It's been 34 years since Michael Jordan hit 'The Shot' over the Cleveland Cavaliers
It was 34 years ago this week - May 7, 1989, specifically - that Michael Jordan’s path to immortality began in the opening round of the NBA playoffs.
That’s nothing a Cleveland Cavaliers fan wants to hear considering it started by Jordan stepping on the Cavs’ metaphorical neck on the way by winning the best-of-five series.
The 1988-89 Cavs were likely one of the best in the team’s history. With a roster that included team legends Mark Price, Larry Nance and Brad Daugherty as well as Ron Harper, the Lenny Wilkens-coached team earned a 57-25 record and was the consensus pick to win the NBA championship or at least finally get to the NBA Finals.
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Oops. Jordan had other ideas and in one of the most infamous moments in Northeast Ohio sports history, Jordan, covered by Craig Ehlo, hit the game- and series-winning shot as time expired. His arm pumping triumphantly remains seared in the minds of many sports fans in this area to this day.
What was popular in 1989 when Michael Jordan hit 'The shot' against the Cavs?
Just how indelible was that moment? The following pop culture tidbits have been cast off into the history's garbage can. Folks still remember who they were with, what they were doing and where they were (I was watching in my dorm room at Ohio State) when Jordan plunged a dagger into the collective heart of Northeast Ohio sports fans:
The No. 1 movie was that cinematic classic “Pet Sematary.”
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The No. 1 song was “Like a Prayer” by Madonna, who coincidentally is touring this year and stopping in Cleveland.
The No. 1 TV show was “The Cosby Show.” My, how times have changed.
The best-selling book on the New York Times non-fiction list was Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.”
Cavs center Brad Daugherty, fans react to 'The Shot'
A Beacon Journal article described the reaction as stunned silence at the Richfield Coliseum after the shot fell.
“My God, I can’t believe it,” said George Martin of Cleveland in one article. “What an ugly way to lose.
“I was kind of hoping it would be raining out there. That would have been the perfect cap to a terrible day,” he said.
Imagine how the Cavs felt.
“This game was really hard to take,” Daugherty, the Cavs center said. “We knew what they were going to do. We knew they were going to swarm around our big men and we knew to get the ball out to our guards for 3-pointers.
“And the thing was, our guards were hitting the shots, 3-pointers, everything. At the end of the game, we needed a great out-of-bounds play to win and we got it. I’m telling you we had the perfect game plan and then the guy goes and makes a shot like that.”
Well, Jordan became known for making shots like that.
The Bulls made the conference finals that year, but lost to the Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s Bad Boys, who swept the Lakers on the way to a championship.
As for the Cavs, it would take a kid from Akron to finally lead them to championship glory in 2016 with a miraculous comeback, overcoming a 3-1 deficit to beat the Golden State Warriors.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: 'The Shot' by Michael Jordan leaves mark for Cavs fans 34 years later
