After a heated argument on the phone, the two reluctantly hung up. Jordan took a deep breath, placed his phone on the bedside table, turned off the hotel TV, and lay down staring at the ceiling in a daze.
He had just watched the broadcast of the fourth game of the West Finals between the Trail Blazers and the Bulls from his hotel room in Indianapolis.
The Trail Blazers launched a fierce assault, leaving the Jazz team powerless to respond.
The Bulls lost both games against the Jazz in the regular season and had struggled a lot in last year’s early finals.
Jordan clearly understood that the Jazz team was a very strong team, but he didn’t expect them to be so vulnerable against the Trail Blazers.
In four games, there were three where the point difference exceeded 20 points, and Karl Malone was restricted to an average of 18 points.
Jordan knew that there were reasons for certain teams countering others.
Last year, the Jazz had restrained the Trail Blazers because the Trail Blazers had weak perimeter defense, leaving Gan Guoyang alone to support the inside.
After adding three veterans over the summer, the Trail Blazers transformed, with Ah Gan frequently appearing at the small forward position, the Jazz relying more on Malone, Stockton’s decline, causing the Trail Blazers to be strategically superior to the Jazz.
Along with the individual strength of the players and the Trail Blazers’ strong desire for revenge, the 62-win Jazz team, which had swept the Bulls in the regular season, appeared as fragile as paper before the Trail Blazers.
Jordan closed his eyes, trying his best not to think about the Trail Blazers’ game or Ah Gan. He needed to focus first on dealing with the Pacers.
In the first two home games, the Bulls won quite easily, but in the third game back in Indiana, the Pacers took a victory with a score of 109:106.
The fourth game was about to begin. If they could win, the Bulls would almost certainly enter the finals. If they lost, they would have to return to Chicago to play the deciding game.
Jordan had full confidence in himself, but not as much in his teammates.
In the third year of their bid for a three-peat, the entire Bulls team was exhausted. Scottie Pippen’s form had been inconsistent, and Dennis Rodman, at 37, was struggling more with stamina and physical confrontations.
The Pacers’ home fans were incredibly enthusiastic, and returning to their home ground noticeably increased the Pacers’ fighting power.
In the Eastern Conference semifinals, they defeated the young Celtics led by Bobby Berman and Tim Duncan in six games.
The Bulls believed this cleared a path for them to reach the finals, as they disliked big men like Duncan.
However, the Pacers were absolutely not to be underestimated.
On May 25th, immediately following the fourth game of the West Finals, the fourth game of the East Finals kicked off in Indianapolis.
The Bulls wanted to head back to Chicago with a commanding 3:1 lead, while the Pacers aimed to tie the series. The outcome of this game was vastly different.
The game was intensely competitive; until the final moments of the fourth quarter, the Bulls were leading the Pacers by 1 point, and with only 4 seconds remaining, Scottie Pippen got a chance to take two free throws.
If he could make both, the Bulls would surely secure the victory or at least avoid a loss and go into overtime.
However, at this crucial moment, Pippen shockingly missed both free throws!
Jordan watched from the side and could only laugh helplessly.
Bro, missing both free throws at such a moment, are you kidding me?
The Bulls were exhausted, leaving the Pacers with the last 4 seconds.
Adelman called a timeout to set up a game-winning play for Reggie Miller.
Back on the court, Miller pushed off Jordan during the movement!
He couldn’t push off Ah Gan but managed to push off Jordan.
The referee didn’t blow the whistle, Miller caught an open shot on the right, received the ball, and took the shot!
The ball went in! The light went on, game-winner!
Reggie Miller hit a game-winning three-pointer against the Chicago Bulls at the critical moment in the fourth game, dragging the series into the deciding game.
After the game, when asked about this controversial game-winner, Jordan calmly stated, "If the referee didn’t call it, it’s a good basket. And no matter how the series goes, we’re going back to Chicago, and we’ll eventually make it to the finals, it doesn’t matter."
Jordan’s immense confidence made what could have been an extremely frustrating game-winner seem less demoralizing.
What Jordan cared about more in his heart was that the day of meeting Ah Gan in the finals would be pushed back a bit.