Maestro MJ soars; Jazz hits flat note

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Scottie Pippen says Michael Jordan still can make spectacular plays.
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The crowd was alive. The team was blowing out a supposedly equal opponent. But most important, Michael Jordan was defying gravity again.

It was a late 1980s flashback. Better yet, it was retro-1991.

Michael Jordan scores Wednesday on "The Play."

During Game 2 of the 1991 championship series, Jordan delivered one of the most memorable shots in Finals history. He soared down the lane with the ball in his right hand, switched to his left in midflight and, while the Laker defenders dropped to the ground, he made a soft scoop shot off the glass.

Jordan didn't exactly duplicate that move on Wednesday, during Game 2 of the 1997 NBA Finals. But his basket -- officially listed as a "driving layup" -- with 3:26 remaining in the third quarter was reminiscent of many classic Jordan moves of the past.

"To most fans it's a big deal when they see (those moves)," said broadcaster James Worthy, Jordan's former North Carolina teammate and a member of that '91 Lakers team. "But I've seen it at least 20 times. It's old hat for me."

Jordan already had abused the Jazz for 26 points Wednesday by using a variety of headfakes and crossover moves to free himself for assorted jumpers. But this move was much different.

It all began when Brian Williams, who stood at the foul line extended, flipped the ball to His Airness.

Jordan dribbled around Williams, using the 6-foot-11 forward as a screen to slow defender Shandon Anderson. Then two dribbles toward the baseline, with Anderson chasing and Adam Keefe and Karl Malone coming over for help, Jordan went airborne.

"He was coming over the screen, and the way we put it in, we go up over the top and let the big man step back and help out," Anderson said. "We missed (the) assignment, and he got an open shot because of that."

Jeff Hornacek said of Michael Jordan's highlight-reel reverse: "Once he made that, the rest of the game was his."

But this basket was special because of what Jordan did, not what the Jazz failed to do.

He glided through the air to his left. While passing effortlessly under the basket, he shifted the ball from his right hand to his left before gently spinning it off the backboard and into the hoop for an sweet little reverse layup.

Malone and Keefe could only watch as the ball floated through the basket and Jordan casually returned down court to play defense.

"I think that's more of a media play that you guys cherish than we really look at," Keefe said. "It was a good play. He went up on the strong side, had trouble, and went over to the reverse. It's getting fairly common now.

"I think it's good for basketball because it catches the eye of the camera and you guys like to write about it."

That's true. Moves like Jordan's make great TV and excellent copy. And guys like Allen Iverson and Latrell Sprewell will float under the basket for a reverse on an almost nightly basis during the regular season.

But this was the NBA Finals, the world's biggest basketball stage. And when Jordan, at 34, flies through the air these days, it means more than just the two points that register on the scoreboard.

"He's got everything in him that he's always had. ... It's just that now he has much more knowledge for the game, and he doesn't have to pull those type of stunts as much." --Scottie Pippen

"You could just see it in his step, that once he made that, the rest of the game was his," Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek said. "He was going to have the ball in his hand. He was going to make the move. You could see that just got him going ... not that he wasn't going before that."

"I've seen it so many times," Bulls forward Scottie Pippen said. "He's got everything in him that he's always had. ... It's just that now he has much more knowledge for the game, and he doesn't have to pull those type of stunts as much."

In a game that was decided by halftime, this play didn't mean much toward the final result. In fact, Jordan didn't find it more special than any of the other 10 field goals he converted on Wednesday.

"I made it," he said with a big smile as he walked out of the United Center. "I'm just glad I made it."

And so were the Bulls, who hope this was just the first of many future Jordan flashes to the past.