‘Win or go home’ situations are a rarity to the 1990s Chicago Bulls. Their six championship series wins never went the full distance, and under Michael Jordan, they only went to two Game 7s from 1991-1998.

One of the two was the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals against the resilient Indiana Pacers. It was arguably the best Pacers team throughout the franchise’s strong run in the mid and late 1990s, and the Bulls simply couldn’t shrug them off. Indy rose from a 0-2 deficit and were able to outlast a clutch and playoff-tested Bulls squad three times.

With that, the build-up for Game 7 had a legit vibe that the Pacers were capable of pulling off the upset. The team recognized that so Bulls head coach Phil Jackson gathered his men to calm their nerves… until Jordan cut it off with his cutthroat competitive spirit.

Current Golden State Warriors coach and then-Bulls guard Steve Kerr was in that locker room, and he shared how it went down on Zach Lowe’s ‘The Lowe Post’ podcast.

“I remember the day before the game we had our walkthrough, our practice, and I remember Phil called us in, and in typical Phil fashion, he’s trying to get our minds right. He said, ‘You know, the important thing in a game like this is to not fear losing. You embrace the idea that you could lose. It’s OK, you face that.’ And so he was kind of getting into the psychological spirit of how to approach the game.”

“But before he could even really get started, Michael just said, ‘No, f*** that, Phil, we’re not losing.’ And then we all put our hands in the middle, said ‘1-2-3, Bulls!’ Everybody went home, and then we showed up at the arena the next day.”

Despite only shooting 38.2% and allowing the Pacers to shoot 48.2%, the Bulls ultimately answered the call and went on to survive the scare, 88-83.

Jordan didn’t have a good day from the field (9-for-25) and at the free throw line (10-for-15), but was still able to register a game-high 28 points along with nine rebounds and eight assists. Scottie Pippen had a double-double of 17 points and 12 boards but also struggled with his shots (6-for-18).

Toni Kukoc was the key scorer that made up for Jordan’s off-night. The Croatian Sensation chipped in 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting – his second-highest playoff output that season. As for Kerr, he played his role well. His sharpshooting ways resulted in three three-pointers across 18 minutes of play.

We should be able to get much deeper look into this intense postseason battle on the Bulls’ ongoing documentary ‘The Last Dance.’ Two new episodes will air in each of the next four weeks, so don’t miss out!