Like any good film that made an impression, the temptation was great to make a sequel. As a good director and actor, specialist in special effects and spectacular actions, Michael Jordan offered us “The Shot II” after his legendary “The Shot” of 1989.
In 1993, he uses the same victims and the same room for this second part. On May 17, 1993, the back of the Bulls still assassinated the Cavaliers at the buzzer and eliminated them in the playoffs, at the conference semi-final stage.
Except that the sequel is less striking than the first film. For several reasons. The first is that there was a tie at the time of his shot (101-101), and Michael Jordan therefore had less pressure than in 1989 when Chicago was led. In addition, this shoot concludes the series with a “sweep”. Cleveland was trailing 3-0, while four years earlier, we played the deciding game of the series. Finally, Michael Jordan is no longer this young MVP with long teeth. He is the assumed best player in the world and the Bulls have dominated the league for two seasons.
Michael Jordan’s shot remains a buzzer shot in the playoffs, to conclude one more series, but clearly, it does not have the same impact, nor the same force as its predecessor.
“The 1989 shoot was more difficult, because if I missed it, we lost the match”, does he remember. “There, we would have been in overtime. So the pressure was not the same. The result if. »
Embarrassed by his right wrist, Michael Jordan will finish with 31 points at 11/24 to shoot. And this time, it was not Craig Ehlo who was in charge of defending him, but Gerald Wilkins. In vain. “He knew he was going to come back and he ended our season. He’s in charge”concedes the victim of Air Jordan.
Especially in Cleveland.
