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1987-88 NBA Championship: Chicago Bulls vs Utah Jazz
Part Two
Game 5: Harris Connors was due to go off, and he did. His 39-10-6 led Utah, and Brian Mazza hit two big shots late, as the Jazz beat the Bulls, 116-105, in Salt Lake City. The win puts the Jazz one victory away from winning their third title in four years, and second in three against Chicago. The Bulls threatened to get back into the game, getting to within eight, at 107-99, with 3:33 left. With the score 108-101, Mazz hit a putback of a Connors miss, then scored on his own accord, to push the lead back to twelve. He was one of three scorers—Royal Bryant and Sammie Snodgrass being the other two—with eighteen points. Snodgrass added ten assists, while Bryant added 14 rebounds. Craig Cooper added 16-4-7 numbers. Jack had 31-12-8 on 12-18 shooting, while Joshua Jones added 23, and Eddie Shank 17 off the bench.
Utah Leads 3-2
Game 6: With the Bulls season down to their final opportunity, they showed why they have the heart of a champion.
Sammie Snodgrass hit a three with twenty seconds left, putting Utah up 94-93. The Bulls got past the Jazz’ press. With four seconds left, Jack got the ball to Chris Henderson on the block. He was immediately swarmed by two Utah players. But he found Joshua Jones cutting, and hit him for a layup at the buzzer.
The Jazz celebrated, thinking the buzzer beat the shot. The refs came together.
Eternity dragged.
Finally, the refs faced the scorer’s table.
Basket good.
See you tomorrow night.
Jones’ last of his team-high 26 were the most important. He added eight boards and three assists to that. Jack registered 22-14-14 and three steals, while Gregory Escalera (16) and Ivory Perez (15) came up huge.
Harris Connors had 30-15-5 for the Jazz, while Snodgrass added 19-7-7, and Royal Bryant 14-6-3 with nine blocks.
Early on, it looked like the Jazz would gain a massive advantage, as the Bulls came out hesitant and error-prone. The Jazz gained a 28-18 lead after one. It would not last, as the Bulls would flip the script with a 28-18 second quarter. Things then got tight in the third, as Bryant and Jack would get tangled up, and have words for one another. Jack followed that with a posterization of Bryant, one of the few times Jack would let his emotion do the talking.
This was the first game in the series that the Bulls handled the rebounds in a dominant fashion, outboarding the Jazz, 52-39.
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