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by: Chris Maynard
([email protected])
([email protected])
After sweeping Pat Riley's new team, the Miami Heat, during the first round of the 1996 NBA Playoffs, the Chicago Bulls prepared to face Riley's old team, the hated New York Knicks, in the second round.
In its prior first-round series, the five-seeded Knicks had swept the four-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, which would have been a more preferable opponent for the Bulls. While Chicago was superior to both teams, the Bulls could guarantee that a series against the Knicks would be physical and chippy, with winning on the road at Madison Square Garden never easy.
At this point in the nineties, the Knicks and Bulls had developed the NBA's best rivalry, meeting four of the last five playoffs in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994. While Chicago had never lost to New York in the playoffs with Michael Jordan on the team, the Bulls had their three-year title reign ended by the Knicks in 1994 when a retired Jordan was off trying his hand at minor-league baseball.
While New York retained Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, Derek Harper, Anthony Mason and John Starks from that 1994 team that topped the Bulls and lost in seven games to the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals, this 95-96 Knicks' squad was not as potent but still dangerous, even with first-year Head Coach Jeff Van Gundy on the sidelines.
Replacing the fired Don Nelson midway through the 95-96 season, Van Gundy earned his first victory as New York's head man against none other than the Bulls during a Sunday, March 10, 1996 game on NBC. I remember watching this game as New York thoroughly whipped the Bulls from start to finish, winning 110 to 72. The game was so bad that my Dad and I threw in the towel early in the third quarter, choosing to go shopping for a suit for my eighth-grade Confirmation. Trust me, both of us did not have the patience to go shopping for clothes together, but that seemed to be the better alternative than continuing to watch the Bulls get dominated, a rare sight that season. For context, Chicago won three of four games against New York during the 1995-96 season.
In its prior first-round series, the five-seeded Knicks had swept the four-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, which would have been a more preferable opponent for the Bulls. While Chicago was superior to both teams, the Bulls could guarantee that a series against the Knicks would be physical and chippy, with winning on the road at Madison Square Garden never easy.
At this point in the nineties, the Knicks and Bulls had developed the NBA's best rivalry, meeting four of the last five playoffs in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994. While Chicago had never lost to New York in the playoffs with Michael Jordan on the team, the Bulls had their three-year title reign ended by the Knicks in 1994 when a retired Jordan was off trying his hand at minor-league baseball.
While New York retained Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, Derek Harper, Anthony Mason and John Starks from that 1994 team that topped the Bulls and lost in seven games to the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals, this 95-96 Knicks' squad was not as potent but still dangerous, even with first-year Head Coach Jeff Van Gundy on the sidelines.
Replacing the fired Don Nelson midway through the 95-96 season, Van Gundy earned his first victory as New York's head man against none other than the Bulls during a Sunday, March 10, 1996 game on NBC. I remember watching this game as New York thoroughly whipped the Bulls from start to finish, winning 110 to 72. The game was so bad that my Dad and I threw in the towel early in the third quarter, choosing to go shopping for a suit for my eighth-grade Confirmation. Trust me, both of us did not have the patience to go shopping for clothes together, but that seemed to be the better alternative than continuing to watch the Bulls get dominated, a rare sight that season. For context, Chicago won three of four games against New York during the 1995-96 season.
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With this game and the playoff history between the two teams in mind, I knew the Knicks would be a tough out for the Bulls in the 1996 postseason, though I was not as scared as I was during the 1993 and 1994 playoffs.
Make the jump to review the playoff rivalry between the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks during the 1990s.
Make the jump to review the playoff rivalry between the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks during the 1990s.
Jordan and the Bulls first met Ewing and the Knicks during the second round of the 1989 NBA Playoffs. The prior offseason, the two teams swung a trade that changed Chicago's trajectory as a mere playoff team to a potential championship contender. With second-year power forward Horace Grant in the fold, Bulls' GM Jerry Krause traded the popular Oakley to the Knicks for veteran center Bill Cartwright, the third overall pick of the 1979 NBA Draft. As Michael Jordan's protector and enforcer, Oakley was a very popular player in Chicago; thus, the trade was not met with much fanfare. Centers Cartwright and Ewing, drafted first overall in the 1985 NBA Draft, had been starting together with not too much success for three seasons so the trade seemed natural for both teams. Chicago would insert Grant for Oakley and have Cartwright replace the uninspiring Dave Corzine, a player I absolutely hated as a kid. In turn, Ewing could play center with a more natural power forward in Oakley.
In 1989, the Knicks seemed to be the beneficiary of the trade, earning the number two seed in the Eastern Conference while Chicago finished as the sixth seed. While New York swept the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, the Bulls stunned the favored three-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in five games, with Michael Jordan hitting his famous shot over Craig Ehlo. Using that momentum, Chicago beat New York at Madison Square Garden in Game One of the second round and eventually won in six games.
