Scottie's epic forgotten dunk
Celebrating Pip's back-breaking series-clinching dunk to beat the Bullets in '97
“I’d rather deal with the pain tomorrow instead of losing the game tonight.”
— Scottie Pippen, after his series-clinching dunk against the Bullets, during which he fell painfully on his back
On Saturday, Aaron Gordon made NBA history with the first buzzer-beating game-winning dunk in the playoffs. I was among the fans who heard “first ever” and thought about Deandre Ayton’s incredible game-winning dunk in Game 2 of the 2021 Suns-Clippers series, only to be reminded that the officials put 0.7 back on the clock.
Ayton’s dunk didn’t count as a buzzer-beater, but at least it’s remembered. One winning playoff dunk that does not get its due was 28 years ago today: Scottie Pippen knocking out the Washington Bullets, and nearly breaking his back in the process.
I never bought into the “Scottie isn’t clutch” talk, nor the “Scottie isn’t tough” talk. For anyone who did, the ending of the 1997 Bulls-Bullets series put both to rest. The dunk wasn’t in The Last Dance — no surprise there — yet Scottie didn’t even include it in his memoir Unguarded.
I don’t know why he left it out. I can’t imagine any Bulls fan who watched it ever forgot.
In Spike Lee’s car, MJ laid out the future.
The reigning everything MVP (regular season, All-Star and Finals) was driving Spike Lee after their latest commercial shoot1 and discussing the upcoming NBA season. Spike’s Knicks were riding high off of one of their greatest off-seasons ever, trading for Larry Johnson and signing free agents Allan Houston and Chris Childs.
“So, it’s gonna be the Knicks and Chicago in the Eastern Conference finals, right?” Spike asked.
MJ’s answer surprised him. The Knicks would be there, he said, “if they don’t fall asleep on Washington.”
The Bullets were a team on the rise. They jumped from 21 wins in 1995 to 39 and the edge of the playoffs in 1996. Former Fab Five teammates Chris Webber and Juwan Howard anchored the team, with Webber back after only playing 15 games in ‘96 and Howard coming off an All-Star and All-NBA season.
They traded their third young forward, Rasheed Wallace, in a deal for point guard Rod Strickland. Center Gheorghe Mureșan was the NBA’s Most Improved Player in ‘96. Calbert Cheaney, Tracy Murray and Harvey Grant filled out the top seven.
“Don’t sleep on Washington, now,” MJ told Spike2. “Don’t sleep on them.”
The Bulls didn’t. They clipped Washington 108-107 in their first regular season meeting and 103-99 in their second. In April, the Bullets gave the Bulls their 10th loss of the year, leaving them 63-10 and without a chance to top their 72-10 record from the year before. The Bulls won 69 games. Washington won 44, two games ahead of Cleveland for the East’s 8th seed.
Entering the 1997 playoffs, the Bulls had won their last nine first-round series and had lost only two first-round games in the 1990s: one to the Bucks in 1990 and one to the Hornets in 1995. They beat Washington by 12 in Game 1 and a tight five in Game 2. That was one of MJ’s famed “I’ll do this one” games that he seemed to have in every playoff series.
As Chris Webber recalled, the Bullets bus pulled into Chicago Stadium, and when Webber and Howard got off, Jordan was waiting for them in the parking lot, leaning on his Ferrari, smoking a cigar.
“Hey Webb,” MJ said. “Who’s checking me?”
In a panic, Webber and Howard pointed at Calbert Cheaney.
Mike gave them all 55.
But the Bulls trailed by seven at the half and only won by five, and when the series shifted back to D.C., the Bulls were clearly in a dog fight.
And this is where that Scottie toughness, and Scottie clutchness, comes to play.
On April 30, 19973, Bulls trailed 90-81 with four minutes left in the game, and Jordan went on a run, scoring 10 of the team’s next 13 points to give us a 94-93 lead. Scottie’s three was our only other points. With 22 seconds left, Juwan Howard hit a pair of foul shots to put Washington back up one. The Bulls subbed offense for defense and took the floor with MJ, Scottie, Harp, Toni and Kerr.
