This game would prove to be the backbreaker of the series. The Lakers would not be able to recover from this loss. Los Angeles actually had the game somewhat in hand, then Michael Jordan and company made all the plays they needed down the stretch and Los Angeles just needed one more rebound, one more basket, one less foul, and one less turnover. Any of these things could’ve resulted in a Lakers win in regulation rather than an overtime loss. Here are the game notes:

Q1

• The Forum is lit! Dimly lit….
• 11:45 Jordan hits the first jumper he attempts
• Vlade gets 2 early buckets
• Worthy really is an underrated passer
• John Paxson jumper been falling all series long
• Worthy layup on Pippen; then a jumper over Pippen
• Great ball movement for the Bulls. They reversed the ball across the court to the weak side post for a Pippen layup. No dribbles. Very impressive. Great passing team. Something not talked about enough when they discuss this first iteration of the championship Bulls.

End of Quarter 1

Q2

• Horace Grant had some post moves. Didn’t really get to show them in the triangle, also had a nice baby jumper.
• Divac with a beautifully ugly turnaround jumper from 12 ft. People sleep on Vlade still, he was a hooper. 
• Michael forces a backcourt violation on VLade who can;t advance the ball in 8 seconds. No help with everyone up court.
• Wild seeing the Lakers being so slow. Riley had them fast breaking at every chance.
• Levingston Cartwright, Paxson chipping in all series (and after game 1 Horace Grant)
• Levingston 2 blocks, 4 points. Wichita State in the house!
• James WOrthy is underrated. He is  aplayer you have to see play to appreciate because stats don’t tell the whole story of what he did. Solid all around game, wasn’t just a scorer. 
• The forum is buzzing! It dimly lit but it does feel electric. Staples never captured that magic of the old forum, but the same could be said for places like old Boston Garden and old Chicago Stadium, and of course, the Oracle. 
• Divac picks up a 3rd pivotal foul with 18 seconds left in the half going for a steal. I get the feeling this will somehow contribute to the final score.

End of Quarter 2

Q3

• Vlade got some damn good foot work. He looks like he should be clumsy, but then he pulls off some crazy up and under or baby jumper in the paint. I keep waiting for him to commit a traveling violation but somehow he manages to keep his pivot foot.
• I would love for someone to do an oral history on UNC pickup games. That is a story that deserves telling. 
• Magic with the trademark behind the back post pass into Vlade Divac. Yup! This is who I first patterned my game after. Unfortunately, my handle was too busted to pull off even the semi-flashy stuff…. But this behind the back wrap around…..[epiphany! Magic birthed the Fab Five. Now I see where Jalen and C Webb’s flash came from. Magic being a Michigan guy, it makes sense that they idolized him. WOW]
• The spacing and cutting from both teams at times is just a clinic in beautiful basketball. Divac passes to a cutting Worthy, who drives to the cup and drops a wraparound pass to Sam Perkins for a dunk. MPPPPPPPPHHHHH! Good Ass Game!
• Sam Perkins, Vlade Divac, and James Worthy were some really good passing bigs. Seeing a lot of touch passes (especially on the interior) from the Lakers bigs. Worthy had a great touch pass earlier in the 2nd quarter that was a thing of beauty. For all the praise Worthy got for his athleticism, I don’t think Worthy gets near enough credit for being an IQ Player (which you had to be to play for Dean Smith).
• Vlade hits a crazy turnaround jumper at the tail end of the shot clock. I didn’t realize a jump shot was in Vlade’s repetoire for some reason. But now that I think about it, he was hitting the jumpers out the high post in Sacramento (can’t wait to rewatch those games). Vlade really was a great player. Found space  to catch and finish along with being a great passer. Vlade ends up having 12 points in the quarter alone.
• Stacy King comes into the game as a #6 overall pick. He was a star with Mookie Blaylock on that Billy Tubbs Final Four team
• Uh Oh. Vlade to bench with four fouls. The Lakers currently have a 12 pt. lead. I should’ve time stamped this moment. Have a feeling this will be the turning point of the game (and the series).
• MJ really struggling in the 3rd quarter and the Lakers still can’t really separate.
• AC Green was really limited offensively at this point in his career. You can see why they eventually let him leave to Phoenix. 
• Lakers end the quarter only up by 6. Not a good sign for Lakers Nation, but Mike had yet to cement that fear into the rest of the league. He had his share of doubters (and haters––myself included) until after that 93 title, when he proved he was the BIG Dawg of the league. End of Quarter 3
• 4th QTR Jordan with a push off on Perkins. Basket don’t count. Almost certain that bucket counts in a pickup game. I can see Jordan calling foul. I’m about 90 % sure very few calls went against Jordan in pickup game
• Perkins with a baby hook at the rim.
• Jordan almost always makes the right play. Its amazing to watch him makes decisions so quickly and efficiently.
• Craig Hodges with a jumper. Cartwright with a basketball move and then a jumper. Bulls are cooking at this point. 
• Levingston with another block. This one on Perkins,. Jordan takes it down and then throws a beautiful look away pass for a bucket.
• 20-7 run by Chicago ignited by Vlade going to the bench with his 4th foul. 
• Levingston makes winning plays and does cool little dances in the introduction line. As Bill Simmons would say, “A real glue guy. He was the Deandre Jordan of the 90’s. Speaking of the 90’s.. Beverly Hills 902010!” Levingston scores, and then gets the rebound on the following defensive possession. 
• Divac picks up his 5th foul with 6:54 left in the 4rd quarter. Two of them were ticky tack fouls, but they were also silly. Lakers depth is very suspect up front, and Vlade should understand how valuable he is to the lineup. There is a difference between aggression and recklessness, and though Vlade would be a smarter defender as he matured in the NBA, it always seemed like struggled with fouls (or maybe that was just when he was guarding Shaq) We’ll have to revisit this when we rewatch the Kings-Lakers 2002 series.
• Jordan’s jumper is just beautiful
• Magic goes to the post and immediately goes to work. He loved to pass out of that elbow area with his back to the basket as opposed to the top of the key facing up. He went on a break and went baseline, then hit a spin move on Michael  and tried to dunk on Bill Cartwright who blocked it….. Foul! 2 free throws for Magic.
• Levingston with a strong put back dunk. (Speaking of Wichita, there’s Don Johnson on the sidelines. Didn’t even know Miami Vice was still on television in 1991. Looks like he went to the game straight from the set because he didn’t have time to go home and change.
• Magic back into the post, drove back to the middle as if to hook shot, but passes to Worthy for a jumper. Somehow Worthy is better than I remember. And even then I knew he was great. 
• Lexington out with 2:54 left in the game. MJ gets his first 2nd half breather. Its 88-85 Bulls.
• Divac with a spin left to the basket and finishes with his right hand. 88-87 This a Good Ass game!
• Horace Grant with a tip for 18 pts. 
• 2 long rebounds in a row that fall to Chicago. Jordan makes the Lakers pay by tipping in a missed layup. 40 to 24 rebounds for the Bulls.
• Perkins with a great move to the cup. 49 seconds left. Bulls up by 1. This was the last year Perkins would be a star player. From 93 to his final year in 2001, Perkins would be a high level role player on the Sonics and the Pacers. (3 Finals with 3 different teams) .
• 10 years away from the Jackson and Dunleavy rematch in the 99 WCF where Phil is by then coaching the Lakers and they come back to beat Dunleavy’s Blazers (eventually we will revisit this game).
• Vlade with the And1! With 10 seconds left.  Scottie fouls out with 19 and 14 on his line. Levingston enters the game again.
• Vlade has 24 and 6 on 11 for 15 shooting. Imagine had he not had to sit because of fouls. Vlade hits the free throw to make it a 2 point game.
• TV Timeout. Can’t Touch This is playing on the house speakers. I would love to know what was the last NBA arena to finally get with the times and stop playing that song, and most importantly, when. Instead of going to commercial, Mike Fratello and Ahmad Rashad tells us what plays we might see the teams run. 
• Jordan only has 21 points at this point. Ties it with a deep jumper. He beats Byron Scott to a spot on the floor, and releases it from the elbow of the floor over an outstretched Vlade Divac. Scott gave him too much room, but history has shown if you play Mike too close, he drives right by you. 92-92.
• Delay of Game. Lakers run their action and with no timeouts, the Bulls know what they are running. The Lakers inbound the ball and Jordan who was guarding the inbounder, runs over to poke the ball from a driving Vlade Divac. He leaves Johnson on the sideline and is able to make the play from the midcourt out of bounds. The Black Cat strikes again! They are going to overtime. End of 4th QTR

