Michael Jordan to the Max Page #4

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People have said a lot of things

about our physical tiredness,

but our mental toughness is there,

and l don't think

that should ever be overlooked.

-Okay, here we go.

-Okay, let's go!

After dominating Game 3,

the Bulls' physical resilience

would be tested in Game 4.

Scottie looks. Dumps it to Michael, MJ.

And turns base line.

Fall-away jumper, good!

Boy, what a rainbow that was!

Kukoc... Drop to Michael.

MJ spins along the base line,

goes up and scores.

And Kukoc looking, looking, looking.

Luc to Michael. He catches, two dribbles,

spins in, scoops and scores!

Another win for the Bulls.

The countdown to the championship

had reached one.

Three-one! Do you still feel like

you guys are the underdogs?

No, we're in the driver's seat right now,

and we just have to come out ready

to play next game

and try to put it away.

Before Game 5,

the celebration had already begun.

Can l ask you,

how big does that look on IMAX?

Does that look like a gigantic bucket

of popcorn on an IMAX screen?

Its a whole mountain of it, folks.

All right, baby. Let's hear it.

Come on, man. Put everything on the court.

All for the heart,

and lay it out on the basketball court.

When we come out of the court,

we're all celebrating,

-and Joe's going to be happy.

-Let's go, baby.

Before there was anything

to really celebrate,

Karl Malone and the Jazz found an answer

to every move the Bulls made.

In Game 5, the Bulls came up empty,

and Michael walked out of the United Center

for the last time.

Back in Utah for practice the following day,

the defeat was already forgotten,

for here was another secret to the spell

Michael had held over the rest of the league

ever since his first championship.

Even when the Bulls

weren't superior physically,

they had a philosophical edge.

l think Phil had a lot to do with that

with his Zen practice,

his whole emotional approach

to a game of basketball.

Ive experienced a lot of different coaches,

but he gave me the understanding

about life in a whole different frame.

l think his teaching toward

the understanding of Zen Buddhism is

how you view yourself

to deal with the realities

of life surrounding you,

and somehow be able to correlate that

to a simple game as basketball.

This is something that we talked about

a lot as a basketball team,

is about how to be in the moment,

being able to visualize what

might happen in those times.

Michael so embraced this,

and l think that was the beauty of his game,

is that he had all these abilities to adjust,

not force his own predetermined idea,

but allow those things

to come together for his game.

l tend to be calm, things tend to slow down.

As l go into situations that

people don't know the outcome,

Ive already experienced them in my mind,

just playing tricks with myself.

So it didn't seem new to me

and l wasn't afraid to fail with it.

Once l began to understand that,

l became a master of the game of basketball.

Game 6 in Utah.

For the Bulls, a win would mean

a championship.

For Michael, it would mean

the cementing of his legacy.

Harp looking left, not there, backdoor lob.

Michael goes up and scores!

The Bulls were still feeling the effects

of Game 5,

as a bad back grounded Scottie Pippen.

Pippen knocked down

and he's struggling to get back up.

Sets a screen. Michael hangs in the air.

His jumper, good!

In Chicago, fans filled

Michael Jordan's restaurant,

and 23,000 of the faithful

filled the United Center.

Back in Utah,

Michael was operating on his own.

The celebrated teamwork of the Jazz

was clicking,

and Karl Malone and John Stockton

took charge of the game.

After a grueling post-season,

the Bulls could no longer match up

with the Jazz, man for man.

With a fourth-quarter lead,

the Utah crowd sensed victory

drawing closer with every basket.

For the Bulls, the last man standing

clawed his way back into the game.

Seven on the shot clock, six, five...

Now Michael's got to do it himself.

Jordan backing, backing, pumping,

falling, firing, scores!

And a foul! Oh, my!

Harper back outside.

Michael firing, sticks another three!

He had played

nearly every minute of the game,

and scored more than half

of his team's points.

But late in the fourth quarter,

Michael finally seemed

worn out by his efforts

and his shots faltered.

Hornacek running. Hornacek for three...

Got it!

Still Michael kept coming, kept shooting,

kept getting to the line,

kept the Bulls in the game.

You can do it! Four championships in a row!

It was as if everything

he had ever accomplished

had led Michael to this one moment.

And in the final minute of the game,

at the final minute of his career,

he would need everything

he had learned along the way.

Pippen looking, dump to Michael

near the time line.

MJ at Russell. Michael a drive,

and the lay-up is good!

A driving lay-up by Michael

draws the Bulls to within one. 86-85.

And now you got a chance for a stop here.

Dennis and Karl are going

to get down on the post,

and they're going to do all

their little necessary banging.

Myself, l focused on Karl.

Hornacek screens across.

Malone to the post.

While he's fighting with Dennis,

he basically forgets where the ball is,

and so l choose this opportune time

to make my steal,

and l came back to strip the ball away.

Malone stripped by Michael!

To the floor, stolen by MJ! Michael, a steal!

Sixteen seconds left. Bulls down one.

Crowd gets quiet.

The moment starts to become

the moment for me.

Once you get in the moment,

you know when you're there,

and when l saw the moment,

the opportunity to take advantage of it,

l never doubted myself,

knowing that this was going

to be the last opportunity

to either win the game or lose it.

Michael against Russell.

Eleven, ten... Jordan.

Jordan a drive, hangs, fires!

Scores! Bulls win the title!

The Bulls are the world champs again!

lf that's the last image of Michael Jordan,

how magnificent is it?

MJ! Oh, my God, that was beautiful.

What a finish!

-l had faith! l had faith!

-You bet you did. God bless you.

Sixth MVP this past season,

and a sixth MVP in the NBA Finals,

Michael Jordan!

Michael Jordan's legacy is authenticity.

lf you removed all the hype,

all the marketing, all the show-time glitz,

he would be as 100% genuine as anybody

who ever played in a gym or an armory,

anywhere, anytime.

There's never been a player

that's had that ability

that Michael Jordan's had

in the kind of way he did it,

in this game of basketball.

His legacy is, a newborn child,

ten years from now,

and a father says, "l wish you

could have seen Michael Jordan."

Thank you.

The dignity and grace with which

you conduct yourself off the court,

those are important things,

and l believe those are enduring things.

You figure there have been,

l don't know, 25,000 years.

l don't know how you do the math of that,

but that's like, out of all 50,000 top athletes,

since prehistoric times,

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