Poor Craig Ehlo Never Deserved This

The Shot got its moment in last night's installment of The Last Dance. As it should have. The image of a double-clutching Michael Jordan sinking a do-or-die jumper over Craig Ehlo is one of the more indelible moments of his career. These winner-take-all scenes are the very reason why we love sports: an unpredictable butterfly effect is always forming in real time.

Jordan's Bulls would go on to lose to the Pistons. And he would have reached the top of the basketball mountain even had he missed. So the biggest impact the bucket had was on Ehlo, a name people almost singularly remember for being the vanquished foe in this clip.

And though no one ever said life was fair, it's particularly cruel just how completely Jordan's shot wiped away Ehlo's accomplishments in that game. Few people realize the guard came off the bench to lead Cleveland with 24 points in 27 minutes. History seems to have largely forgotten that is what Ehlo who put his team up a point with a driving layup on the penultimate possession of the game.

Look, history is written by the winners. It's just that it was a little confounding to see Ron Harper throw fuel on the fire last night.

Even if Harper was correct and should have been given the defensive assignment, it's always weird to me that Ehlo has been seen as a failure here. Yes, the results are what they are, but Ehlo forced arguably the greatest player of all-time into an unorthodox, uncomfortable shot. And he did so with an injured leg.

There is a reason Jordan is Jordan.

If you had asked the Cavaliers in the huddle before the play if they'd settle for MJ taking this type of look, they probably would have signed off. It didn't make the most sense for Ehlo to be on Jordan but he did an admirable job.

It's a bizarre twist of fate that the conquered became almost equal to the conquerer in memory.  A very bad beat.