Chicago led the 1998 NBA Finals 3-2 and played game six in Utah, without Scottie Pippen for much of it after a back injury. They trailed by three with under a minute left.
The sequence
Michael Jordan scored inside to cut it to one. He then stripped Karl Malone in the post at the other end, brought the ball up himself with the clock running, and hit a jumper over Bryon Russell with 5.2 seconds remaining. John Stockton missed at the buzzer. Chicago won 87-86 and took a sixth title in eight years.
Jordan scored 45 of Chicago’s 87 points.
What ended with it
The roster was dismantled that summer. Phil Jackson left, Pippen was traded, Dennis Rodman was released, and Jordan retired for the second time. Chicago won 13 games the following season.
Jordan returned again in 2001 with Washington and played two more seasons. The shot in Utah is nevertheless treated as the end of the story, which tells you something about how sport prefers its endings arranged.
