After 30 games, the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls were an amazing 27-3. 

Ten games later, the Bulls would improve to 37-3! 

As 1995 turned to 1996, I feel like my viewing attention with the Bulls picked up dramatically. With the Chicago Bears missing the playoffs, despite having an identical 9-7 record to the prior season, during which the team made the postseason, the Bulls became my number-one focus in Chicago sports. 

At this point and time, I was losing interest with DePaul basketball, especially since my childhood hero, a local player named Tom Kleinschmidt, had graduated the prior season. I was not quite an Illinois Fighting Illini diehard yet, as this campaign would be the last in Champaign for legendary Head Coach Lou Henson. 

With Jordan back in action, and NBC starting to show its Sunday games, I was hooked on watching as many Bulls' games as possible. Several games during this stretch, specifically road wins against the Philadelphia 76ers and Washington Bullets on the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, especially stand out. 

I began my three-day weekend by watching the Bulls take on the Sixers that Friday night (it was actually Saturday night) on WGN Channel 9. I remember being interested to see Jordan match up with fellow North Carolina Tar Heel Jerry Stackhouse, who was a rookie with the 76ers. Well, Jordan would give it to Stackhouse this night, at one point ball faking with one hand and driving past Stackhouse for a baseline jam. 

Up next for Chicago were the Washington Bullets on a Monday afternoon matinee game for MLK Jr. Day. Off from school, I remember sleeping over at my cousin Brian's house the night before. Our families had gathered to watch the NFC Championship game between the Green Bay Packers and eventual Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. That Sunday night I stayed up late and discovered on my cousin's cable television the old Classic Sports Network. At the time, Classic Sports was shown from 11:30 p.m. to like 5 a.m. on some random cable channel. I was blown away that there was a network that showed old sports games. That Sunday night I rewatched a memorable Game 5 of the first-round of the 1994 NBA Playoffs, when the Denver Nuggets upset the Seattle Supersonics to became the first eight-seed to beat a one-seed. Speaking of the Sonics, Chicago would get revenge against Seattle during this stretch of games, making up for a road loss from the night of my 14th birthday. 

Back to MLK Day, I remember watching the Bulls crush the Bullets, with Jordan at one time palming the ball over the head of a defenseless Tim Legler, as if he was teasing a cat with a ball of string. After the game, my Uncle John came home early from work and took Brian, his friend Farai and me out to McDonald's before dropping me off at home. 

I have "scoured" the Internet, specifically YouTube, for Games 31-40. For the first time during this retrospective, all 10 games are available in their entirety on YouTube. 

Make the jump to view Games 31-40 and link to the box scores as Chicago goes a perfect 10-0 during this stretch of the 1995-96 season. 

Today is the 30th anniversary of Game One between the Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. I have gone ahead and rewatched this game, listing my observations of what I saw with a fresh set of eyes. Here is some background about the series so far. 

What I remember from this day: This Sunday afternoon game feels like yesterday. Tip off was at 2:30 p.m. on NBC. I eagerly sat down in front of the television in my living room, knowing that I could only watch the first half. Eighth-grade me had the championship game of my elementary school's Intramurals basketball league at 4:00 p.m. I was nervous about both games, more so about the Magic and Bulls after Orlando knocked out Chicago during the 1995 NBA Playoffs. I should have been more worried about the Intramurals championship game as my team got its collective butts kicked. I had a horrible shooting game. I remember during one possession of the game I had three three-pointers from the same spot on the floor. I missed all three shots, symbolic of how things went that day. My friend Mike and I played terrible against our eighth-grade classmate Todd, who was the best player on our grade-school team. Honestly, we were lucky to be in the championship game as we should have lost in the semifinals a couple of days before, had it not been for Mike hitting a game-winning layup in overtime. What the Magic were to the Bulls on this day, my team was to my opponent on this day, mince meat. :-) 

