That was probably the most pissed Phil ever got, save for maybe when he threw Kobe out of a practice in 2004, but that was off cam. He talked about it in the post game too. Dumb, dumb play by Pippen. He was sensitive to the derision that he (and Ho) got for passing up the Finals winning shot the year before like a hot potato over to Paxson. Mike even joked about that on tape. He may have had the right to take that shot, but you gotta let some shit slide when it's 1.8 secs left against the Knicks in a playoff game. And invariably Phil made the right call, like he almost always did.
@@KoachKrab127 There may NOT be a link verifying this on youtube, but I wasn't just BSing. Michael Jordan himself was the one making light of it. Those Bulls had various books written about them, I'd be surprised if they all failed to mentioned it. Where I got that from was by personally watching an ESPN interview with Scottie Pippen back in 1994. During the interview, the interviewer played a tape recording of Jordan saying that he "Got tired of carrying their (Pip n Ho's) asses late in games and that his dad (James Jordan) didn't like it either" and also that they (Pip n Ho) wanted the ball more in clutch situations and you saw how fast they passed it to Paxson in 93. You kinda had to be there, this was 25 years ago. It was a Sports Center Sunday Interview and it visibly annoyed Scottie that they would play that after he agreed to sit with them, but those kinds of statements by Jordan were NOT uncommon. He was very abrasive towards teammates when he wanted to be, one of his faults that never get brought up by his adoring media. I'm not saying Jordan was right, I'm just saying that he said it. He was the GOAT, but he had a mouth and an ego to match his brilliance as a player. When he was off playing baseball and came back to do a charity game at Chicago Stadium in 1994 that was under Pippen's name, they hugged. I always thought that was Mike showing that his feelings had softened over that year he was off. They had a minor tiff for a minute -- there was the notion that maybe Mike left for a number of reasons including having to do as much as he did as a player to win titles and then that was followed by Pip making this horrific mistake (I'm sure Pip would admit today that it was his worst decision as a player and one that embarrassed him as a professional if he was willing to go further than that). You could see, however, that Pip was insecure about his status as a clutch shooter. Great, great player, but I thought no matter what that he lacked that one aspect. If he had it, he would've been a superstar every day of the week. I thought he was the one player that hovered as close to universal acceptance as a true superstar as anyone ever did. In my personal POV, Ewing and Nique weren't superstars if guys like Jordan, Magic, Bird, Hakeem were. If I had to choose between Nique and Pip, I might go prime Pip. That's a tough one. Btw, I'm a Lakers fan and always was. This is not coming from a person who liked Pippen all that much. There was bad blood in Port/Lakers early 2000s battles, and he even played LA in the 99 playoffs with Houston and the Rockets media called him "Ham Hands" (meaning bad hands) after a costly turnover that lost them Gm1 by a point. BUT, he was a handful as an opponent and I respected him. Lakers in 91 had as much trouble dealing with him as they did Jordan, imo.
@@KoachKrab127 True enough. You can't quibble with success... If you want my opinion as a non-Bulls fan, yeah, no doubt, those were the right passes to a pretty good clutch shooter in his own right. The forgotten Bull in many ways. Getting into the psyche of a guy who could do as much as Jordan, tho. If he was humble, I think his brain might've exploded. Imagining him as NOT a prick would be hard to do after seeing about 15 mins of his highlights.
@@KoachKrab127 Oh, I would not like to have been Stacey King back then. He went to the worst team. He was overweight by default and also a "once in awhile good player". One of those guys with wasted talents that frustrate everyone. I remember a funny quote of Mike's where he saw King walking into the room with a wrapped gift under his arm and Mike goes, "I hope there's a jumpshot in that box!" The other guy was poor Jerry Krause. Looking and acting the way he did, I heard he got unmerciful treatment. They called him Krumbs because he always had food on his lapels. Also heard the story about Cartwright telling Mike that he'd break his leg the next time he talked to him "that" way. That evidently scared Mike. Bill would've meant it. He was OLD school. Pre-Mike old school.
