Normally, a buzzer-beating game-winner in the midst of a contentious playoff series is cause for unbridled celebration. But after Toni Kukoc hit a turnaround 22-footer to snatch Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference semifinals from the jaws of collapse, the air in the Bulls’ postgame locker room was thick with tension.
That had less to do with the shot as it did with the events that transpired moments before it. Knotted at 102 with 1.8 seconds to play, coach Phil Jackson drew the winning play up for Kukoc instead of Scottie Pippen — a slight in the eyes of the latter.