By Paul M. Banks
The Chicago Bulls welcome the Portland Trail Blazers to the United Center tonight. Sure, it’s not the 1992 NBA Finals, but it is an important contest with playoff implications on both sides.
The Bulls and Blazers share more than the same team colors. The two franchises once came together in game that provided one of the most iconic moments in Michael Jordan history. In game two of that Finals series, MJ did something he wasn’t really know for doing all that much: making a ton of threes. He hit six 3s in the first half of game two, never missing on a single attempt, and it caught the Blazers extremely off guard.
His unexpected showing from long distance prompted Jordan to give the “I don’ t know how all that happened” shrug/quizzical look for the cameras after draining another trifecta. You know this image, it has been replayed numerous times.
Portland Coach Nate McMillan played a good portion of his career a little bit further up the road in the Pacific Northwest: eh was a member of the Seattle Supersonics team that lost to the Bulls in the ’96 Finals
“I made that comment that if I was playing we would have been able to do it. Michael at that time, it just seemed like he was able to raise his game whenever he needed to. We felt like we had the team to beat the Bulls that year, and you’re on the biggest stage of your career, and I was questioning God a lot at that time,” McMillan told the media before the game.
Bulls up 21-16 3 min left 1st qtr.
Did I mention that Evil Knievel’s daughter Krystyn, yes that it the way it is spelled, sang the national anthem tonight?
31-22 Bulls after the 1st…things are off to a good start.
Bulls lead Portland 80-79 after three qtrs. Jo Noah with a thrilling put-back on a Derrick Rose miss. Chicago erased a nine pt. deficit during that quarter.
Every time I show up to cover a game, Derrick Rose BLOWS UP. has 33 on 15-23 from the floor w/ 2 min left
I was here vs. Was when he had a career high 37! And the Knicks when he had 27 in 3 qtrs. I’m his press row good luck charm
Bulls up 102-101 with 25.5 seconds left
Ah yes, the final 30 seconds of a close game in the NBA. usually 10-15 minutes long in actual time.
Bulls up 110-107 with 2:47 left in OT.
If Derrick had scored on that dribble drive as time expired in regulation. I would have to have tweeted ONIONS!!!
Bulls up three with 55 seconds left- coming up on DAGGER TIME now