During the off-season, the Bulls acquired Scott Burrell from the Golden State Warriors,[2][3][4] and signed free agent Joe Kleine.
[5] However, All-Star forward Scottie Pippen would miss the first half of the season due to an injured toe on his left foot sustained from the 1997 NBA Playoffs.
Also in early March, the team re-signed former Bulls reserve forward Dickey Simpkins, who was previously released by the Warriors, and played in the final 21 games of the regular season.
[61][62][63][64][65] Following the season, Jackson resigned as head coach after nine seasons with the Bulls,[66][67][68][69] while Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets,[70][71][72][73][74] Rodman left for the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent,[75][76][77][78] Longley was dealt to the Phoenix Suns,[74][79][80] Kerr was traded to the San Antonio Spurs,[81][74][82][83] Burrell signed with the New Jersey Nets,[84] Jud Buechler signed with the Detroit Pistons,[85] and Kleine re-signed with the Suns, his former team.
Roster Last transaction: March 2, 1998 Player Statistics Citation:[53] Legend: OT denotes a game decided in overtime Bulls win series 4-2 This was the first time in the 1990s that the same two teams played each other in two consecutive finals.
The Bulls would tie the series in game 2 putting together a fourth quarter run to silence the Delta Center and holding on to win 93–88, finally securing their first victory against Utah all season.
But any notions of a championship at the United Center would be snuffed out when, with 0.8 seconds on the game, Michael Jordan airballed an off-balance 3 to the right of the basket giving the Jazz a narrow 83–81 win.
The Jazz suffered a bad break when the referees incorrectly nullified a Howard Eisley three-pointer that, replays showed, was clearly released just before the 24-second clock expired.
Then things got worse for Chicago when John Stockton hit a clutch 3 with 41.9 seconds left to give Utah an 86–83 lead as the Delta Center crowd roared happily.
Jordan drove inside the 3-point line, executed a quick cross-over, and drilled a 20-ft. jump shot to give the Bulls an 87–86 lead with 5.2 seconds left.