@@Otingocni89 not just that, he also wanted to ruin the 1.8sec inbound pass with half court shot presumably... so 3 major mistakes when it mattered, held and dribbled out the clock on previous play, then a total brick, and then another rushed half arsed attempt, good thing the rest had their head straight to call the time out
Yeah they conveniently left that part out in "The Last Dance" where Pippen got a shot clock violation while trying to force the last shot up, it makes sense with Phil's decision to get the ball to Kukoc after Pippen's failed attempt and Knicks would have been expecting Pippen to get last shot. And that season Tony had made some last second shots to win games. This really shows Pippen had some serious instability in his psyche and major inferiority problems in his own identity, I think he wanted to be Jordan so bad he let his mind drift out of rational reality and more important what was best for the team in that final moment of regulation. Pippen was an all time great but he was never Michael Jordan, nobody was. And recently it has become more apparent with all the hating Pippen has done toward Jordan and Phil Jackson that Pippen developed some major issues with living in Jordan's shadow. Not saying some of what Pippen is mad about is not legitimate. like "The Last Dance" specifically geared toward increasing the AIR JORDAN stock with young fans of this generation. And yeah the Bull's Organization were cut throats when it came to paying their players and taking care of the guys who won the championships, as a diehard Bulls fan it was so RIDICULOUS to watch after the last championship. Yeah a rebuild right? Still rebuilding decades later and have not won shit!
Toni was like 6'10" with great shooting touch. Like Bird or Durant. He would've gotten more shine on any other team, but he made the Bulls bench squad by far the best in the league.
Shouldn’t have gotten to that point. Cartwright couldn’t do shit to Ewing. Just too old and past his prime from his Knick days before Pat replaced him.
The first play was a set play that the KNICKS blew up by flooding the right side. If you watched the video, the second play was a 24 second violation after Kukoc couldn't get open.
yeah because Patrick's Knicks never could beat Chicago Bulls until Jordan retired.1994 was when he finally got past them only to lose in the NBA finals to the Houston Rockets
The Knicks also should have drafted Latrell Sprewell instead of Hubert Davis, who no doubt could have led them to a title if they had him much sooner than 99 as well.
@@V8Supercar1 because Phil drawn a play for kukoc who hit multiple game winning shots that season, so in response Scottie cursed out Phil & refused to go in the game for the final possession..
Yeah, and there is a thing not average american knows, the fact was that kukoc was one of the most experience clutch players of all time in basketball, he just did it in Europe, not NBA, he made shitload of buzzer beaters back there, however i still think scotie was one of the greatest athletes in the sport, every coach dream is to have guy like him on his board
From his wiki page- FIBA World Championship MVP (1990) FIBA EuroBasket MVP (1991) FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991) 5× Euroscar Player of the Year (1990, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1998) 4× Mister Europa Player of the Year (1990-1992, 1996) 3× EuroLeague champion (1989-1991) 3× EuroLeague Final Four MVP (1990, 1991, 1993) EuroLeague Finals Top Scorer (1990) FIBA European Selection (1991) That's quite a resume. Easily one of the greatest Euros ever.
@@clansman89 Luka wants a word, and he is only age 22 in the NBA right now 2× NBA All-Star (2020, 2021) All-NBA First Team (2020) NBA Rookie of the Year (2019) NBA All-Rookie First Team (2019) EuroLeague 2010-20 All-Decade Team (2020) EuroLeague champion (2018) EuroLeague MVP (2018) EuroLeague Final Four MVP (2018) All-EuroLeague First Team (2018) 2× EuroLeague Rising Star (2017, 2018) Euroscar Player of the Year (2019) 3× Liga ACB champion (2015, 2016, 2018) Liga ACB MVP (2018) All-Liga ACB First Team (2018) 2× ACB Best Young Player (2017, 2018) 3× ACB All-Young Players Team (2016-2018) 2× Spanish King's Cup winner (2016, 2017) Sports Illustrated Breakout of the Year (2019) 2× Trofeo Costa de Sol champion (2016, 2017) FIBA Intercontinental Cup champion (2015) EB Next Generation Tournament champion (2015) EB Next Generation Tournament MVP (2015) Slovenian Sportsman of the Year (2018)
Last shot for what & choke? That right there tell u how selfish Scottie was NOT letting his own teammate eat instead taking ALLL tha credit for himself am glad phil did tha right thing on benchin' him & am also glad Toni Kukoc hit tha game👏👏winner & pippen had to witness that 👀on the bench be grateful for ur teammate instead of a a**hole🤐......
