1997-98 NBA Finals

Result

Games

Finals MVP

Michael Jordan. Jordan won his sixth and final Finals MVP award, scoring 45 points in the series-clinching Game 6.

Series context

The 1997-98 season was billed internally as 'The Last Dance,' a phrase coined by head coach Phil Jackson to signal that the core of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman would likely be broken up regardless of outcome. Pippen missed significant time recovering from delayed offseason foot surgery, yet Chicago still finished with a strong record and returned to the Finals for a rematch with the Utah Jazz, who entered with the league's best record at 62-20 and had swept the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. Utah stunned Chicago in Game 1, winning 88-85 in overtime in Salt Lake City. The Bulls answered by taking Game 2, 93-88, evening the series before it shifted to Chicago, where the Bulls blew out the Jazz 96-54 in Game 3, still one of the most lopsided games in Finals history. Chicago took a 3-1 series lead with an 86-82 win in Game 4, but Utah forced a Game 6 by winning Game 5 83-81 back in Chicago. The series returned to Salt Lake City for Game 6, which produced one of the most iconic moments in basketball history. With Chicago trailing late, Jordan scored a driving layup to cut the deficit, then stripped the ball from Karl Malone in the post on the ensuing possession. With the shot clock winding down, Jordan drove, used a crossover move that put defender Bryon Russell off balance, and drained a 20-foot jumper to give Chicago an 87-86 lead. Utah's final possession failed to produce a shot, and the Bulls won their sixth championship of the decade. The shot, forever remembered as 'The Last Shot,' capped Jordan's perfect 6-0 record in NBA Finals appearances, all with Finals MVP honors, and closed out the Bulls' second three-peat before the team was dismantled the following offseason as Jackson, Jordan, and eventually Pippen all departed. Jordan finished Game 6 with 45 points on a night when little else was going right offensively for Chicago, and the shot itself came with 5.2 seconds left on the clock. The 1998 Finals also set a lasting broadcast mark: the series averaged an 18.7 Nielsen rating, the highest in NBA history, and was the first time the NBA's championship round out-rated that year's World Series. Chicago's path back to the Finals had been more arduous than the previous year's, needing a full seven games to get past Indiana in the Eastern Conference finals after sweeping New Jersey and beating Charlotte in five, while Utah, the league's best regular-season team at 62-20, swept the Lakers in the West finals after eliminating Houston and San Antonio. For the Jazz, it marked a second straight Finals loss to Chicago and the closing of the franchise's best championship window, as Stockton and Malone would never return to the Finals together.

Sources

• Wikipedia - 1998 NBA Finals
• Basketball-Reference - 1998 NBA Finals