OT

• Elden Campbell enters the game for the jump ball. Seeing his face again reminds me of last summer when I saw him at the hot dog stand at the Denver airport. I wasn’t entirely sure if was him or Reggie McFadden so I just kept it moving. But it was definitely Campbell. McFadden ain’t 7 ft tall. It was just such an odd sight for whatever reason, seeing Elden Campbell eating a Rinky Dinky dog at the Denver Airport on my way back from Chapel Hill.
• Jordan with a beautiful reverse layup for a 94-92 lead.
• Another reverse layup by Jordan up and underneath the basket. Now he is just imposing his will on the game.
• In 50 minutes of play, we have Mike with a 27,7, and 9 box score. Magic with a 22,6, and 10. Play has been clunky at junctures throughout the game, but the role players on Chicago are really stepping up. Magic getting help from the other star support, but the Lakers bench has not been productive, and Byron Scott is barely registering that he is playing. 
• Jordan with a pretty assist to Horace Grant for another bucket.
• Not a good possession for L.A. Vlade also fouls out fighting for a rebound. 102-96 Bulls
• 53 seconds left and it feels like its pretty much over. Lakers out of offensive options. Magic airballs a 3 pointer after no one is open to pass to. 
• Horace Grant hits a long jumper to ice the game. He’s hype, but you can tell he’s trying to stay composed.
• Huge L for the Lakers. It isn’t the final nail in the coffin, but this is the closest they will get to beating the Bulls again. They competed, but ultimately didn’t have enough answers for the Bulls role players. Outside of Magic, Perkins, Worthy and Divac, they got no production. They were outmatched from positions 4-9. Bulls are proven to be younger, better, and hungrier. 

Game 5 Next! I’m sure there is nothing better than going into L.A. and celebrating a championship. That had to be a crazy night! Next post I will try to actually use time stamps.

BM

 Bob E. Freeman is a part time teacher, part time writer, and full time basketball junky. When he isn’t involved in some basketball related activity, actively looking for parties to deejay or venues to perform comedy, you can find him banging his head on the keyboard, and trying to finish his backlog of writing projects. For booking inquiries or content proposals, send contact info to bobbymickey@gmail.com