Pippen still pouting 25 years later...lol I wonder if he remembers that he threw up two of the worst bricks I've ever seen right before that and he wanted to take the last shot?smh..
trebledc actually its because kukoc enormous experience of making last shots while playing in europe, he actually scored more buzzer beaters during his career than his airness
He got it especially because Pippen refused to play after seeing how Phil drew it up during the timeout. They had 1 less sure fire option for the game winner on the floor when he did that.
@@mile6272 - Kukoc had 64 buzzer beaters in his entire career. Jordan had 141, most in his first 5 years, Bird is second with 43. Kukoc only had 4 buzzer beaters in the NBA, the rest with Benetton.. Per ESPN.
Tony Kucoc has been underrated basketball player but he is one of the best Chicago basketball player out there. Very quite and reserve guy. Hope he is doing well today. Thanks for those moments.
@@allanhouston3679 Yes underrated. You can just read off basketball reference. He came off the bench on those bulls teams. Won 6th man of the year in 96'. You should see scottie's FG% in those playoff series. Hell, Jordan had some bad shooting series in that era. It was a defensive slow pace era. Kuckoc did it all on the court and was very clutch. Ahead of his time as a 6'10" guy that could move and shoot. If he was a starter on a lesser team he would have been an all-star.
you are talking about the result which was different. The play (inbounds to Kukoc) is the same. Ever hear of a fucking "playbook'? SAME PLAY. No exception. Of course the outcome is different.
Most Game winning shots in a season (1993-1994) -KUKOC lead the league with game winning shots all in his ROOKIE year. This was the year Toni made the legendary buzzer beater against NY Knicks. In my opinion his game winning shots rank amongst the best of all time, A) Scoring in clutch moments B) Degree of difficulty was insane.
I remember this time around 1992-1994 when all the best players from Croatia national basketball team (the one that faced the Dream Team in Barcelona 1992) where being signed in the NBA. If I'm not mistaken Drazen Petrovic was the first one, then Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja...all marvellous, underrated players.
They were legends in Europe well before they ever went to NBA, with multiple euro championships between them. Kukoc once quipped how the American sports journos treated those accomplishments dismissively, like it's an amateur league where the players had a regular day job in a shipyard or something, and then after work they'd all gather for a few games of hoops. In reality the euro basketball courts were bloody battlegrounds.
Bill Cartwright ripped into Scottie Pippen in the locker room for refusing to be involved in the last play after the game. Pippen would later apologize to the team.
This was a bad look for Pip. I don't remember if Phil benched him, I believe he refused to go out for the last play because Toni was getting the ball. He probably still resented Toni. Toni got his payback from when he was on the Croatia team against the Dream Team and Pip and Jordan shut him down.
Pippen's crew had blown a 20 point lead. Mase had locked his ass down in the 4th quarter. He had just tried to pull a Jordan on the previous play and ended up shooting a 25 ft brick that turned into a 24 sec violation. Mase, Oak and Ewing took it to the Bulls in the 4th. Kukoc saved Pippen's career with that shot. The Bulls would've been BROOMED if not for Kukoc.
hi my name is Scottie Pippen, end of this game I like to dribble up top and go right, have a shot clock violation and a nasty shot off side of backboard at the same time. Then when Ewing hits the shot I'd rather hurry and inbound it for a full court heave than call a timeout. Then when coach doesn't give my pathetic butt the ball for the game winning airball, I pout on the bench and watch Kukoc for the win!!!!
Lila Stroup You seriously give the guy a free pass for acting like a baby? He was anointed to fearless leader status whilst Mike was swinging at breaking balls in Birmingham and THIS is what he did with it. He had Bill Cartwright in tears before the final play because of his temper tantrum. No way was his behaviour excusable.
@Aaron Roberto "Watered down" as compared to what? A player can't help when they played. Who knows? Perhaps 75 years from now, future viewers will say that people like Shaq played in a "watered down" era. Wilt DOMINATED his era. Period.
