Michael Jordan secured his sixth NBA championship with a moment of pure theatre — stealing the ball from Karl Malone and sinking a 20-foot jumper with 5.2 seconds left to lift the Chicago Bulls over the Utah Jazz, 87–86, at the Delta Center on June 14, 1998.
A steal, a wait, a release
Trailing by one point with 18.9 seconds to play, Jordan doubled down into the post and ripped the ball from Malone, a Hall of Fame power forward. He did not call a timeout. He walked the ball up the right side, holding the clock and the defence at a standstill while the final seconds drained away.
At the top of the key he crossed over Bryon Russell, using a slight shove to create separation, and rose for the jumper. “When I got the ball, I looked up and saw 18.5 seconds left, and I felt like we couldn’t call a timeout — it gives the defense an opportunity to set up,” he told reporters afterwards. “It was a do-or-die situation.”
A perfect record, a second three-peat
The shot completed Chicago’s second three-peat and sealed a flawless 6–0 Finals record for Jordan, who claimed his sixth Finals MVP award. It marked the second straight season in which a Bulls jump shot had ended Utah’s championship hopes on the same floor, following Steve Kerr’s series-clincher in 1997.
Jordan scored 45 points and made 4 steals in the decisive game, adding a closing page to a career that already included ten scoring titles, a 72-win campaign, and the legendary “Flu Game” fought in the very same arena.
In Utah, a state Supreme Court chief justice later joked about the play, ruling simply: “He pushed off.” The shot itself needed no court — it was the quiet full stop on an unmatched championship story.
