"I think if we go to Game 7, I think we win" - Greg Ostertag believes bad officiating cost the Jazz their shot at beating the Bulls

“I think if we go to Game 7, I think we win” – Greg Ostertag believes bad officiating cost the Jazz their shot at beating the Bulls originally appeared on Basketball Network.

Greg Ostertag didn’t mind losing to the Chicago Bulls twice on the NBA’s biggest stage, but he couldn’t help but play the “What if” game. For the former Utah Jazz center, they could have made it much more difficult for the eventual champs if Dick Bavetta and the officials had gotten some calls right in Game 6 of the 1998 finals.

“You can look back on things that happened and during that game with the takeaway from the wave-off 3 that the next day, some of you remember, the next day in the paper there was the picture of the 0.1 on the clock and the ball in the air,” Ostertag said, per Joe Coles of the Deseret News. “Dick Bavetta cheated us out of that one. Then later they gave them a 3 that was after the buzzer. I mean, I’m not taking nothing away from the Bulls, they were fantastic teams.”

Officals made mistake

Bavetta was an institution in the sport. In 39 years, he officiated 2,635 regular-season games, not to mention hundreds of postseason battles. However, he was still human, prone to mistakes every now and then. It just so happened that the Jazz got the short end of the stick and that the replay rules today were not yet in effect.

The play in question was Howard Eisley’s three-pointer with just under 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter. It was off a broken play when Antoine Carr‘s pass out of the double team slipped in Shandon Anderson’s hands. Eisley picked up the loose ball and heaved a three-pointer from the top of the key with the shot clock winding down.

The ball swished through the net, but Bavetta blew his whistle. The veteran official waved it off, to the dismay of Eisley and head coach Jerry Sloan, who thought his backup point guard got it up in time.

They were absolutely right. As Ostertag noted, the broadcast replay showed the ball was already in the air when the clock still read one second. That sequence happened early in the game, but three points would have been huge in a game decided with the smallest of margins, 87-86, in the Bulls’ favor.

Five-point swing

Ostertag mentioned the second play, the Harper bucket, that the refs counted, even though the replay showed the shot clock was already over. It wasn’t a 3-pointer, as Greg said, but a crucial basket nonetheless. Harper’s shot happened under the four-minute mark of the fourth, forcing a deadlock at 79 apiece.

Playing devil’s advocate, Utah could have held a five-point lead at that point if Eisley’s three had counted and Harper’s basket had been waived off. On the next trip, Toni Kukoc sent Bryon Russell to the line, which could have stretched the lead to seven. Of course, the exact same sequence can’t be assumed, but in a tight game and series, every point mattered.

“If a ball bounces the right way in one of those games. I think if we go to Game 7, I think we win,” Ostertag confidently stated.

Every losing squad would say the same thing, but Greg’s belief was not unfounded. If the Jazz won Game 6, they would have a solid chance to dethrone the Bulls. At that point Michael Jordan’s legs were shot, and Scottie Pippen was in danger of missing Game 7 with a back injury.

Unfortunately, Eisley’s waived-off three, Harper’s conversion that shouldn’t have been counted and MJ’s cold-blooded jumper over Russell all happened to swing the game in Chicago’s favor. Game 6 will always sting for Utah, not because they lost, but because they know how close they were.

This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 1, 2025, where it first appeared.

“I think if we go to Game 7, I think we win” – Greg Ostertag believes bad officiating cost the Jazz their shot at beating the Bulls

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