There was no chance we were losing this series, but there was a real chance we were losing this game. Scottie flipped a pass to MJ at the top of the key and cut to the left; Scottie and Harper were on the left side, Toni and Steve on the right side, isolating MJ on Cheaney.
Jordan drove to his left and rose for a jumper, but the ball slipped loose and flew sky-high, landing with Pippen. Scottie didn’t hesitate: he drove to his left, raised up for a dunk, was sandwiched by Cheaney and Harvey Grant and dunked the ball, with it bouncing around the rim as his legs flew forward and his head snapped back, putting his body parallel to the floor. He dropped straight down, landing on his back and immediately gritting his teeth in pain.
“He easily could have gotten hurt and it looked like the ball could have come out the way he grabbed the rim,” Jordan said. “It was a heck of a play.”
Pip drew a foul but missed the free throw. Washington had no timeouts but got a fairly good look, with Cheaney missing a 16-footer and the Bulls winning the series.
Now then.
Why, you might ask, did Scottie Pippen risk his health just to sweep the 8th seed? What would have been the problem with playing it safe and winning in Game 4?
Because the Bulls believed in the kill. When you can end someone, do it. That wasn’t just an MJ view. Pip had it too.
“A few years back, I’d have gotten the ball and looked for Michael to take the big shot,” Pippen said after the game. “But the opportunity presented itself and I took it to the basket hard. When the game is on the line like that, you go out and play.”
“He did the right thing,” Phil said later. “If you have a chance, you dunk the ball.”
Jordan finished with a game-high 28 points, while Pippen had 20. They made their mark in the 4th quarter as the only two players for either team to score in double figures in the final 12 minutes, MJ with 14 points, Scottie with 10. While they were a better duo in 1996, the MJ-Scottie tag-team was remarkable in 1997, with both men playing all 82 games and leading the Bulls with 37+ minutes per game for each of them.
They then played 19 playoff games, with Jordan averaging over 42 minutes per game and Scottie just under 40. These guys were both stars and grinders, and they both understood the necessity of snuffing out threats, no matter the pain. In the Eastern Conference Finals against Miami, Scottie would famously take an elbow to the head from Alonzo Mourning, causing a massive welt. In the Finals against Utah, MJ overcame the Flu Game4.
As they walked off the court late in that historic ballgame, an exhausted Jordan fell into Pippen’s arms. That image is one of the most iconic of either man’s career and certainly the most memorable one that they share. Michael Jordan, leaning on his co-captain. Scottie Pippen, picking up his partner.
Everyone remembers Jordan’s tough-it-out moments.
I hope we never forget Scottie’s.
-
-
-
ONE OTHER NOTE…
Game 1 of the Bullets series has one of my personal favorite sports fan moments, when my Aunt Gail found out that I would be at synagogue during that game. The game was a Friday night, at the same time that my mother’s best friend Sandy (Hi Sandy!) was finally having her Bat Mitzvah, as girls could not have them when they were growing up.
We were hosting a family barbecue a week before, and I told Aunt Gail that I couldn’t watch Game 1 because of the event. I wasn’t complaining — this was just part of a conversation Gail and I were having.
“Where is the nearest Radio Shack?” she asked me.
“Evanston,” I told her.
“You’re driving.”
So I drove us from our house in Wilmette to the Radio Shack in Evanston, and Gail bought me a single headphone cord that laced up my sleeve so that I could covertly listen to the game during the service. The plan only failed when my grandfather decided to have a laugh by loudly saying in front of the rabbi, “Jack, what’s the score?”
I wrote a bit of that story in the introduction of my book WHY WE ROOT: Mad Obsessions of a Chicago Sports Fan. Check it out below. Available on Amazon or wherever you buy your books!
From Spike’s excellent hoops memoir Best Seat in the House.
One non-basketball reason this game did not get the attention it warranted: while the Bulls were in the fourth quarter, 20 to 42 million viewers, depending on the source, were tuning in to ABC to watch Ellen DeGeneres’s famous coming out episode of Ellen, called “The Puppy Episode,” at 9 p.m.
Or was it the Altitude Game? Accused MJ pizza delivery man Craig Fite says so.