Everybody could tell Michael Jordan was special from the very first time he set foot on an NBA hardwood. However, he struggled earlier on his career to find any kind of playoff success.
It was until 1989 when things finally took a drastic turn, when the Chicago Bulls upset the Cleveland Cavaliers in 5 games, thanks to Michael Jordan’s first iconic basket: ‘The Shot’.
The Cavaliers were clinging to a 100-99 lead with 3 seconds left in the clock and everybody knew the ball was going to be on Michael’s hands. Still, he managed to get the inbound pass, take a couple of dribbles and pull up from the free-throw line over Greg Ehlo. The rest, as you may know by now, is history.
However, four members of the Cavaliers team – Lenny Wilkens, Larry Nance Sr., Mark Price, and the aforementioned Greg Ehlo, claim they were better than Jordan’s Bulls back then and that they could beat them in that series:
Those players actually agreed with Ron Harper, who claimed he should’ve been in charge of guarding Michael Jordan, as even Jordan himself acknowledged that he was the one that did a better job bothering him.
However, Lenny Wilkens decided to die by his word and ignored Harper’s request, sending Ehlo to try and shadow the best player on the planet.
“I had to deny Michael from getting the ball and he faked me near the half-court line and I took the bait. Then he ended up getting the ball,” Larry Nance admitted.
“What a lot of people don’t remember is that we were down by one and we set up a play and we scored right away too quickly and that gave them an opportunity. We went up by one and then you know, you step towards half-court and that happens, because you react to situations. And when you think about it you say yes, I should’ve let him go, because he’s going away from the basket but he made a great shot,” coach Wilkens said.
Cleveland legends then joked around about how it was Ehlo’s fault for scoring too quickly and giving Jordan an opportunity to kill them. But hey, GOATs do what GOATs do.
You saw @HARPER04_5's reaction on #TheLastDance…
Now hear what some of the others had to say about "The Shot."#Cavs50 pic.twitter.com/APOVSNf0Mq
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) April 27, 2020
