This early regular season game between Chicago and LA was seen as a part of the Bulls' farewell tour, given their age and the time they had already spent together. Pippen was out for months and to make matters worse, sharp shooter Steve Kerr received an injury as well.
And from the start of the first quarter the Bulls looked very old indeed. Uncharacteristic mistakes and a terrible percentage from the field gave the Clippers an early lead. Jordan had a lot of problems with his shot release because of the dislocated finger, noticeable especially at the freethrow line. Despite a great game by Longley the Clippers led 27-14 after the 1st quarter.
But the Bulls showed pride. They got back into the game with their defense and started a 18-3 scoring run to erase the Clippers' big lead. At the end of a hard-fought 4th quarter, Barry hit two huge freethrows to tie the game at 92-92 with 10 seconds to go. A lot of time for Jordan to work his magic, but he missed at the buzzer and the game went into the first of two overtimes.
The Clippers looked a bit fresher and got a four point lead with 40 seconds to go, but Jordan made two baskets to tie the game again at 102-102 and forced a second overtime. He then completely took over and scored all 9 Bulls points in the 2nd overtime.
Overall he scored the last 13 points in the game, unanswered by the Clippers who couldn't buy a basket and went scoreless on Jordan's run.
While the 34-year-old Jordan looked sharper as the game progressed, the younger Clippers ran out of gas and lost the game, 111-102.
"The thing is that Mike doesn't get tired. I know I get tired in the fourth quarter, but he doesn't. He just gets stronger and keeps responding." - Ron Harper
25 сен 2024
