‘That Was Cute’: Michael Jordan Once Delivered 3 Word Assurance After Bulls Loss and Ignored Scottie Pippen to Win 6th NBA Championship

Michael Jordan is the greatest NBA player of all time. He was a man whose reprisals in the court were scary. “I took it personally” may have been a meme, but that was Jordan for most of his career. His dedication to winning was scary and led the Chicago Bulls to win six NBA titles.

His last NBA finals appearance in 1998 cemented his legacy as the greatest basketball player ever. The Chicago Bulls had to face a tough Utah Jazz side led by the crafty John Stockton and the durable Karl Malone. The Bulls were leading the series 3-2 but had faced snags.

According to sportscaster Skip Bayless, forward and second in command, Scottie Pippen came down with something but was toughing it out after Game 5. Jordan also uncharacteristically missed a last-second shot.

Skip recounted Jordan coming into the press room and calling that miss “cute” which left him surprised. Bayless wrote, “…But it was almost like he set us up for, ‘Oh, watch what I’m going to do to them in their house.’ And, obviously, he winds up stealing the ball from Karl Malone in the corner, dribbling it himself all the way up the floor. Bryon Russell was a tough, physical, pretty fearless, savvy defender—[Jordan] did get away with just a little push-off, but that was the way the game was played. He ignores Scottie Pippen and basically says, ‘I got this. Watch this.’ And he holds the pose as it swishes…”

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It was one of the most iconic shots ever and it is dubbed as MJ’s last shot even though he came back from retirement for the second time to play for the Washington Wizards.

Michael Jordan and his “Last Dance”

Chicago Bulls won the series 4-2. The franchise, before Jordan, did not have many notable achievements. Post MJ, the Bulls became a global brand. And Jordan’s “Last Dance” was very memorable.

He scored 33.5 points per game at 42.7% shooting and had 1.8 steals per game. Jordan won his 6th Finals MVP and sealed his legacy in the pantheon of NBA greats. His most memorable games include Game-6 where he scored 45 points.

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After this game, he announced his retirement for the second time and didn’t play in the NBA again till 2001. But, his career after that was not very eventful.