Back to Homepage. 

BasketVideos.com > Indiana Pacers @ Chicago Bulls | 1998 Playoffs | ECF Game 7: "Last Dance" continues

Indiana Pacers @ Chicago Bulls | 1998 Playoffs | ECF Game 7: "Last Dance" continues

The Chicago Bulls given chance after chance by the Indiana Pacers will have a chance at their third straight NBA title. The two-time defending champions playing their first Game Seven in four years overcame surprisingly poor shooting by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen with timely offensive rebounding in an 88-83 victory that vaulted the Bulls into the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. "We definitely got the effort from our players but the difference in the game was that we got beat to loose balls and on the boards " Pacers coach Larry Bird said. "We've talked about offenssive boards all year. Tonight we were just overmatched. The number of offensive rebounds they got ripped our hearts out." Even with league rebound leader Dennis Rodman limited to six boards the Bulls held a 50-34 edge on the glass. Pippen pulled down 12 and Jordan and Luc Longley grabbed nine apiece. Pippen and Jordan combined for 11 offensive rebounds. "Rebounding is a huge part of our offense " Phil Jackson said. "One of the reasons we do well in that area is we have a lot of people around the boards. We have a sense of just being there when the shots are going up." The Bulls had more to lose and it showed in the early going. Everyone appeared tentative including Jordan who was playing in his first Game Seven in six years. Chicago quickly fell behind as Indiana calmly executed its offense. Jordan's follow shot 91 seconds into the game gave Chicago a 5-4 lead but Indiana scored the next 10 points. Smits and Dale Davis had four apiece and a turnaround jumper by Davis extended the lead to 14-5 with 7:45 remaining. Even after a timeout the Bulls continued to struggle and the Pacers who made their first eight shots widened the advantage to 20-7 on a free throw by Jackson with 5:41 left silencing the sellout crowd at the United Center. Rose's free throw opened the second quarter before the Bulls finally snapped out of it and got back in the game with their defense rebounding and bench. Kukoc scored and Jordan had a pair of baskets around a three-pointer by Kerr to forge a 28-28 tie. "We were able to win this game with defense and that's been a keynote for us throughout our championship runs " Jordan said. "I give our bench a lot of credit. Kerr gave us some huge minutes." The Bulls widened a three-point halftime lead to 69-61 behind Kukoc who was 5-of-5 in the third quarter including a trio of three-pointers. But Chicago went scoreless over the final 2:17 of the period as Dale Davis made free throws around a layup by Game Six hero Travis Best to cut the deficit to 69-65. "Kukoc is the guy tonight who really stepped up big for us " Jackson said. "Without his contribution and Steve Kerr's open looks off the bench we don't stay in this game." Jordan ended Chicago's 10-shot dry spell of 6:44 with a follow shot with 7:53 remaining. Smits made a free throw before Jordan drove for a dunk and drew a foul with 7:28 to go. His free throw gave the Bulls the lead but Smits converted a three-point play and Antonio Davis made a foul shot before the game's telling sequence. McKey stripped Jordan on a drive and a jump ball between the 7-4 Smits and 6-5 Jordan was called. Smits tipped the ball straight to Pippen who found Kerr for a three-pointer that tied it at 77-77 with 6:07 left. Antonio Davis made a banker but Jordan tied it with two foul shots and Pippen made a jumper after his offensive rebound to give the Bulls the lead for good at 81-79 with 4:45 remaining. A jumper by Longley - his only basket of the game - moved the margin to four points with 3:25 left. Indiana's Reggie Miller scored 22 points but none over the last 15:30. He attempted just one shot in the fourth quarter -- an airball that Antonio Davis converted into the Pacers' only hoop off an offensive rebound with 2:05 left cutting the deficit to 85-83. After Miller's miss Pippen beat him down the floor and threw in a running hook as Davis fouled out. Pippen missed the free throws but Jordan rebounded killing valuable time. Indiana's Derrick McKey forced a three-pointer and Harper was fouled with 8.9 seconds left making a free throw to seal the seventh win of the series by the home team. "This series and this game was a test of our will to determine if we're still championship caliber " Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. "We were able to answer that in a positive way tonight." The Bulls held the Pacers scoreless over the final 2:05 and reached the Finals for the sixth time in eight years. They have never lost in the championship round and begin a rematch with the Jazz on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City. "Not having home court is going to definitely be to Utah's advantage " Jordan said. "But nobody has taken anything away from us yet. We're still the champions and that's how we're going to think when we go into this series."

Category: Sports

Updated: 10/31/2007 - 23:31:17

Tags: Chicago, Bulls, Indiana, Pacers, Michael, Jordan, NBA, Basketball, Playoffs, 1998, Elimination, Pippen, Miller, Kerr, Kukoc, Bird

