Bryon Russell Told Michael Jordan He Could Guard Him While Jordan Played Baseball And MJ Remembered That Trash Talk Before Hitting Game-Winner Over Russell In Game 1 Of ’97 Finals: ‘From That Point On He’s Been On My List’

When Michael Jordan was playing baseball during the 1993-94 NBA season, Utah Jazz rookie Bryon Russell told him that he could guard him. 

Jordan came to the Bulls facility to say hello to Jazz stars Karl Malone and John Stockton and Russell started talking trash to His Airness.

“When I was playing baseball, Utah’s in town to play the Bulls,” Jordan said in The Last Dance documentary. “They’re practicing at the facility. I go over to say hello to John and Karl. And this kid Bryon Russell comes up to me and says, ‘Man why you quit? Why you quit? Man you knew I could guard your ass. You had to quit.’ I said, ‘Karl, you need to talk to this dude man.’ Karl said, ‘Nah, he’s just a young rookie.’ But from that point on, he’s been on my list. … I knew how he played. You know, he played on the front of his toes. Give him head-and-shoulder fake, go one way, he can’t stop.”

Fast forward to the 1997 NBA Finals and the Chicago Bulls are taking on the Jazz. Game 1 was tied at 82 and Russell was guarding Jordan. 

And as he did throughout his legendary career, Jordan hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer, this time with Russell on him. 

Jordan and the Bulls won Games 1 and 2 of the 1997 NBA Finals at home.

However, Malone and the Jazz won Games 3 and 4 in Utah, setting up a pivotal Game 5. 

On June 11, 1997, Jordan played in his legendary “Flu Game.” Although it’s called the “Flu Game,” Jordan suffered from food poisoning after eating pizza in his hotel room the night before Game 5. 

Jordan threw up all night before Game 5 and had IVs hooked up to him in the Bulls locker room. He probably shouldn’t have played.

However, MJ suited up for two significant reasons.

“I didn’t wanna give up,” Jordan said. “No matter how sick I was or how tired I was or how low on energy I was. I felt the obligation to my team, to the city of Chicago, to go out and give that extra effort.”

Not only did Jordan play 44 minutes in the “Flu Game,” but he also burned the Jazz for 38 points and hit the game-winning 3-pointer off a nice pass from Scottie Pippen.

Jordan shot 13-of-27 from the field, 2-of-5 from beyond the arc and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line in the “Flu Game.” He finished with 38 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.

With the game tied at 85 in Game 5, Jordan hit a 3-pointer with 25.0 seconds left in regulation to give the Bulls an 88-85 lead. Chicago won by a final score of 90-88 to take a 3-2 lead in the series.

The Bulls and Jazz only had one day off before playing Game 6 at the United Center. Fortunately for Chicago, Jordan got over his food poisoning and was close to 100% on June 13, 1997. The 10-time scoring champion had another stellar performance in Game 6.

However, he wasn’t the hero.

The Bulls and Jazz were tied at 86 with 28.0 seconds left in regulation in Game 6. Phil Jackson took a timeout to draw up a play for Jordan, who told Steve Kerr to be ready to shoot since he knew he would get doubled.

Stockton left Kerr to double Jordan, who found the sharpshooter behind the free-throw line. Kerr hit a jumper with 5.0 seconds remaining to give the Bulls a two-point lead.

However, Chicago still needed one more stop to win championship No. 5.

One of the best defenders in NBA history, Pippen stole the inbounds pass from Russell and passed it to Toni Kukoc, who dunked the ball at the buzzer for the Bulls’ final exclamation point.

Jordan won his fifth Finals MVP after finishing the series with averages of 32.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks.