Sports
Why Kevin Durant's game-winning shot sparked memories of Jordan for the '89 Bulls
PHOENIX — The comparison surfaced not long after Kevin Durant finished off the Chicago Bulls on Monday. In the final seconds, the Phoenix Suns forward buried a double-pump, did-he-just-do-that jumper to give the Suns a 115-113 win.
WATCHING ON REPLAY ALL NIGHT LONG! pic.twitter.com/EEw60HC8Uf
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) January 23, 2024
If you thought Durant’s incredible shot resembled Michael Jordan’s iconic double-pump jumper to eliminate the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 of the first round of the 1989 playoffs, you’re not alone. A couple of the Bulls from that very team agree.
An analyst for NBC Sports Chicago, Will Perdue watched Monday night’s game from a studio in Chicago. As soon as he saw Durant’s shot drop, he immediately recognized the significance.
“That was a double-pump!” said Perdue, who was in his rookie season out of Vanderbilt with the Bulls during the 1989 playoffs. “That’s the same thing Jordan did against (Craig) Ehlo in ’89. I was there!”
Those around him weren’t convinced.
“Watch it again,” Perdue said.
Obviously, the circumstances were different. Chicago’s win in 1989 came in a first-round elimination game, win or go home. Phoenix’s game Monday night unfolded during the middle of the season. And unlike the 1989 game, when Chicago trailed Cleveland 100-99 when Jordan got the ball, this game was tied when Suns guard Grayson Allen prepared to inbound with 6.3 seconds left.
But like 1989, everybody in the building knew where the ball was going. In 1989, it was Jordan. On Monday at Footprint Center, it was Durant. Jordan had to double-pump to keep Ehlo from blocking it. Durant had to do so to keep streaking Alex Caruso from deflecting it from behind.
Phoenix’s inbounds pass went to big man Jusuf Nurkic, who dished back to Durant. Chicago’s went directly to Jordan. Durant took one left-handed dribble. Jordan took two.
Durant double-pumped and shot from 17 — good.
Jordan double-pumped and shot from 17 — good.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Perdue said he remembered Jordan’s shot like it was yesterday. In 1989, he was stuck behind Bill Cartwright and Dave Corzine in the Bulls’ rotation. The play had unfolded on the far end of the court, away from the Chicago bench. Perdue stood on the baseline in Cleveland’s Richfield Coliseum. He saw Jordan jump. He saw him double-pump.
On Monday, he saw Durant do the same, changing his shot mid-air because Durant saw Caruso coming from behind.
“Caruso almost blocked it — and there’s a defender in the front?” Perdue said. “That’s one of those things, it’s almost like spidey sense. He’s got a third eye. Or an eye in the back of his head or something. … The perfect timing of the pump and then to take it back up, after Caruso had swung through to go up and shoot it. And if you notice, it was so pure the net barely moved.”
How hard is it to make such a shot?
“Basically, like taking a car that’s going 100 mph, jam on the brakes, throw it in reverse and go the opposite direction,” Perdue said. “And then still jam it back in first gear and go back the way you’re going. To try to be able to stop all that inertia in order to do that, on a scale of 1 to 10, it’s 12.”
The similarities don’t end with Durant’s final shot. In fact, his performance Monday night pretty much mirrored Jordan’s from 1989. Check this out:
In the first half …
Durant was 4 of 13 from the field.
Jordan was 5 of 13.
In the second half …
Durant scored 30 points.
Jordan scored 30 points.
In the fourth quarter …
Durant scored 17 points.
Jordan scored 17 points.
For the game …
Durant finished 16 of 32 for 43 points.
Jordan finished 17 of 32 for 44.
In 1989, Sam Vincent was a reserve guard for the Bulls. In the Game 5 win over the Cavs, he played eight minutes, collecting two points and two assists. He was on the bench when Jordan broke Cleveland’s heart.
“We realized how big the moment was in terms of the win and advancing in the playoffs, but we didn’t realize the history that would be created around ‘The Shot,’” Vincent said. “A very impactful shot. An amazing shot. One of many for Michael. But it had significant importance for how the Bulls kind of grew up from there.”
Vincent missed Durant’s shot. As men’s basketball coach at Beacon College in Leesburg, Fla., he was watching film Monday night, preparing for Friday’s game against Keep Striving Prep. But after The Athletic sent him the video, Vincent agreed to take a look.
His reaction: Oh, wow.
“After looking at it a couple times,” Vincent said, “I did see the incredible, uncanny comparison to that shot Michael took in Cleveland.”
“What Kevin Durant did tonight, that was special.”
– Head Coach Frank Vogel🎥 Relive KD’s game-winner from all angles. pic.twitter.com/ckmqI30c6U
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) January 23, 2024
Vincent said both players used their unique skills to their advantage. For Jordan, it was his ability to hang. (“I don’t see how he stayed in the air that long,” stunned Cleveland center Brad Daugherty had said after the 1989 game.) For Durant, it was his length.
“I don’t think it’s a shot that you practice, but I think a shot that you do practice — which I know Michael practiced a lot and I’m sure I’ve seen footage of Kevin doing it as well — and that’s being able to take a hard penetration dribble to a spot and then really elevate,” Vincent said. “You practice that shot over and over and in a game, the defense closes out. But because you worked on that shot, it’s a little bit easier to maneuver the ball to be able to get that shot off.”
Durant, 35, has played well all season, but lately he’s taken his game to a higher level. The Western Conference Player of the Week, he had 40 points in a home win over Indiana. A night later, he torched the Bulls. On Wednesday, he had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists as Phoenix routed Dallas, 132-109. After a slow start, Phoenix (26-18) has won seven in a row. Suddenly, those preseason championship hopes do not look so unrealistic.
In his 17th season, Durant has played a leading role in the reversal.
“I hope that the Phoenix Suns fans truly understand what they’re witnessing,” Perdue said. “And this has nothing to do with age. This has to do with greatness.”
(Photo of Durant’s game-winner Monday against the Bulls: Garrett Ellwood / NBAE via Getty Images)
Sports
Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game
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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.
Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.
“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.
Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.
He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.
After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.
“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”
MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME
Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.
He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.
Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.
He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.
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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.
Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sports
Kings lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins
BOSTON — Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.
Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.
It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.
In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.
Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.
Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.
After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.
Sports
Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card
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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June.
But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract.
White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card.
Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City. ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))
“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”
White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it.
UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT
The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan.
On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter.
UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready.
“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”
Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.
Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote.
The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion.
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