TBT

It’s June 14th, 1998. The Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz are playing Game 6 of the NBA Finals series at the famous Delta Center in Utah. The Bulls are leading 3-2 in the Finals and want to return home with another Larry O’Brien trophy. 

They were close to winning Game 5 against the Jazz, but Michael Jordan missed the 3-pointer at the buzzer, and the Bulls lost 83-81 against the Jazz in front of their home fans. The Bulls look to avenge that loss tonight by beating the Utah Jazz in their hometown.

Regarding the best players from both teams, the Bulls are led by MJ and Pippen, while Stockton and Malone lead the Jazz. MJ is the best scorer on his team, scoring over 30 PPG in the series, while Malone has averaged nearly 25 PPG so far. 

The referee sends the ball into the air, and Game 6 begins. Things weren’t looking good from the start for the Bulls since Pippen already had an injured back before the game, and he aggravated it further after he dunked the ball at the beginning of the quarter. The Jazz take the 1st quarter 25-22. The second quarter also goes to the Jazz, 24-23. The Bulls rely entirely on Jordan, who scored 23 points so far. The Jazz take the 3rd quarter as well, 17-16. 

The fourth quarter starts and the Bulls are looking much better. With one minute to go, MJ ties the game at 83-83 with two free throws. The Jazz answer back with a 3-pointer from Stockton and lead 86-83. Soon after, Jordan makes the layup, and the Bulls are trailing with only one point. The Jazz have the ball in their hands, but Jordan steals it and dribbles down the court. 

Utah’s great defender, Russell, is guarding MJ. Michael dribbles to the right with only 10 seconds on the clock but quickly crosses to the left and scores from 20 feet. With only 5.2 seconds left, the Bulls lead 87-86. A timeout is called. 

 

After the timeout, Stockton goes for the game-winning 3-pointer but misses it, and the Chicago Bulls win the 2nd three-peat in the ’90s. Jordan scored a phenomenal 45 points and cemented his legacy as the best ever with this game-winning shot.

Read Next: Last Week’s TBT Edition

Featured image taken from YouTube.

It’s June 22nd, 1986. Argentina and England are playing in the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals at the Estadio Azteca stadium in Mexico City. Argentina narrowly beat Uruguay 1-0 in the Round of 16, while England destroyed Paraguay 3-0. Both national teams have lifted the FIFA World Cup trophy and are favorites to win it this year. Regarding the best players of the two teams, Argentina has the legendary Diego Maradona, while England has the superb striker Gary Lineker. 

Referee Ali Bennaceur blows the whistle, and the match starts. The first half finishes goalless. The second half of the game is underway, and the Argentinians are playing better football compared to the first half. 

In the 51st minute, Maradona takes the ball just outside the box, dribbles past a couple of English players, and passes the ball to his teammate Jorge Valdano. Then Valdano tries to pass the ball to Maradona, but midfielder Steve Hodge intercepts it and kicks it high toward his goal. In the meantime, Maradona sneaks into the box and jumps towards the ball. England’s goalkeeper, Peter Shilton, also jumps into the air. In a blink of an eye, the ball was in the goal. Maradona scores. But not with his head, but with his fist, which he held close to his head. 

Referee Bennaceur gave the goal to Argentina despite the protests from the English players. Even the linesman confirmed that it was a clear goal. The whole stadium was in awe. 

Then, just 4 minutes later, Maradona scored another beautiful goal when he took the ball from his half of the field, dribbled past almost half of the English team, and put the ball into the net. Argentina advanced to the semi-final with a 2-1 victory over England. 

The goal was later named “The Hand of God”. Diego Maradona and The Hand of God infamous goal still remain one of, if not the most controversial goals in football history.

Read Next: Last Week’s TBT Edition

Featured image taken from YouTube.

It’s October 1st, 1975. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier are fighting for the world’s heavyweight championship. These two legendary heavyweight boxers look to settle their trilogy in the Philippine Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines. Frazier beat Ali on points in their first fight in 1971, ending Ali’s streak of 31 consecutive wins. Nevertheless, Ali got his revenge in the second fight in 1974, when he beat Frazier unanimously on points after 12 rounds.  

As the referee announces these two legendary heavyweight boxers, the crowd is on its feet and eager to witness the most anticipated match of the year. 

The bell rang, and the match began. Ali is in the white trunks, while Frazier is in the blue trunks. 

Round 1 ends in Ali’s favor since he dominated Frazier with his jab and even wobbled him once. Ali also wins the second round thanks to his lightning-fast jabs. In Round 3, Ali wobbles Frazier twice, and it looks like this will be another win in the column for Muhammad. 

However, in the 4th round, Frazier looks far better than his opponent, successfully avoiding Ali’s punches. In Round 5, Joe’s defense improves even more, and he manages to land a couple of hard left hooks on Ali. Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy of avoiding punches didn’t work so far. 

In the sixth round, Frazier continues to pummel Ali with thunderous hooks, but Ali somehow succeeds in withstanding those strong punches. In the seventh round, Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy of avoiding punches works for over half of the round, but Frazier eventually starts to land punches. Frazier also won rounds 8, 9, and 10. Ali looks tired and beaten.

Then, in the 11th round, a momentum shift begins. Ali is landing power shots on Frazier, whose face started to swell. Frazier even said to his cornermen that he couldn’t see through his right eye. Round 12 also goes into Ali’s favor. Before the beginning of the 13th round, Frazier’s eye looked pretty bad from the swelling. In the 13th round, Ali landed two ferocious right hands and the gum shield from Frazier’s mouth fell on the floor. “Smokin’ Joe” was obliterated. In Round 14, Ali lands dozens of hard punches on Frazier’s head. 

After the end of Round 14, Frazier’s coach, Eddie Futch, decides to stop the fight since Frazier looks horrible. The bout has ended, and Ali defends his heavyweight title. All three judges had Ali ahead on the scorecards.

Five decades after the clash between two boxing heavyweight titans, the “Thrilla in Manila” is still one of the most well-known fights in history. 

Read Next: Last Week’s TBT Edition

Featured image taken from YouTube.