Michael Jordan's Push-Off in 1998 Finals: Bryon Russell's Honest Assessment

Michael Jordan's iconic game-winning shot over Bryon Russell in the 1998 NBA Finals remains one of the most replayed and debated moments in basketball history.

What happened?

The question that continues to divide fans is what happened just before Jordan rose for that jumper. Russell has heard the arguments countless times and has never shied away from sharing his perspective and honest assessment of the controversial sequence.

*"He pushed me: obviously,"* Russell said in 2014 via The Salt Lake Tribune. *"But they wouldn't have called it because it was all about Jordan back then. I told someone else today, one guy stood between us and two rings. It wasn't a team. It was one guy. … He did what the greatest player was supposed to do."*

Why it matters for Michael Jordan

The debate over Jordan's game-winning shot in Game 6 of the '98 Finals will likely never disappear, and neither will the questions directed at Russell. Yet Russell doesn't see it as a burden, but rather as a defining moment in his career.

*"People never stop asking about it, and they never will,"* he said. *"It doesn't offend me because it happened against the best player to ever play the game."*

Why Russell turned down The Last Dance

When ESPN released The Last Dance in 2020, it unsurprisingly reignited debates surrounding Jordan's final championship run with the Bulls. Many expected Russell to appear in the documentary and present his side of the famous play, but he chose not to. If Russell has already moved on from it, why would he refuse to be in a Jordan documentary? Apparently, he did not want to challenge Michael's version of events.

*"I said no,"* Russell said with a laugh in a press conference in Utah in 2024. *"I didn't want to bust his bubble. It's his documentary, his story to tell. So, let him tell the story."*

What comes next?

The debate over Jordan's game-winning shot in Game 6 of the '98 Finals will likely never disappear, and neither will the questions directed at Russell. Yet Russell has long accepted that it has simply become part of his identity as a player.

*"We've been somewhere that a whole lot of teams haven't been, and it was so electrifying,"* he added. *"The Finals, both years back to back. It was unbelievable."*

The 1998 NBA Finals were a defining moment in basketball history, and Michael Jordan's game-winning shot over Bryon Russell remains one of the most iconic plays of all time.

category: player_focus