Votes: 273 votes.
Comments
IBdaPrince @spectre0075 u can say what u want about Kobe being better. I'm not a fan of his, but he is 1a or 1b best player on the planet. He doesn't shoot a better percentage than MJ, he takes more shots, he couldn't lead a team on his own to even ONE series win (needed Shaq and Pau for that), and every championship he's won has been with a great big man by his side. Not many champions in basketball can do what Michael and Scottie did, and win without even a star center, let alone a center that is just ok 07/19/2010 - 10:16:57
IBdaPrince @spectre0075 Actually I didn't. Apparently u've never played nor studied the game. The refs can only "favor" stars for sooo long before at some point the better team won. Granted the better team had two of the greatest players ever on it, but at the end of the day, it was still the better team. Indiana had at least a 12 point lead at one point in this game and they let it slip away because the Bulls had done all this before and knew what it took to win. AND I'm the biggest Bulls fan to this day. 07/19/2010 - 10:13:37
spectre0075 @IBdaPrince actually you just pretty much proved you're clueless as a jaybird 07/19/2010 - 00:27:00
Derriso1 To me michael jordan will always be at the top because of his drive he never lost once he made it to the finals but kobe bryant will always be right there because of his same drive to win lebron james will never be in that catagory 07/17/2010 - 20:52:37
IBdaPrince @spectre0075 yeah, ur opinion is invalid just off that statement. The Bulls have played and won in two different eras of talent. There was no situation in this highlight where the Bulls got a ridiculous amount of foul calls, and there were no extravagant foul calls made in the favor of Scottie or Michael, because the refs had to respect the star or Reggie Miller and the coaching of legend Larry Bird. This series was pretty even. Kobe didn't win until the majority of the teams from this era left 07/17/2010 - 18:49:28
mrhoosierboy812 Rik Smits look like Kane from the WWE!!!!!!!!! 07/15/2010 - 03:10:52
Harvey56660 kOrOne79 crazy vid, reminds me of someone I know - me - haha. I'm five'six and I can windmill dunk. I used the real nba training workout that that even Kobe and Ray Allen both used. For more info about the training program, go to - | 50 inch vertical [dot] com | Indiana Pacers @ Chicago Bulls | 1998 Playoffs | ECF Game 7: "Last Dance" continues pjhrsnnygumblwgoatg zdxszoubc #kOrOne79 07/09/2010 - 04:50:28
abredell @RandomDudeAKAJustin oh damn right 07/07/2010 - 20:51:29
Jackie5954 kOrOne79 geeeez, other things can I say. People who have fun playing basketball need to all study the right way to dunk, I simply just recently done the workout system over at "50inch vertical (dot) com" - It's' great! (I'm merely 5'8!) Indiana Pacers @ Chicago Bulls | 1998 Playoffs | ECF Game 7: "Last Dance" continues weuqeder marnrafktsoxoct #kOrOne79 07/04/2010 - 02:03:29
Jackie22441 anyone else other than kOrOne79 tested out the nba training course for dunking and shooting? Even players like Ray Allen have made use of this training. If you don t know what I m talking about, here you go "50inch vertical (dot) com" Indiana Pacers @ Chicago Bulls | 1998 Playoffs | ECF Game 7: "Last Dance" continues ehjjeqfpzayjneowclro rrjuqotd #kOrOne79 07/03/2010 - 03:42:46
AlbertoEntertainment DICK HARDER? LMFAO ROTF!!!!!!!!!!!!! 06/30/2010 - 08:05:20
andylv3104 is it me or doesn't jordan sound like dmx??????? haha 06/30/2010 - 02:17:16
spectre0075 always thought Jordan was bitch, this video pretty much proved it...hands down a marketing darling- no more. most over rated over hyped of All Time in Any Sport... gotta give Kobe the nod as better player, Kobe done majority of his work against better talent while hes been hurt... but same ol same ol in the NBA people bitching about Lakers last 2 Finals & the foul calls- good GOD looks same as what they did for bulls here. 06/29/2010 - 20:13:22
ldtajh21 I don't believe this Pacer team declined this much in two years. The Pacers couldn't do this against against the 2000 Lakers. The Shaq and Kobe Lakers would dominate any Bulls team. 06/29/2010 - 18:15:19
delugedriver 1998 Pacers were the BEST- and basketball needs another Reggie Miller 06/28/2010 - 21:53:07
mj7293 @orlandoko Wasn't that game 4? I agree a foul by Reggie, but I never understood why MJ didn't leave his feet to contest that shot!! 06/28/2010 - 08:15:10
moneyman237952 @mj7293 oh ok thanks for clearing that up. I agree with you on that comment. 06/28/2010 - 07:29:11
mj7293 @moneyman237952 Moneyman, u misunderstood me. I was saying Phil is coaching Kobe so he's gonna stand by his guy. Believe me, I am under no impression that Phil thinks Kobe is better than Michael. I think you could make a very strong argument that Jordan at 35 was a superior player to Kobe at 31 (right now). Jordan at that age, still created more separation, was at 6'6" the best post player in the game and could still dunk over 7 footers on occassion. 06/28/2010 - 05:58:28
moneyman237952 @boyztman let me guess you are a knick fan right? 06/28/2010 - 05:55:43
mj7293 @norsemustang I agree... Barkley winning the MVP and Bird & Magic never 3-peating were his main motivations. 06/28/2010 - 05:52:57
mj7293 @moneyman237952 41ppg in '93 finals. A record. 06/28/2010 - 05:47:27
jedihero67 best bulls team of all time.the 1998 team. i love my team BULLS 4 LIFE 06/27/2010 - 15:06:34
Jackie53427 kOrOne79 shit, I improved over 12 ins on my leap by finishing the training system at (50 inch vertical [dot] com). now being being shorter than everyone else is something I don't have to worry about in a game now, heh Indiana Pacers @ Chicago Bulls | 1998 Playoffs | ECF Game 7: "Last Dance" continues exdovebpkqqicoj auwezyjruyqlx #kOrOne79 06/27/2010 - 06:43:17
Patriotsa11day @RandomDudeAKAJustin it definately was a more exiting league but anyone notice how Jordan makes the refs his b!+ches...lmao anybody nowadays woulda probably been ejected for goin at a ref like that lol 06/25/2010 - 08:39:06
Wumoy89 kOrOne79 I am 5 5 and dunking - WOOT! What's my secret? look at | 50 inch vertical [dot] com | 06/21/2010 - 00:53:27
 
Back to Homepage. 

BasketVideos.com