With less than eight minutes to go, the New York Knicks looked unstoppable and Michael Jordan was going nowhere.
By the end of overtime, Jordan looked unstoppable and the Knicks were going nowhere as the Chicago Bulls won 120-109 in the opener of their best-of-7 Eastern Conference playoff series Tuesday night.The Knicks outscored Chicago 35-16 for a 90-78 lead with 7:57 remaining. At that point, Jordan had 17 points, 23 below his postseason average of 39.8.
New York still led 103-95 with 3:42 left before the Bulls scored the last eight points of regulation and the last 11 of overtime, with Jordan scoring nine of his 34 points in OT.
"Overtime is the perfect time to kick it into overdrive and put everything on the line," Jordan said. "I have an uncanny talent to create."
Bulls coach Doug Collins said Jordan and Chicago's defense made the victory possible.
"Our defense really stiffened late in the game," Collins said. "When we were down 90-78, I told them we were a little bit too hyper. That's a little out of character for us, but we didn't fold."
Jordan was limited to 12 shots in regulation time, 15 under his postseason average.
But he took over in the extra period, breaking 105-105 and 109-109 ties with jumpers before giving the Bulls a 114-109 advantage when he converted a three-point play with 1:16 left. Jordan also finished with 10 rebounds and 12 assists.
"I knew their game plan was to take the ball out of my hands," Jordan said. "To combat that I was hitting Craig Hodges and others to make the Knicks pay for the double-team."
With Jordan bottled up, the Bulls kept the game close with balanced scoring - a rarity for the Bulls - and strong rebounding. Bill Cartwright had 18 points and 14 rebounds, Horace Grant 19 points and nine rebounds, Hodges 24 points and Scottie Pippen 15.
The 76 points by that quartet was 31 more than its playoff average.
Collins said the Knicks might have concentrated too much on Jordan.
"They tried so hard to take Michael out of the game, it really bogged them down," he said.