CHICAGO -- For all his thrilling moves and spectacular jams, Michael Jordan brought the Chicago Bulls to their highest point in his reign with free-throw shooting.
The superstar guard hit a pair of free throws with four seconds left, capping a 40-point performance, to lead the Bulls over New York 113-111 Friday night, eliminating the Knicks from the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals in six games.
The Bulls now face the Pistons in the best-of-seven conference final starting Sunday at Detroit. The Bulls have not been to a conference final since 1975, when Dick Motta was their coach.
'Everyone in Chicago should be elated with what we've done, especially after we weren't supposed to get this far,' said Jordan, who hit 8 of 8 free throws in the final 1:18 to hold off a feisty New York comeback.
The game, which featured two scuffles, two ejections and 26 3-point attempts, came down to a shot from just outside the arc by Johnny Newman at the buzzer that bounced off the back of the rim.
'It would have been a Cinderella ending if Johnny had made it,' said Knicks coach Rick Pitino.
'Both teams were great from 3-point range. It was a great, great basketball game. It's just too bad one team had to lose.'
The Bulls fired in a club-record eight 3-pointers, including four from Scottie Pippen, three from Craig Hodges and one from Jordan.
The Knicks hit seven bombs, the most important one coming from Trent Tucker with six seconds left. Tucker was fouled by Hodges and hit the free throw to tie the score 111-111.
'I thought that would take the air out of them,' said Knicks guard Mark Jackson, who finished with 22 points and 12 assists. 'I thought the basketball game would be ours because of that. Just one stopper and we'd be going home.'
The Knicks, who finished first in the Atlantic Division with a 52-30 record, are going home with their ninth straight loss at Chicago Stadium, dating back to March 1987.
After Tucker converted his 4-point play, the Bulls called timeout. Chicago inbounded at midcourt and found Jordan on the right wing. He drove to the lane and was fouled as he put up a fadeaway jumper that fell short. He made the decisive shots to put the Knicks away.
'I had great concentration throughout the game and good rhythm on my free throws,' Jordan said. 'I had the confidence that I was lacking in (the previous series against) Cleveland at the line, and I was trying to get fouled rather than hit the shot.'
Patrick Ewing and Gerald Wilkins also finished with 22 points for New York. Ewing also had a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Bulls, however, got another big game from center Bill Cartwright, Ewing's former backup in New York, who had 16 points on 7 of 10 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds.
'I'm ecstatic for everybody in the organization, but there are two people that stand out more than anybody else,' said Chicago Coach Doug Collins. 'That's the guy on my right, Michael Jordan, who is the greatest basketball player to put on sneakers, and Bill Cartwright, who has been maligned all year long. And how sweet it is to knock out your old team.'
The Bulls also received a big game from Hodges, who scored 7 points in the previous two games combined but finished with 15 Friday. Pippen had 19 before being ejected for exchanging punches with New York reserve Kenny Walker near the end of the third quarter.
Both teams were bombing from long range in the first half, after which the Knicks led 61-59.
The third quarter started the same way, with Hodges hitting a 3-pointer to kick off an 11-3 spurt as Chicago went back in front 70-64. The Bulls then took their largest lead at 86-76 with 1:39 left in the quarter on a breakway layup by Hodges. The quarter ended with Chicago ahead 86-79.
The Knicks finally caught the Bulls at 101-101 with 1:59 left to play on a pair of Ewing free throws to cap a 7-0 run.
Chicago, which set a club playoff record with five 3-pointers in Game 1 of the series, had five in the first half alone Friday. The Knicks also had five in the opening two quarters.
