officer, and I guess, back in his younger days, he was pretty badass back in the day and very well-respected in the Chicago Police Department.

He started as a patrolman and he worked his way up and became sergeant.

He and some of his friends worked for the United Center as security.

Gus befriended Michael when he first came to Chicago, when he broke his foot.

That's when Gus would meet me at the car and make sure I get to my seat and get to the locker room.

We spent time together.

And from then on, it started to grow.

He was a great protector for me.

- Excuse us.

Excuse me.

- No, we gotta go.

He wouldn't let anybody through that wasn't supposed to go through there.

Listen, everybody.

Can we move this way and spread out a little?

Nothing got past Gus.

When people around, they think they're entitled to certain things.

Gus would put 'em straight.

That was Gus.

He's a protector.

But he was more than that, and I saw him for being more than that.

At that time, Michael was hurt about his dad.

He still had a hard time with his death.

And he would call him...

crying at two o'clock in the morning.

Gus would get up and go to him.

He would get up and go see about him.

He was there for whatever he needed.

He was there to take care of him.

When my father got k*lled, he became like a father figure to me.

I had to have him next to me everywhere I went.

Gus, can I throw a couple questions at you while you're relaxing there?

Yeah.

The chemo, I can't hear real well, so you gotta...

- Can I throw some questions at you?

- Sure.

When Gus got sick, um...

Mike was the first one to notice him being sick.

They were traveling someplace.

He called me to tell me that.

He said, "Tish, you gotta take him to the doctor." Gus was diagnosed with lung cancer, and Michael was there.

He was there in the hospital with us.

He was there in my home.

He was there calling.

As I said, he was there for him.

Well, he...

He got cancer and...

He took a leave of absence from us and went for his treatments.

So, when Gus came back before game seven, he looked frail, but he had that Gus, that smile on, and it was kind of like we got the band back together kind of thing.

Hey!

How you doing, Gus?

Welcome back, buddy.

- Vacation's over?

- Yeah.

- Get you back to work.

- For the time being anyway.

He was inspiration for me.

I wanted to win this game for Gus.

It'll be interesting.

Let's see what happens.

Nut crunchin' time.

Some can...

some can't.

That's the way it look like to me.

Some can, some can't?

Some can, some can't.

That's just the way it is.

- Stay away from Scott Burrell.

- I...

You're not instructed to talk to Burrell.

You'll scare the sh*t out of him.

Knowing that we was going to a game seven, had an opportunity to knock Michael out of the playoffs was pretty special for that group.

We hadn't been tested like that in a long time.

We were all mentally exhausted, you know, physically exhausted.

All right, baby, there's no tomorrow.

Let's go out and do it.

Let's leave everything on this f*cking floor.

Defense.

Defense wins it now.

Rebound and defend.

Miller lobs to Smits.

He finds Dale Davis, who gets inside for the dunk.

Michael with his back to the basket, guarded by Miller.

Spins into the lane, and misses the jumper.

In a game seven, anything is possible.

You rip up game plans, because in a game seven, it doesn't matter.

It's all whoever wants it more.

It's Kukoc alone on him, now Harper comes on the double.

Davis hits the turnaround, and the Pacers lead by a dozen.

We were down 12 right away.

The first quarter, they came out on fire.

We had to claw our way back in.

Two on that break, Michael to Pippen...

Jordan back the other way.

It's Kerr, his three...

It's there!

Jordan splits the defense and ties the game!

Michael Jordan is now the all-time leading postseason scorer.

Jordan...

to the hoop, then dishes it out to Pippen.

Cross-court Kerr, open three...

We got back into the game, and...

I thought we were gonna pull away.

- Around a Davis screen...

- But they made a great comeback.

...evens the issue at 69!

Chicago once led by as many as 8.

Indiana is on an 11-0 run.

And the Bulls wanna talk it over.

When they called timeout...

I just remember just jumping, giving high fives, chest bumping, like, "We got this.

Hell, yeah!" You guys can switch on this thing if you need to.

I'm not switching, Phil.

I won't do it.

I'm chasing.

I'm not switching nothing off.

Move the ball ahead of the foul.

Look, six minutes left in game seven, I thought Indy was going to win.

Fourth quarter, we're down.

You know, the thought ran through my mind, "Man, this could be it." Jordan, knocked away by McKey cleanly...

And a jump ball is called.

We had the lead, but it came down to one jump ball.

How big is this jump ball right now?

You get this jump ball, you got a chance to go up five.

If we win that jump ball, and go down and score and go up five...

this could be it for them.

Michael can really jump, but Smits is 7'4".

Smits tipped it, but right to Pippen.

They win the jump ball...

it finds the hands of Steve Kerr...

Kerr can tie it...

and does!

Steve Kerr, he's been big today.

This is his 11th point of the game.

Steve Kerr hit the biggest sh*t of that series.

And to me, I think that's where everything went downhill for us.

It changed everything.

All of a sudden, a volt of electricity went through the building.

Pippen...

Chicago leads with five on the sh*t clock.

Michael dumps it off to an open Longley.

And the Bulls have a little bit of breathing room.

Ahead by four.

They look for Smits and Harper deflects it and comes up with a steal.

It was like we were a ninth-grade JV team that had no sh*t.

Throws up a little hook.

It bounces home, plus a foul.

And onto the Finals, for the sixth time in eight years, go the Chicago Bulls.

We had the better team, I really do believe that, but championship DNA and championship experience...

really rose to the forefront in game seven for Chicago.

You know what was great?

Not only did the team win, but...

Michael snatched the game ball for me.

That's...

that's all right.

It's all right.

We got four more, dog.

Four more.

Four more, this sh*t is hard.

We can't wait to smile at the end of the day.

Way to go, D-Rod.

- Big sh*ts, boy.

- Thank you.

Way to go, Luc.

Way to come in, Jud.

That's huge.

That's huge, man.

It's the hardest we worked in, sh*t, 13 years.

g*dd*mn!

Whoo!

I had to bring in the ace in the hole for us to win the game.

Yeah.

That's why we struggling, your ass ain't around no more.

Got to take you out to the Utah.

Enjoy yourself, dog.

You bitch, f*ck you.

- Y'all gave us a run for our money.

- Yeah.

I'll see ya.

All right, take care.

Now you can work on that golf game of yours.