One of the games I remember most from my childhood was Mavs-Bulls in what was supposed to be Michael Jordan's last trip to Reunion Arena. I was just ten years old but had enjoyed every second of Jordan's most recent return to hoops and now was getting to watch him in person for the first time. While he would end up returning once more with the Wizards, that obviously was not known at the time so the game had the energy you'd expect for a legend's farewell. The Bulls were en route to another title while the Mavs were en route to another bad season. Dallas was 13-49 entering their match up against the Bulls. It was a classic game resulting in a dramatic come-from-behind Mavs win in OT and for the first time ever, I'm watching a replay of that game. Here we go…
(Worth noting that the only broadcast I could find was a Bulls broadcast)
*Mavs starting lineup: Cedric Ceballos, Michael Finley, A.C. Green, Khalid Reeves, and Erick Strickland. Ceballos had been acquired in a deal with the Suns earlier in the year. The Mavs were without Robert Pack whom the Bulls broadcasters identified as a "key ingredient" and a co-captain of that Mavs team. Don Nelson was the head coach.
*The Bulls started Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Ron Harper, and Toni Kukoc with Phil Jackson as the head coach.
*Dennis Rodman has 27 rebounds against the Mavs last time these two teams met.
*The Mavs had lost six straight to the Bulls.
*Worth noting that Ceballos was averaging just under 21 PPG over his last six games.
*The Bulls broadcasters, Wayne Larivee and Johnny Kerr, mentioned before tip that it was the largest crowd in Reunion Arena history on hand to watch MJ and the Bulls.
*It's amazing how the warmups have changed. They were very baggy!
*Bubba Wells was the Mavs' designated "Foul-a-Rodman" player. He fouled out in record time last time these two teams played, but Rodman made 9/12 at the line.
*Rodman's hair was gold. Just one color.
*The Bulls had a "this week in NBA birthdays" feature right before tip, ha.
And the game has started…
*Forgot how good Toni Kukoc was
*Larivee mentioned that the Western Conference teams were more free-flowing and not as physical
*It's great hearing Kevin McCarthy, the old Mavs PA guy, and some of the sounds that they used to play back in those days.
*Larivee said that, in talking to those around the league, the next step for Finley to enter "elite" status is his decision-making. Johnny Kerr then followed by saying it is tough to make good decisions with a bad team around you, ha!
*The offense, early on at least, went through Ced Ceballos. He and Finley were the two cogs. This was Finley's second straight season averaging 20+ PPG.
*Pippen did a great job of using his size and athleticism. Remember back then a 6-8 guy with athleticism wasn't as common as it is now.
*Finley got off to a slow start but then found his groove and put up 12 in the first quarter, including a vicious put back dunk.
*Shawn Bradley checking in off the bench. He immediately loses out on a rebound to Steve Kerr.
*They still didn't have a permanent score graphic on the broadcasts but they did have a clock ticker inside of a minute. Not sure why they didn't feel like they could just keep it there, with the score, permanently.
Bulls lead 30-24 after 1Q. Finley leads all scorers with 12. Pippen leads the Bulls with 11.
*It took them a full quarter to share the popular Finley detail of winning a contest in high school giving him a chance to play MJ in a game of one-on-one after a Bulls practice.
*MJ was a pretty aggressive gum chewer.
*About three minutes into the second quarter and the Bulls still had not committed a foul.
*A young Donnie Nelson was on the bench as an assistant coach for the Mavs.
*Hubert Davis was feeling it from…16-feet! He made three straight mid-range Js in the middle of the second quarter.
*The Bulls were a very good passing team. Having a big like Toni Kukoc who could move the ball the way he could was huge.
*The Mavs were "a concern" for the Bulls because they had "snuck up" and beat the Sonics twice, the Knicks, and the Pacers.
*After Steve Kerr hit a three, the Bulls broadcasters discussed how they were lighting it up from deep…which, in 1998, meant that they had made a whopping three threes in the half! Oh how the times have changed.
*Dennis Rodman, for all of his faults, played as hard as anyone.
The Bulls led the Mavs 48-40 at halftime. Finley led all scorers with 14. MJ had 9.
*MJ had a pretty gnarly spin move into a fadeaway J on the baseline. He made it and got fouled and they showed the Mavs reaction on the bench and it was clear they thought that was some amazing move they never saw. At the time, it was, but now it is something we see these athletes do somewhat regularly. I would have loved to have seen how creative MJ could have gotten had he played in the NBA today. He was so ahead of his time and talented then…recalibrate to today? Wow. Could have been something.
