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Ehlo looks to playoffs for a reunion of Jordan's great foes

Listen closely to one of Nike's latest commercials. Spike Lee is reciting to youngsters the history of Michael Jordan and mentions Craig Ehlo.

Ehlo sure knows the commercial.

"I got $2,500 from them for using my name," he says proudly.

Unless you have been lost in an Amazon jungle the past 16 years, you know Ehlo forever is linked to Jordan. In the deciding game of a best-of-five, first-round series in the 1989 playoffs, Jordan made one of his most famous shots, a jumper at the buzzer from just beyond the free-throw line that gave the Chicago Bulls a 101-100 win against Ehlo's Cleveland Cavaliers.

Competition for Jordan's most famous shot comes from one he made over a falling Bryon Russell, then with the Utah Jazz, in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. That shot, from a similar spot on the court, gave the Bulls an 87-86 lead with 5.2 seconds to play, and they held on for their sixth title.

Ehlo, now a Seattle SuperSonics television analyst, had a decent NBA career, averaging 8.6 points from 1982-83 to 1996-97. But all anybody remembers him for is Jordan's shot.

Ehlo says strangers bring it up five or six times a week. Once, while on a trip to Japan, a group of Japanese who did not speak English were talking to him and the only thing Ehlo understood was "Michael Jordan."

Ehlo has not spoken with Russell about the position they share in NBA lore, but he would like that opportunity. It could happen if the SuperSonics face the Denver Nuggets, Russell's current team, in the playoffs.

But Ehlo might not get a receptive audience. Though he embraces his place in history and will talk with anybody about what happened May 7, 1989, Russell is the opposite. He wants to forget June 14, 1998.

"I don't look back on it," he said. "I don't bring it up. You all (the media) bring it up more than I do. So it doesn't matter to me. It happened by the greatest player to play the game."

LAKERS: Kobe Bryant spent a third consecutive day away from the team because his wife suffered complications from an ectopic pregnancy this week. Team spokesman John Black said there was no update regarding Bryant's availability and general manager Mitch Kupchak did not return a message. The Lakers said Bryant will remain with his wife for the "foreseeable future."

BUCKS: Point guard T.J. Ford shot baskets with his doctor's permission for the first time since bruising his spinal cord almost 14 months ago. He was injured on Feb. 24, 2004, when he landed on his tailbone during a game, the third time that he had temporarily lost feeling in his extremities on the basketball court.

ROCKETS: Point guard Moochie Norris was activated and forward Vin Baker was placed on the injured list because of heart palpitations. Norris had been on the injured list since March 11 with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.

Information from other news organizations contributed to this report.