Me too, which I was so bummed about, with being a Knicks fan and all though! The series probably would have been a sweep if not for that shot, what with the Knicks having all the momentum with the game about to seemingly go into OT, until Kukoc put that to an end too!
istoric game here !!i loved the 94 season !!toni kukoc was great player !!in another team he would be the no2 star easily making triple doubles all the time !!
you consider age? he was plagued with injuries when he was in atlanta..while he was in the sixers, iverson seldom passes. Toni was like a 3rd option at that team not the 2nd option you falsely mention.
Ewing is so underrated/ under appreciated. Jordan was always there to block his blessing and just when he thought it was Jordanless Kukoc hits him with the spirit of Jordan.
A lot of 90s players get overlooked just because they couldn't beat Jordan. Ewing, Barkley, Miller, Stockton, Malone, Drexler, Payton, those early 90s Cavs squads, all underrated to some degree mainly because they played in Jordan's era.
Phil Jackson looks pissed than happy. They had a 6pts lead with less than 2mins. Yet the knicks was able to tie it up. Lucky for them Kukoc was able to perform.
Reason that Phil was so pissed was because Scottie Pippen refused to participate in the last play of the game and decided to stay on the bench. Pippen was angry that the last shot was not drawn up for him to take as Phil had Kukoc already in mind to take that last shot as he did against the Pacers earlier in the year. This is why Phil is livid walking off the court instead of enthusiastic. You'll also notice when you replay the clip that Pippen is nowhere to be seen after the shot as he already beat everybdoy else down the corridor into the locker room.
He DIDN'T miss the last shot. There was poor spacing, as he was waiting for Kukoc to relocate to an open area so he could drive and pass to him, but Kukoc stood around and blew up the play. He had no problem with Kukoc taking the final shot, as he himself wS looking for Toni. What he objected to was Phil Jackson having such little faith in him after his MVP season that he wanted him out of bounds completely in a TIE game where a miss doesn't lose you the game, but sends you to overtime. Larry Bird famously ripped up K C Jones last play and said give me the damn ball. Lebron did the same to David Blatt in 2015 versus Chicago. I don't know why this particular play has been overblown over the years and Pippen posdition so misrepresented.
Yeah, but at least they still won the series in the end, which was what mattered most though! Bummer they were so close to winning the whole thing that year, which they fell just short of too. :(
@@dennissanchez5171 Oh yeah, and those sure were the days! Only way they'll ever return is when douchebag Dolan is finally gone once and for all at last!
@@thegreyavenger2 And the Knicks did get a huge break with that highly questionable call. No way they win the series without it, but those are the breaks with that being said though!
Toni KUKOC unknown records: Highest 3PT % improvement in NBA history -Kukoc improved from 26.2% in 1999-00 to 44.6% in 2000-01. Most Game winning shots in a season (1993-1994) -KUKOC lead the league with game winning shots all in his ROOKIE year. This was the year Toni made the legendary buzzer beater against NY Knicks. In my opinion his game winning shots rank amongst the best of all time, A) Scoring in clutch moments B) Degree of difficulty was insane. Top 10 in league for W/S Winshares in 2 separate years! Only player to ever 3 PEAT with Club and NBA Team - 3 x club champion - 3x NBA champion Toni will be the only player in history to ever accomplish this. None the less there is no reason toni shouldn’t be in the Naismith Basketball HOF. I shouldn’t even need to plead his case as his resume is amongst the most impressive in the history of the sport.Ontop of Toni being not only the first stretch 4 in the game but being one of the first people to pave the way for international basketball (Add he was on the most popular sports franchise team EVER) he is the pioneer of European basketball. I think it’s enough to say that if MJ and Pippen have advocated for Toni to be inducted .. it’s just long overdue, the disrespect is real.
Toni was a pretty damn good player. On any other team than the Bulls at that time he would have been probably best player on team. Then again, I bet he is happy with those 3 rings from '96 thru '98...
Pete Myers sadly never gets recognized for making a damn good pass. That was not easy, with no Pippen in the game & less than 2 seconds left the entire knicks team knew who the pass was going to. Great assist by Myers.
