‘The Last Dance’ Redux: Michael Jordan Came Nowhere Near the Last Shot as the Bulls Take a One-Point Loss to the Sonics

Coming off an easy win over the Sacramento Kings two days earlier, the Chicago Bulls continued their “Last Dance” campaign with a matchup against the Seattle Supersonics on November 25, 1997.

The Sonics came out hot and had an 11-point lead after the first quarter behind 10 points from Chicago native Hersey Hawkins, who made four of six shots in the frame but didn’t score another point over the final 36 minutes.

The Bulls trailed by nine at the half but outscored Seattle by a dozen in the third quarter as Toni Kukoc scored 12 of his game-high 30 points in the frame. The game stayed tight throughout the fourth quarter, and with three seconds remaining, Vin Baker hit a jumper from the right wing to give the Sonics a 91-90 lead.

As Kukoc had the hot hand all night, making 11 of his 16 shots up to that point, he was given the opportunity to win the game for the Bulls instead of Michael Jordan, who connected on 11 of 25 attempts for 26 points. But Kukoc took a tough fadeaway three-pointer as time expired, which came nowhere close to the rim to give the Sonics the one-point win. And speaking of nowhere close, Jordan had zero involvement whatsoever in the final shot, which was interesting.

Gary Payton led the way for Seattle with 22 points and 12 assists. Obviously including his game-winner, Baker added 19 points and 12 boards, while Detlef Schrempf kicked in 17 points and nine rebounds.

Outside of Kukoc and Jordan, Randy Brown was the only other Bull in double figures, scoring a dozen points off the bench.

Here’s a look at the NBA standings following all the action on November 25, 1997.

Up next for the “Last Dance” Bulls was a matchup with Larry Bird’s Indiana Pacers in an Eastern Conference Finals preview.

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