MICHAEL JORDAN did what he does best on Sunday, nailing a last gasp jump shot to seal an 84-82 Chicago victory and end Utah's hopes of an upset in game one of the National Basketball Association finals.

Jordan's parting shot over a helpless Bryon Russell broke an 82-82 tie.

The lead had changed hands six times in the final three and a half minutes here as Jordan, playing in the championship series for the first time, took the four time champion Bulls to the brink.

Jordan had tied the score less than a minute earlier when he sank one of two free throws.

Then Chicago's Dennis Rodman fouled Karl Malone in a scramble for a rebound to send Malone, the man who beat Jordan for the NBA Most Valuable Player honour, to the free throw line.

Malone, whose overall consistency has earned him the nick name "The Mailman", missed both free throws with less than 10 seconds remaining.

"I told him, `The Mailman doesn't deliver on Sunday,'" quipped Chicago's Scottie Pippen.

Jordan, no stranger to lategame heroics, said the championship opener could easily have gone the other way. Even he seemed bemused by the confidence placed in him by his teammates, opponents and fans.

"I can't really fathom the idea - that everybody watching the game, on TV and even in the building, knows that you are going to get the ball, knows you are going to take the shot. And yet you are able to come through in that situation," he said. "It is an unbelievable feeling."

Jordan scored 19 of his 31 points in the second half. Pippen, who has been nursing a sore left foot, was tentative in the first half, but came on strong in the second to finish with 27.

Bulls coach Phil Jackson said he never assumed that Jordan would make the final shot, but he was the obvious man to take it.

Pippen made an inbound pass to Toni Kukoc with just over seven seconds to play. Kukoc gave the ball to Jordan, who hovered at the three point line, looking for a double team that never came. He dribbled free of Russell and sank the shot.