Patrick ewing my favorite player of all time, of only the Knicks would've gotten him a second star player the knicks would've won one ring maybe 2 for sure,ewing is the only reason am a die hard knick fan today since the early 90s
julian nicolas they had Oak, John Starks, Xavier McDaniel, etc.. they just couldn’t get by MJ and the Bulls. Even after MJ retired they just weren’t able to get over that last hurdle.. even when MJ was gone the Bulls were a few plays from still going back to the finals.
Higher-self Also the Knicks had a very good chance of winning it all in 97, but that fight against the Heat, led to most of the team getting suspended. Because of this their chances of winning were over. The Knicks had enough: They had Ewing (before the broken wrist), Oakley, Starks, Houston, Larry Johnson, Buck Williams, Ward, and Childs. The Knicks were cursed due to bad breaks, Jordan, The Refs, The League, and themselves. They had enough to win a ring.
Second all star? That was never the answer for Ewings misery vs MJ and the Bulls. MJ was just tougher at clutch time... and end games. A role player would have been the answer for the knicks, someone like a Rodman, someone to disrupt MJs flow... But still... Its MJ. 😬
This guy should really be talked about as one of the all time clutch basket guys. Hes right up there with Robert Horry. My Knicks as usual in deficit what do they do? Patrick Patrick Patrick on every single play its no wonder that team never won a ship wasnt no second option in crunch time. Starks was useless in these situations one of best defensive teams of all time but that can only get u so far if theyd had a consistent second option like we had with Mcdaniels takes the focus of Ewing and enables him to get better looks.
As a lifelong Knicks fan, I was in so much pain when the Knicks folded against the Bulls in that playoff game. But looking back on it, I would give anything to see the Knicks even get to a playoff game and lose given their recent lean years lol. And I would give even more to have the world open up again and see any kind of Knicks game. Stay safe out there and have faith! The NBA will be back better than ever.
i’m a big fan of toni kukoc, but i didn’t see a patrick ewing early celebration... you won’t celebrate if you know it’s a lose or overtime next possession.
kukoc was a sniper with it. So many games where the opposing team thought It was over & Kukoc came with that shot that burned players souls on that court lol
#1 bulls fan forever. Games like this will never be seen with this horrible generation basketball. We need to bring back the hard defense and arm checks!
I remember watching this game. Unbelievable ending and the game that introduced the up in coming and future HOFer Chicago Bull Toni Kukoc. None of us were thinking of that at the time though as his career was just only starting. We would eventually realize just how special this guy was and never would have thought he'd be a future hall of famer. The Knicks were absolutely stunned. And I miss the old Chicago Stadium where it really gave us a homecourt advantage and the loud deafening roars of the crowd that really was electrifying and uplifting for the home team and intimidating for the visiting team. The united center? Aaahhh. It's okay. But it ain't as loud and electrifying as Chicago Stadium. United Center is too big and not as compact as Chicago Stadium. Chicago Stadium was just the right size and perfect acoustics for crowd noise. All time classic game. Just like the catch between Montana to Clark. Well, sort of..
Toni Kukoc has entered NBA hall of fame, deserved as he left not only great legacy in NBA but he was one of the most decorated and probably the best player ever played in Europe.
I'm guessing it was probably because they didn't actually realize Pippen wasn't on the floor at first, which was hard to believe. I remember watching (and also have the) MSG feed to this game, and recall how Marv Albert didn't mention that he wasn't until the very last second, just before this play happened.
@@rolandomacias9472 Complete BS. Stop reaching. Racism? No. And you are comparing Kukoc to Jordan?! ANYONE would be fine with Jordan taking the last shot over Kukoc...EVEN KUKOC. Scottie had other reasons of being upset at Kukoc, and the Bulls management. And it was over Ego and his pay grade. Granted, it was Pippen's own fault because he signed a stupid contract. But this is not a RACISM moment. Black people in society were facing real racism back then with cops and society. I mean, if you want to seek out racism so bad, it was easy to find if you were dark toned.
I remember this game. I was 13 and my dad made me go to bed so I could not watch the end. I remember sneaking and turning my tv on with the colors dimmed and when he made the winning shot I turned it off and pretended to go bed while seconds later my dad “wakes” me up so he could show me who won. I pretended to be surprised. What a dick! Glad I outsmarted him that night
