(dramatic music)
- It's May 7th, 1989, NBA playoffs.
The visiting Chicago Bulls are down one
with just seconds remaining in a decisive
game five against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Both these teams feel like they're
on the precipice of greatness,
but only one is gonna make it out of this round
and it comes down to this play,
which is in the hands of Michael Jordan.
Before we see it, we've gotta understand how
this match-up and this moment came to be.
(soft synthesizer music)
This series is a rematch between divisional rivals,
and as you can tell from the location of this final game,
the Cavaliers are the higher seed.
These Cavs are an awesome team,
and they became awesome quite convincingly, quite suddenly.
The core of this squad dates back to 1986,
to a dismal 29 win Cavs team that had just
fired its coach and general manager.
This was a team once nicknamed the Cleveland Cadavers,
years removed from self-destructive ownership
and still suffering from bad draft decisions.
But on draft night 1986 they turned the tables.
It started with fleecing the 76'ers
in a deal that sent Roy Hinson to Philly
in exchange for the number one pick,
UNC center Brad Daugherty.
Then, with their own 8th pick, Cleveland nabbed Ron Harper,
and Ohioan and a versatile two-way wing.
And in another deal, they acquired the 25th pick,
deadly Georgia Tech point guard Mark Price.
Three big acquisitions in one night,
and new general manager Wayne Embry would flesh
things out by hiring a champion coach, Lenny Wilkens.
The Cavs also signed their '85 draft pick,
John "Hot Rod" Williams, who'd missed what should've
been his rookie season because of legal proceedings
stemming from a college point shaving scandal.
Starting with this sudden overhaul, the Cavs blossomed.
Daugherty, Price, and Hot Rod were
all-rookie first teamers in '87.
The following season, 1988,
the Cavs got even more aggressive.
They acquired Phoenix star Larry Nance
in exchange for a package that included
little-used rookie point guard Kevin Johnson, which, eh.
But Nance was a huge veteran addition to a very young team.
And that '88 team made a breakthrough.
Wilkens coached an elite defense
with Harper harassing ball handlers
and multiple big shot blockers patrolling the paint.
Daugherty and the newcomer Nance
commanded the inside scoring.
Price came into his own as a point guard
who was great at distributing the ball
and elite at shooting it.
Gazing upon this well-coached, diverse cast of young stars,
Magic Johnson declared Cleveland the team of the '90s.
In the meantime, the Cavs finished
the '88 season with 42 wins,
and for only the second time this decade made the playoffs.
They took the three seed Bulls
to the full five games, but lost in the first round.
And here they are, one year later,
closing a decisive first round
game with the Bulls once again.
Look at the lineup on the floor
and you'll see the same Cavs stars,
except this time we're in Cleveland.
The Cavs are the three seed with home court advantage.
They improved to 57 wins this season
with an even better defense
and more balanced scoring from that bunch of youngsters.
Three of these guys and their coach
were part of the all-star team this year.
That doesn't fully explain the flip-flop though.
How did Chicago become the underdog in this series?
The Bulls that beat Cleveland last year were themselves
a strong defensive team and presented a ton
of toughness in the form of Charles Oakley,
the bruising big man the Cavs gave away back
when they were making terrible draft decisions.
But on offense Chicago was a one-man show.
25 year old, first time MVP, Michael Jordan
led his Bulls in scoring by a long shot,
and did so with style.
True to form, he dismantled the Cavs
in that first round series,
dropping 50 points in game one and 55 in game two.
But in the next round the Pistons held Michael
in check, at least by his standards,
and no one really picked up the slack.
After losing that series Chicago made changes,
the biggest of which was trading away Oakley,
Jordan's close friend and the league's best rebounder.
They got back Bill Cartwright, the older,
more offensive-minded center,
who'd been backing up Patrick Ewing in New York.
And coach Doug Collins set out to find an approach
that didn't depend entirely on Jordan scoring.
It took some time, and some losing, and some grumbling
as Collins scrambled to keep his team afloat.
Jordan was distraught having exchanged
his beloved Oakley for the stiffer Cartwright.
Injuries piled up.
Collins fiddled with the starting lineup
and tried desperately to keep Michael
happy without overworking him.
There were still so many games where Jordan did
everything and it still often wasn't enough.
Chicago didn't improve, winning just 47
games after the prior season's 50.
And that's why they're on the road,
the lower seed in a battle with the much improved Cleveland.
Evident on the floor right now is a final,
kinda desperate midseason tweak Collins made
to try to counter all that strife.
Look at the five out here.
We've got Cartwright and second year Bull
Scottie Pippen in the frontcourt,
along with Brad Sellers inbounding
because Horace Grant fouled out.
But alongside Jordan there's no point guard.
This is Craig Hodges, a littler guy,
but more of a shooter than a passer.
Jordan is the point guard.
I'll explain.
So Jordan obviously isn't a true point guard.
He's developed into basically the ideal shooting guard,
a guy who's out there to finish plays.
But this was a weird season for the Bulls backcourt,
as the team tried to take some
of the massive weight off Jordan's shoulders.
Collins flipped between Sam Vincent
and John Paxson as the starting point guard.
And in December Chicago brought in
the sharpshooter Hodges to spell Jordan a bit.