What I remember from this game: The Bulls came out like gangbusters, absolutely kicking Orlando's butt in the first half of this game, so much so that when I had to leave for my basketball game, I felt very confident the outcome was already decided. I remember Luc Longley getting off to a great start against Shaquille O'Neal, and Dennis Rodman playing with a lot of energy.  After limping past the Knicks, the Bulls were a hungry team for several reasons. First, Chicago knew it had to be better than it was against New York last round to defeat Orlando and win the championship. Second, revenge was clearly on the mind of the Bulls as Orlando had knocked them out the year before. It was safe to say the Magic were shell-shocked during Game One, unable to counter punch a Chicago onslaught from the opening tip to the final horn. Talk about a great way to begin the series for the Bulls, which got the United Center rocking early and often during this thumping of the Magic. Additionally, Greg Gumbel called this game for NBC. I always liked Gumbel as a play-by-play man for the NBA back in the day.

Here is Game One between the Orlando Magic and the Chicago Bulls. I highly suggest watching the introduction of the Bulls' starting lineups. It will get your pulse running! Also these blue Orlando Magic uniforms were just beautiful. As an aside, I remember my parents getting me a red Dennis Rodman Bulls' jersey and this blue Penny Hardaway Magic jersey for my birthday as an eighth grader. Another family member bought me the black Michael Jordan Bulls' jersey for my birthday. I still have the Jordan jersey. I gave away the Rodman and Hardaway jerseys to younger cousins when I outgrew them. What a great time it was to be a kid! 

Chicago leads 10-0 with 9:29 remaining as Orlando takes a timeout. The United Center is a rockin' as Chicago comes out with guns blazing. What a start for Luc Longley, who plays good positional defense on the first series of the game, forcing a tough half-hook from O'Neal. Longley then grabs an offensive rebound of a missed banker by Pippen and dunks the ball in. He follows up with a steal of an entry pass to O'Neal and then hits a half hook to the baseline. Pippen follows up with a fast-break dunk after Dennis Scott missed a layup inside. Chicago then got on the break with Ron Harper feeding Dennis Rodman for a layup plus the foul. Rodman hits the free throw as does Pippen after an offensive rebound of a Longley miss. Chicago is 4/5 to start the game, Orlando is 0/3. Michael Jordan has not even attempted a field goal. Chicago is outrebounding the Magic 6-1. Pippen is guarding Hardaway. 

Chicago leads 13-5 with 7:26 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. Here's another good sign for Chicago as Pippen hits a three after struggling with his shot against New York last series. Pippen has six points. After finally scoring on a Nick Anderson free throw, Orlando has back-to-back dunks. Penny Hardaway had a nasty one-handed lefty dunk on Longley off a screen and roll and then Shaq had a two-hand slam on a nice over-the-top pass. Jordan missed a fadeaway. Rodman is off to a great start, with four rebounds. 

Chicago leads 19-13 with 2:26 remaining as Rodman secures an offensive rebound and calls a timeout while falling out of bounds. Rodman has eight rebounds so far this quarter! All 19 of Chicago's points have come from the frontcourt of Longley (6 points), Pippen (6 points), Rodman (5 points) and Toni Kukoc (2 points). Longley hit a nice jumper and is 3/3 to start the game while Rodman had a lefty tip in dunk of a missed Pippen layup. Both Rodman and Longley missed dunk attempts set up by gorgeous passes from Pippen. Kukoc is back for the first time since Game Two against the Knicks and is not wearing the back brace. He had a nice defensive rebound off the old tap drill and then got downcourt and was fouled on a layup attempt. Kukoc did just miss a three and is now 1/25 from deep in the playoffs. Orlando is getting all of its scoring from O'Neal,who had two nice righty half hooks across the lane, and Hardaway, who hit a tough banker over Pippen and had a backdoor cut for a dunk. That was a beautiful pass by Nick Anderson on that assist to Hardaway. Longley left the game with two fouls, drawing a standing ovation from the Chicago crowd. Phil Jackson is going small, with Rodman now guarding O'Neal. Orlando has a 7-0 advantage in backcourt scoring. 

