Veteran Ref Speaks Out On Michael Jordan's 'Final Shot' Over Bryon Russell

Veteran Ref Speaks Out On Michael Jordan’s ‘Final Shot’ Over Bryon Russell

Sunday’s finale of “The Last Dance” featured Michael Jordan’s final shot as a member of the Chicago Bulls to cap off his sixth and final ring of his career.

As expected, the playing of the shot brought up the conversation of whether Russell was pushed and whether an offensive call should’ve been called in the dying seconds of Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz.

Veteran referee Danny Crawford, who was one of the game officials during that game, once addressed the non-call and perfectly summed it up while standing by his decision to call absolutely nothing on the play.

I spoke to referee Danny Crawford a few years about if MJ pushed off in ‘98 & he said you can’t blow a whistle on “what you thought you saw” in real time. “It wasn’t an egregious play where you thought, ‘Oh, no. You can’t do that.’ It was a tough play that could go either way.”
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) May 18, 2020

This below angle might be the best evidence that may or may not change your mind on the matter.

98 MJ: The Shot
?Is it possible to exert such a force in that position to propel BR that much when the R plant limb was just contacting ground?
?L hand clips back of BR’s leg attempting to receive crossover
*BR’s L leg slips attempting to recover @bballbreakdown pic.twitter.com/ax7939bC4Y
— BBiomechanics (@BBiomechanics) October 1, 2019