But no matter what, Collins couldn't break
the Bulls habit of depending on Jordan's scoring.
So after a long meeting between the two
in early March he tried something odd.
Jordan became the point guard.
MJ was a little skeptical, and a little dismissive,
but the scheme worked for a while.
In March the Bulls won a ton of games in which
Jordan didn't have to lead them in scoring, he orchestrated.
In April Jordan completed an astounding streak
of seven straight triple doubles.
But no matter what Chicago did they couldn't escape injuries
and couldn't beat their division rival Cavs.
Chicago had a six-game losing streak in April
and finished the regular season having
lost all six games against Cleveland.
The Cavs faced the Bulls in the last game of the year,
rested almost all their starters, and beat them anyway.
And if Jordan the point guard can't create something here
for himself or someone else,
Cleveland will beat Chicago again
and get revenge for last year,
winning a playoff series for the first time since 1976.
But this is where I remind you that it's game five.
Cleveland has let the underdog that they dominated
all year make this series dead even.
So what happened?
One crucial factor is this guy, Mark Price.
Price missed game one with a strained groin
and none of his teammates can match the output
of guys like Jordan and Pippen.
Chicago stole game one on the road.
Price returned for game two, but clearly wasn't himself.
This time though, someone stepped up.
Harper dropped 31 points and the Cavs evened the series.
After that Jordan went off.
He was a point guard, and he was a shooting guard,
he was everything.
He won Chicago game three with 44 points and 10 assists.
At that point, with Price still hurt and struggling,
Daugherty still yet to shine,
and Nance not making up the difference,
the Cavs look doomed.
And game four in Chicago probably should have done it.
MJ scored 50 points and attempted four
free throws in the final minute that should have
sealed the series for Chicago, but he missed two of them.
His old college teammate Daugherty,
who had been trash-talking him before those free throws,
sank two of his own to tie it.
Then Jordan bricked a buzzer beater
and the Cavs ended up winning in overtime.
That was particularly treacherous for the Bulls
because Cleveland got some things going in game four.
Wilkens made Hot Rod Williams a starter,
which gave Cleveland a huge front line
and allowed Nance to dominate a new matchup
against the younger, smaller Pippen.
Price also woke up,
shaking off the sore groin for 24 points.
Can you shake a groin?
Does that make sense, like if you were to?
- [Crew Member] Seth, no.
Sit down. - Sorry, sorry.
Anyway, that big new lineup and balanced attack
have kept up here at home in game five.
Cleveland's offense has operated in beauteous harmony,
but once again Jordan is bailing his team out
and has kept the Cavs from running away with the game.
Michael shot just five of 13 in the first half,
but has dominated the second half.
In the third quarter he and Hodges
were the only Bulls to score at all,
while their bigs struggled with foul trouble.
And yet, for all his unsurpassed brilliance,
one can't forget that MJ blew his chances to end this
series at home and prevent this game from happening.
If he squanders this clutch moment too, that's gonna hurt.
If Jordan doesn't finish, this guy is gonna be the hero.
That's Craig Ehlo.
Ehlo is an unusual bit player alongside
this core of Cleveland stars.
Not a prized draft pick or a big trade acquisition,
but a middling guard who failed
to distinguish himself as a young Rocket,
then fell out of the league until
the middle of the '87 season
when price needed an emergency appendectomy
and Cleveland thus needed to sign an emergency guard.
Ehlo has hung around ever since,
coming off the bench for the occasional big scoring night.
But he'd been silent since game one of this series,
largely due to a sprained ankle,
until the fourth quarter tonight.
He's gone bucket for bucket with MJ,
scoring 15 of his team leading
24 points in this period alone.
That includes a couple three-pointers
in the final few minutes,
and the huge give and go finish
that just put the Cavs up one.
That right there could be the game-winner,
making Ehlo a Cleveland legend forever.
It's also a gorgeous out of bounds set,
giving coach Wilkins something else
to brag about at his Hall of Fame
induction a couple of days from now.
But all of that depends on this right here.
Ehlo is tasked with stopping MJ,
which is an interesting choice.
Just seconds before Ehlo's big shot,
Jordan absolutely cooked him.
Harper believes he should be the guy defending MJ,
and it's hard to argue given the times
he's locked up Michael before.
But Wilkins wanted Ehlo.
It's Ehlo's job to dictate this
pivotal moment in NBA history,
a moment set up by his own heroics at the other end.
This moment feels like it might choose
between two genuine distinct contenders
for the next great NBA dynasty.
Will it be the Cavaliers, with their soon-to-be
Hall of Famer coach and their ensemble of young stars,
built with a flurry of bold moves?
Will they bust through to the second round
for the first time in over a decade?
Or will it be the inferior Bulls?
A team that's seen constant tinkering
after questionable moves,
and depended almost entirely on one
transcendent, justifiably grouchy star.
Can Jordan break the Cavs hearts
for the second year in a row?
We've reached a fork in the road.
Let's see which way it leads us.
Welcome to a moment in history.
- [Announcer] The inbounds pass comes in to Jordan.
Here's Michael at the foul line, a shot on Ehlo.
Good!
Bulls win! - Bulls win!
They win it!
- [Announcer] They upset the Cleveland Cavaliers!
Michael Jordan hits it at the foul line!
101 to 100!
(clicking)