Michael Jordan has left so many players in his wake with clutch shots–paging Craig Ehlo–that it never fails to stun when the favor is returned. When the dagger is pulled from Jordan’s back.
In one fourth-quarter stretch of Indiana’s 107-105 victory over the Bulls in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday, Reggie Miller scored eight straight points.
Jordan’s defensive assignment at the time? Reggie Miller.
Making matters worse, Miller said afterward he prefers it when Jordan guards him instead of Ron Harper, couching the proclamation in macho-speak.
“As a competitor, that’s what you want,” Miller said. “You want to go against the best.”
But there is no dancing around the fact Saturday’s game turned when Jordan switched over to guard Miller with Harper, who had so effectively shut down Miller in the first two games, on the bench.
Harper sat out the first 10 minutes 24 seconds of the fourth quarter, returning just in time to have Miller hit another three-pointer in his face with 1:34 to play.
“(Miller) made some big shots,” Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. “I didn’t like the matchup with (Travis) Best and Michael. I like Steve Kerr on Best; he was doing a good job for us. But we eventually had to (put Harper on Miller) as Reggie hit his fourth one.”
Miller’s onslaught flies in the face of Jordan’s defensive skill. He has been a first-team member of the NBA’s All-Defensive team nine times. Earlier this series, he became the NBA’s all-time leader in playoff steals.
“I ran into a couple of screens, and we didn’t make adjustments accordingly,” Jordan said. “One time Reggie surprised me with how quickly he shot it. But you just take that and roll with the punches.”
Offensively, the Bulls didn’t attempt to exploit the hobbled Miller-on-Jordan matchup much in the fourth quarter. Jordan did score 10 of his 30 points in the quarter, but six of those points came in the game’s final minute on full-court pressure and transition.
In a half-court setting, Jordan didn’t score on Miller until less than 6 minutes remained, and he took only three shots.
“We thought about that after the fact,” Jordan said after shooting 9 for 22 and committing a game-high five turnovers. “We got lured into certain ways we were attacking this team, and we didn’t evaluate our opportunities.”
Jordan’s 30 points and seven assists were also game highs. But that didn’t matter to him.
“When you lose, you’re never pleased,” he said. “You always think you could’ve done something totally different. You always think you could’ve played better.”
On Monday, Jordan gets that opportunity again. Miller will be waiting, probably behind the three-point arc.
