When Michael came back, and Jud and I were driving down to the game, and I said, Jud, you know, 'does Phil start Michael? I mean, he hasn't been here for, you know, 60 games, 65 games'. And Jud looked at me and he said,Steve, as a general rule, when you have your own statue outside the stadium, you don't come off the bench.

There'll be other great players, no question about that. But what he's done for the game. I don't think anybody will touch his greatness and that's why everybody's holding on here in the finish to just be a part of，if this is the last run, everybody wants to be a part of it and witness it.

The Bulls had gone to the finals five times, and five times they had won. The fact that this might be Michael's last chance, made these finals the most anticipated ever.

The Jazz had earned the home court advantage on the strength of their regular season. And now, the world tuned in, to see if Michael could beat the odds and win one last time.Right here. Right now.

Michael circles, spins, hangs, fires, scores!

In game one, the Bulls took the Jazz into overtime. But in the end, fresher legs prevailed.

The previous year, although Utah had lost, they had proven to themselves that they could play with the Bulls. And then they win game one. I thought Utah was going to be the NBA champions.

When everybody in some ways didn't expect me to win, and the odds are just stacked against you. And for once in your life, you are the underdog. You know, that was beautiful for me.

When he needed it most, Michael didn't find comfort in the championship banners he helped raise. But rather strength from the seven years of defeat that came before.