Michael Jordan Hates When People Say He Pushed Off Bryon Russell For Game-Winning Shot In Game 6 Of 1998 Finals: ‘His Energy Was Going That Way, I Didn’t Have To Push Him’

Michael Jordan hates when people say he pushed off Bryon Russell for the game-winning shot in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. 

Jordan hit a two-pointer over Russell with 5.2 seconds left in regulation to give the Chicago Bulls an 87-86 lead. 

“Everybody says I pushed off. Bullsh*t,” Jordan said in The Last Dance. “His energy was going that way. I didn’t have to push him that way.”

Jordan played 43 minutes in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. He finished with 45 points while shooting 15-of-35 from the field, 3-of-7 from beyond the arc and 12-of-15 from the free-throw line. 

The Bulls beat the Utah Jazz to capture their sixth championship. Jordan’s jumper over Russell was his final shot with Chicago. 

Arguably the best player in NBA history, Jordan played for the Bulls twice. He averaged 31.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 2.5 steals and 0.9 blocks and won five MVPs, six Finals MVPs, three steals titles, 10 scoring titles and one Defensive Player of the Year Award. 

MJ also made 12 All-Star teams, 11 All-NBA teams and nine All-Defensive teams with the Bulls. 

Chicago three-peated twice and went undefeated in the NBA Finals during the Jordan era. The Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Seattle SuperSonics and Jazz (twice). 

Jordan is first in NBA history in points per game, fourth in steals, fifth in field goals and second in player efficiency rating. He holds the NBA record for most points (63) scored in a playoff game. 

Nicknamed “Black Jesus,” Jordan was not easy to play with. He punched two teammates (Will Perdue and Steve Kerr) and yelled at players when they made mistakes. 

However, Jordan knew that leadership had a price. 

“I pulled people along when they didn’t wanna be pulled,” Jordan said in The Last Dance. “I challenged people when they didn’t wanna be challenged and I earned that right because my teammates came after me. They didn’t endure all the things that I endured. Once you join the team, you live at a certain standard that I play the game and I wasn’t gonna take anything less.

“Now, if that means I had to go in and get in your ass a little bit, then I did that. You ask all my teammates, the one thing about Michael Jordan was he never asked me to do something that he didn’t f—ing do. When people see this, they gonna say, ‘Well, he wasn’t really a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant.’ Well, that’s you because you never won anything. I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win and be a part of that as well. Look, I don’t have to do this. I’m only doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don’t wanna play that way, don’t play that way.”