Chicago leads 32-19 at the end of the first. Penny Hardaway just hit a ridiculous half-court banker of a three to end the quarter after Scottie Pippen drove into the lane and fed Bill Wennington for a dunk. Pippen leads Chicago with 10 points while Hardaway leads Orlando with 11. Jordan got going during this stretch, hitting a jumper and scoring on a spinning layup in the lane, plus the foul. Kukoc has been very active defensively, stealing an inbound pass after Jordan's make and then scoring on a layup. He also got in the passing lane of a Jon Koncak pass, leading to a Kerr steal and Pippen dunk. Chicago is 7/8 from the free throw line so far, Orlando is 3/6. All six free throw attempts have been taken by Nick Anderson, who was never the same at the free throw line after missing four straight against the Houston Rockets during the end of Game One of the 1995 NBA Finals.  

Chicago leads 36-26 with 9:16 remaining. Orlando began the quarter on a 5-0 run as Hardaway tipped in his own miss and Brian Shaw canned a three off a Jordan double team of a posting O'Neal, who later scored on a nice dip in on Wennington. Jordan broke the run with a jumper that died on the rim and fell in. Pippen had a dunk off a Chicago offensive rebound secured by Kukoc, who made a beautiful pass to the cutting Scottie. At the end of the first quarter, Chicago had an 18-5 advantage on the boards. Just like against the Knicks, Chicago is crashing the offensive glass. Horace Grant has been very quiet so far. He has one shot and one rebound during the first 15 minutes. Grant hasn't scored in 34 minutes of playing time, with his right elbow injury causing a lot of issues. 

Chicago leads 41-37 with 6:37 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. The Magic have been great so far this quarter, in contrast to my memory of this game. Penny Hardaway just ripped the ball from Kukoc in the backcourt and had a beautiful reverse layup. He leads all scorers with 18 points. Chicago's Wennington, who had a great series against New York, is getting abused by O'Neal during this stretch. O'Neal has several baskets and a nice assist to Anthony Bowie. O'Neal has 12 points. Rodman had a beautiful offensive rebound and putback over Bowie, and Jordan hit a three during this stretch for his 8th, 9th and 10th points. Orlando has responded nicely from a rough start. The Magic are just 2/9 from the foul line and could very well be leading. 

Chicago leads 49-41 with 3:51 remaining as Ron Harper gets an offensive rebound and calls timeout while surrounded by Magic on the floor. Chicago is controlling this game on the glass, with a 27-10 rebounding advantage. Rodman has 12 boards, including a beautiful offensive board and assist to Longley, who made a beautiful back-to-the-basket layup. Longley also had a lefty hook in the lane and is 5-for-7 from the field. What a start for Rodman and him. Orlando has been all Hardaway and O'Neal, who had a ridiculously tough shot on Longley and a beautiful assist to a cutting Brian Shaw. There is a great flow and energy to this game right now. Rodman is apparently dealing with a stomach virus, which would be hard to tell based upon his start. This is as good of a game Rodman has played, in terms of rebounding, passing and scoring. 

Chicago leads 55-45 at the break. Thank goodness for Hardaway and O'Neal, who have kept the Magic alive. Hardaway has 22 points on 9/12 from the field, including another backdoor dunk, and O'Neal has 14 points on 7/11 from the floor. Chicago found some nice offensive rhythm during this stretch with Kukoc and Jud Buechler hitting some open jumpers on the baseline off nice ball movement. Ron Harper had a beautiful finger roll layup off a steal created by Jordan knocking the ball away from Hardaway. Jordan has forced two turnovers on Hardaway and is playing really stout defense. Kukoc missed two more threes during this stretch and is just 1/27 from deep for the playoffs; however, he has had a great first half. Chicago has a 17-2 advantage on second-chance points while Orlando has two combined points from Anderson (2), Scott (0) and Grant (0). None of these starters have hit a field goal yet! Jordan had 7 of his 12 first-half points during the second quarter. 