*Chris Anstey making his first appearance of the game in the third quarter. The opposing team's Aussie, Luc Longley, was hurt and didn't play.
*Michael Finley single-handedly kept the Mavs in the game in the third quarter. The Bulls had a chance to pull away in a big way but Finley kept it to around a 10-12 point deficit. He had nine points through the first five minutes of the third to give him 23 for the game up to that point.
The Mavs trailed the Bulls 71-60 after three. Finley's 24 led all scorers.
*The Mavs were astoundingly bad at the free throw line through three quarters: 4-for-15!!!
*Jordan hit a free throw early in the fourth to tie him 16 points and to give the Bulls a 16 point lead. The Bulls went on a 8-0 run to start the frame and grew their lead to 19.
*Finley was so good at driving, absorbing some contact, then rising and hitting a short jumper.
*Scottie Pippen hit a three to take a 16 point lead with 6:30 left in the game
*Johnny Kerr just said on the broadcast that the only difference between KG, Kobe, and Finley is that Fin was on a bad team otherwise he'd be in the same class of player. Reminder of Finley's talent.
*Khalid Reeves had a good 4th quarter with 9 points. With four minutes left in the game, only Finley and Reeves had scored in the fourth quarter.
*The Bulls led by 15 with 3:30 to go after Jud Buechler hit a jumper.
*A third-chance layup for the Mavs followed by a Bulls backcourt and then another Mavs bucket brought it to within 9 with 90 seconds. Jordan then split FT give the Bulls a 10 point lead…The Mavs airmailed a shot but then got a stop so they had the ball down 10 with 56 seconds.
*With the Bulls struggling to get the ball across the timeline, Finley had a somewhat ill-advised foul against Steve Kerr, a great FT shooter (94%). Kerr, however, missed both! Worth noting that neither team shot well from the FT line. That gave the Mavs the ball with 22.5 seconds down six.
*MJ went to the line where he split his pair, dropping him to 4/9 from the line in the game!
*The big song in the arena to get people rowdy with 15 seconds left? Everybody Dance Now or whatever it is called.
*Hubert Davis made a jumper to bring it to within three and then the Mavs forced a five-second call to get the ball back down three with ten seconds left. For what it's worth…that was a quick five seconds.
*So, the Mavs need a three. Up to that point in the game, the Mavs were 0-for-5 from the perimeter. Just think about that…Most teams will take that many threes before the end of the first quarter these days!
*I'm sure this was intentional, but during the timeout with the Mavs down three, they played the famous Bulls intro song, "Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project
*The goal was probably to get the ball to Hubert Davis or Michael Finley, but the Bulls did a great job denying those guys. Ceballos, a 29% 3PT shooter, was the inbounded and eventually got it from A.C. Green, to whom he inbounded the ball. They trapped Ceballos just above the corner so he threw up a fadeaway heave…AND MADE IT! Described by Larivee: "Ceballos ties it up with a near impossible shot!"
*Kukoc missed a clean look from the paint on the final possession of regulation.
End of regulation and we're tied at 91
*The Mavs started Shawn Bradley in OT just to get the tip and it resulted in a quick dunk for Ceballos. After Jordan missed an open 18-footer, Finley knocked down a corner three to give the Mavs a five point lead.
*With the Mavs up two, Kerr missed a wide open three and then the next possession Jordan did the same. Did the Mavs make them pay? Of course they did thanks to none other than Chris Anstey who knocked down a baseline J to extend the lead to 4.
*Kerr missed another wide open three…as great as he was early in the game, he missed two big free throws in the fourth and then two big threes in OT.
*No Bulls game would be complete without an altercation involving Rodman…After Anstey grabbed a Kerr miss, he and Rodman got tangled up and a double T was issued. Rodman, of course, was all smiles.
*Ced Ceballos was good in the first quarter, the end of the fourth, and OT. He hit some big shots during those stretches.
*Chris Anstey had a big dunk with under a minute in OT to put Mavs up by 5. He received a standing O…maybe the only one of his time in Dallas?
*A.C. Green rebounded a Pippen miss and that was when it became clear the Mavs would win and the place erupted!
*Phil Jackson left the sideline and headed to the locker room with 7 seconds left.
*The Mavs celebrated like it was a big playoff win. They didn't have a whole lot to play for that year and to take down the defending (and ultimate) champs? Pretty cool.
In a great come-from-begind victory, the Mavs beat the Bulls 104-97.