My recollections of this series are nonexistent, as I was in first grade at the time. I do remember Jordan's shot over Ehlo, though. I was attending a Communion party for my older cousin Dan in Deerfield, Illinois, where the Bulls actually practiced at a complex called the Berto Center. After the Communion, there was a brief party in the church. I remember hanging out with Dan and his older sister Amy and getting separated from our families amongst all these strangers. Young me freaked out and started crying, with Amy yelling at Dan, "Way to go. Look what you did." Eventually, we found our families and went back to Dan's house. For some reason, I found a spot on the crowded couch right as Ehlo made a layup to give the Cavs the lead. With the game seemingly over, Jordan caught an inbound pass, hung in the air, and hit the jumper over Ehlo to win the game and series. I will never forget the entire room of people jumping up and screaming in excitement. What a great memory!
After beating New York in 1989 but then losing to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals that and the next playoff, Chicago was a team on a mission heading into the 1991 postseason. Standing in Chicago's way was the Knicks in the first round. The one-seeded Bulls easily dismissed the eighth-seeded Knicks, sweeping in three games. New York would move on from Head Coach John MacLeod and hire Riley that offseason.
With the 1991 NBA Playoffs in mind, I figured the defending champion Bulls would have no problems with the Knicks during the second round the following season. However, young me would be mistaken as this was not the same New York of a season ago. In his first season as Head Coach of the Knicks, Riley had built a tough roster alongside Ewing, Oakley, Gerald Wilkins and Mark Jackson, including menacing small forward Xavier McDaniel (that guy scared the shit out of me as a child) and scrappy reserves John Starks and Anthony Mason. New York stunned the Bulls in Game One, winning at the old Chicago Stadium, and pushed Chicago to seven games. Riley seemed to adopt the physicality of the Detroit Pistons in trying to topple the Bulls, with Starks taking down Scottie Pippen at one point early in the series and McDaniel and Jordan going face-to-face in Game Seven. During Chicago's sixth championship seasons, only two teams, the 1992 Knicks and 1998 Indiana Pacers, pushed the Bulls to seven games in the playoffs.
After nearly knocking off the Bulls in 1992, the Knicks went all in with some moves I never understood as a kid. New York traded Jackson to the Los Angeles Clippers for point guard Doc Rivers and small forward Charles Smith. With Smith in the fold, Riley let McDaniel, the X-factor who gave the Bulls a lot of problems, go in free agency to the Boston Celtics. Still, the 1992-93 Knicks had the best record in the Eastern Conference while Chicago struggled a bit coming off two championship seasons and the 1992 Summer Olympics, in which Jordan and Pippen participated, finishing as the two seed.
After defeating Chicago three out of four times in the regular season, the Knicks jumped out and won the first two games against the Bulls in the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals. Thinking that a chance at a three-peat was over, dejected me was never happier as the Bulls won four straight games, including a classic Game Five at Madison Square Garden, to topple the Knicks and advance to the NBA Finals, where John Paxson shot down Phoenix for Chicago's third-straight title.
And then the basketball world changed.
Months after his father was murdered, Jordan retired in October of 1993. While adding Toni Kukoc, the 1993-94 Bulls were a great team but not the same, still earning the three-seed in the East and sweeping the Cavs in the first round. Looming in the second-round was the two-seeded Knicks.
Following a similar script to the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals, New York won the first two games at MSG before Chicago won Games Three and Four at the Chicago Stadium. In Game Five, the Bulls seemed to have the Knicks beat when Pippen was called for a phantom foul on a three-point shot by Hubert Davis. Chicago would recover from the crippling Game Five loss with a blowout victory in Game Six, which would be the last Bulls' playoff game at the Chicago Stadium. Sadly, the Bulls would fight valiantly but lose to the Knicks in Game Seven. New York would ultimately fail to close out the Houston Rockets in Games Six and Seven of the 1994 NBA Finals, what I considered sweet justice for knocking out the Bulls.
The 1995 playoffs included massive disappointments for the Bulls and Knicks, which failed to meet each other. While Jordan had returned, the five-seeded Bulls lost to Grant and his new team, the Orlando Magic, in six games in the second round. The Knicks also fell in the second round, as Ewing missed a close layup in the final seconds of a stunning home loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game Seven.
Set to meet again in the playoffs for the first time in two seasons, Chicago and New York had no love lost for each other based upon their storied postseason battles. With Dennis Rodman now in the fold in Chicago, another explosive was thrown into what figured to be a powder keg of a series.
Entering the first game of the second round of the 1996 NBA Playoffs, I was nervous, hoping the Bulls would avoid a similar fate of 1992, 1993 and 1994, when it lost the series' openers to the Knicks. While I was confident the Bulls would beat the Knicks, I knew it was not going to be easy, as these highlights of the playoff battles between the teams demonstrate.
In 1989, the Knicks seemed to be the beneficiary of the trade, earning the number two seed in the Eastern Conference while Chicago finished as the sixth seed. While New York swept the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, the Bulls stunned the favored three-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in five games, with Michael Jordan hitting his famous shot over Craig Ehlo. Using that momentum, Chicago beat New York at Madison Square Garden in Game One of the second round and eventually won in six games.