Chicago leads 63-54 with 6:53 remaining. The Bulls got off to a great start to the half, with Pippen getting an offensive board of a Jordan miss that didn't even hit rim and scoring on a beautiful back-to-the-basket layup. Ron Harper then drove and found Longley for a dunk, leading to a Magic timeout. Longley also hit a jumper before O'Neal went to work, scoring in the lane and then getting a baseline dunk on a spin move. Longley has picked up his fourth foul and is on the bench. Rodman just had a beautiful offensive tip in of a missed Pippen layup for his eighth and ninth points. While having two turnovers this half, Hardaway is amazing, dunking on a beautiful baseline spin out of the post and hitting a three off an O'Neal post feed and kick out. Orlando is hanging in because of the heroics of Hardaway and O'Neal. Hardaway has 27 points on 11/15 from the field, 3/4 from three. The Magic are getting nothing out of any other starter, with Anderson and Scott missing threes during this stretch. 

Chicago leads 71-56 with 5:07 remaining as Orlando takes a timeout. Ron Harper has just taken over here. Harper comes over from the weakside to steal the ball from a posting O'Neal. Harper then glided in for a beautiful layup. After Pippen missed a three, Harper got the long offensive board and canned a jumper from the free-throw line. He has 8 points. Orlando had the game down to seven after O'Neal hit a baseline push shot over Rodman, but Hardaway was called for a weak technical after pushing Rodman. Jordan missed the free throw, Chicago's first attempt from the foul line since the first quarter, but then hit a beautiful stop and pull up jumper over Anderson. Chicago is on a 6-0 run here. Anderson and Scott are 0/9 from the field. How is this for balanced Chicago scoring: Longley has 14 points, Jordan 14, Pippen 14, Rodman 11, Harper 8 and Kukoc 6. 

Chicago leads 79-58 with 2:06 remaining as Orlando takes a timeout with Grant hurting. The Magic are literally and figuratively falling apart here in the third quarter. Grant is getting tended to as his teammate O'Neal ran into him and wiped out Pippen on a baseline drive by the Bulls' forward, who got up and scored a layup. Grant is being serenaded with chants of "Horace, Horace" by the Chicago crowd. He has 1 rebound and 0 points in 28 minutes of injury-riddled game time. The Bulls have been putting it to Orlando during this stretch. After Scott got caught in the air and threw the ball away, Jordan had a beautiful assist to Pippen for a one-handed slam. Kukoc later hit a beautiful teardrop in the lane and fed Jordan on a ridiculous inbound fadeaway with the shot clock hitting zero. At this point of the game, Rodman has 18 rebounds to Orlando's 17. The Bulls have a 43-17 advantage on the boards. Before a Hardaway floater in the lane, Orlando had five field goals and six turnovers this quarter. It's all Chicago right now as Grant is heading to the locker room holding his left elbow and wrist. O'Neal did not take kindly to a hard but clean foul by Rodman, foreshadowing future problems between the two later in the series. 

Chicago leads 81-59 at the end of three quarters. The Bulls finish the third quarter on an 18-5 run. Jordan has a quiet 18 points while Rodman has a loud 11 points and 19 rebounds. Hardaway has 30 points on 12-for-18 from the field, along with 3 steals. Shaq has 20 points. 

Chicago leads 88-61 with 9:58 remaining. The onslaught continues as Ron Harper steals an entry pass to Hardaway and feeds Jordan for a layup plus the foul. Steve Kerr then makes a beautiful behind-the-back pass on the baseline to Wennington for a one-handed dunk. After O'Neal misses a dunk and doesn't get back complaining that he was fouled, Kukoc finds Wennington wide open down low for a reverse dunk. How is this for a stat. Chicago has a 43-0 advantage in scoring from the forward position tonight! I don't know if I have ever seen that stat before. Chicago is +30 on rebounds (49 to 19) and +23 in second-chance points (25-2). 