My recollections of this series are nonexistent, as I was in first grade at the time. I do remember Jordan's shot over Ehlo, though. I was attending a Communion party for my older cousin Dan in Deerfield, Illinois, where the Bulls actually practiced at a complex called the Berto Center. After the Communion, there was a brief party in the church. I remember hanging out with Dan and his older sister Amy and getting separated from our families amongst all these strangers. Young me freaked out and started crying, with Amy yelling at Dan, "Way to go. Look what you did." Eventually, we found our families and went back to Dan's house. For some reason, I found a spot on the crowded couch right as Ehlo made a layup to give the Cavs the lead. With the game seemingly over, Jordan caught an inbound pass, hung in the air, and hit the jumper over Ehlo to win the game and series. I will never forget the entire room of people jumping up and screaming in excitement. What a great memory!
After beating New York in 1989 but then losing to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals that and the next playoff, Chicago was a team on a mission heading into the 1991 postseason. Standing in Chicago's way was the Knicks in the first round. The one-seeded Bulls easily dismissed the eighth-seeded Knicks, sweeping in three games. New York would move on from Head Coach John MacLeod and hire Riley that offseason.
With the 1991 NBA Playoffs in mind, I figured the defending champion Bulls would have no problems with the Knicks during the second round the following season. However, young me would be mistaken as this was not the same New York of a season ago. In his first season as Head Coach of the Knicks, Riley had built a tough roster alongside Ewing, Oakley, Gerald Wilkins and Mark Jackson, including menacing small forward Xavier McDaniel (that guy scared the shit out of me as a child) and scrappy reserves John Starks and Anthony Mason. New York stunned the Bulls in Game One, winning at the old Chicago Stadium, and pushed Chicago to seven games. Riley seemed to adopt the physicality of the Detroit Pistons in trying to topple the Bulls, with Starks taking down Scottie Pippen at one point early in the series and McDaniel and Jordan going face-to-face in Game Seven. During Chicago's sixth championship seasons, only two teams, the 1992 Knicks and 1998 Indiana Pacers, pushed the Bulls to seven games in the playoffs.
After nearly knocking off the Bulls in 1992, the Knicks went all in with some moves I never understood as a kid. New York traded Jackson to the Los Angeles Clippers for point guard Doc Rivers and small forward Charles Smith. With Smith in the fold, Riley let McDaniel, the X-factor who gave the Bulls a lot of problems, go in free agency to the Boston Celtics. Still, the 1992-93 Knicks had the best record in the Eastern Conference while Chicago struggled a bit coming off two championship seasons and the 1992 Summer Olympics, in which Jordan and Pippen participated, finishing as the two seed.
After defeating Chicago three out of four times in the regular season, the Knicks jumped out and won the first two games against the Bulls in the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals. Thinking that a chance at a three-peat was over, dejected me was never happier as the Bulls won four straight games, including a classic Game Five at Madison Square Garden, to topple the Knicks and advance to the NBA Finals, where John Paxson shot down Phoenix for Chicago's third-straight title.
And then the basketball world changed.
Months after his father was murdered, Jordan retired in October of 1993. While adding Toni Kukoc, the 1993-94 Bulls were a great team but not the same, still earning the three-seed in the East and sweeping the Cavs in the first round. Looming in the second-round was the two-seeded Knicks.
Following a similar script to the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals, New York won the first two games at MSG before Chicago won Games Three and Four at the Chicago Stadium. In Game Five, the Bulls seemed to have the Knicks beat when Pippen was called for a phantom foul on a three-point shot by Hubert Davis. Chicago would recover from the crippling Game Five loss with a blowout victory in Game Six, which would be the last Bulls' playoff game at the Chicago Stadium. Sadly, the Bulls would fight valiantly but lose to the Knicks in Game Seven. New York would ultimately fail to close out the Houston Rockets in Games Six and Seven of the 1994 NBA Finals, what I considered sweet justice for knocking out the Bulls.
The 1995 playoffs included massive disappointments for the Bulls and Knicks, which failed to meet each other. While Jordan had returned, the five-seeded Bulls lost to Grant and his new team, the Orlando Magic, in six games in the second round. The Knicks also fell in the second round, as Ewing missed a close layup in the final seconds of a stunning home loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game Seven.
Set to meet again in the playoffs for the first time in two seasons, Chicago and New York had no love lost for each other based upon their storied postseason battles. With Dennis Rodman now in the fold in Chicago, another explosive was thrown into what figured to be a powder keg of a series.
Entering the first game of the second round of the 1996 NBA Playoffs, I was nervous, hoping the Bulls would avoid a similar fate of 1992, 1993 and 1994, when it lost the series' openers to the Knicks. While I was confident the Bulls would beat the Knicks, I knew it was not going to be easy, as these highlights of the playoff battles between the teams demonstrate.
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