Chicago leads 95-71 with 6:27 remaining as Phil Jackson calls a timeout. Orlando should be embarrassed by its defense right now as Steve Kerr has a dribble drive from the top of the key all the way to the basket. I don't remember Kerr ever scoring like that with the Bulls. Kerr also had a beautiful pull-up three off the bounce. Hardaway has 34 points after abusing Pippen in the post, and probably getting away with a hook, to be honest. I don't remember Pippen struggling with someone like he has with Hardaway tonight. There is some good news for Orlando. A forward has scored as Donald Royal has hit two jumpers. Anderson and Scott are watching from the bench after their no-shows so far in Game One. 

Chicago leads 107-80 with 3:07 remaining as Orlando takes a timeout. Kerr is filling it up, hitting two threes during this stretch. John Salley also has scored four points, with a nice banker over O'Neal and a stick back off an offensive rebound where Orlando just gave up. Rodman hit a banker curling in the lane to complete his wonderful all-around game. O'Neal finally hit a free throw, and is 1/7 at the line tonight. The Magic are 7/22 from the line as a team. Grant was shown in the locker room with a sling around his chest and left elbow. Apparently, there is no fracture. Grant's facial expression says it all: he looks like a wounded dog ready to be put out of his misery. 

Chicago scores 17 points in the final three minutes to complete an offensive blitz. Kerr and Buechler hit threes, Salley has a layup and dunk, Randy Brown has a layup and Kukoc hits a baseline fadeaway during this stretch while Orlando's Joe Wolf fires and fires and fires and fires some more, missing four quick shots. After a rough offensive series against the Knicks, Chicago breaks out in Game One for the 38 point victory, Orlando's largest-ever defeat in a playoff game. Make no mistake. This game was won on the boards where Chicago outrebounded Orlando 62-28. Here is the final box score. 

1. Dennis Rodman, Chicago Bulls. Rodman has been incredible during Chicago's last six playoff games with tonight his finest effort yet. In addition to 21 rebounds, 7 of which came on the offensive glass, Rodman added 13 points on 6-for-10 from the field. That was quite the all-around game from a very focused Rodman, who played great defense on O'Neal as well.

2. Luc Longley, Chicago Bulls. Longley did not even play from the mid-point of the third quarter until the end of the game. Still, his impact was felt immediately coming off a tough series against the Knicks. Longley scored 14 points on 7-for-9 from the field, getting Chicago off to a fast and furious start. 

3. Anfernee Hardaway, Orlando Magic. Hardaway was unguardable tonight, scoring 38 points on 71% shooting (15 of 21 from the field)! 

4. Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando Magic. With the exception of poor free throw shooting, O'Neal had a great offensive game, going 13-for-21 from the field for 27 points while adding 6 rebounds and 6 assists. 

5A. Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls. Pippen struggled guarding Hardaway but looked much healthier than he did at the end of the New York series, scoring 18 points, grabbing 8 boards and adding 4 assists. 

5B. Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls. Usually at the top of list after every playoff game, Jordan leads Chicago with 21 points during a game he only needed to take 17 shots, hitting 9 of them. Jordan had a solid all-around game with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. 

Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott, Orlando Magic. With Grant really hurt, Anderson (2 points from the foul line) and Scott (0) gave Orlando nothing, going 0-for-10 from the field. Grant also put up a goose egg, though it looked like he shouldn't have been on the court with his injured elbow.

Prior to Game Five of the second-round series against the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls' forward Toni Kukoc was awarded the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award for the 1995-96 season. This glorious season proved to be the Year of the Bull when it came to NBA accolades, with Michael Jordan winning the league's MVP and Phil Jackson earning the Coach of the Year. Even at that season's All-Star Game weekend, Jordan was named the exhibition's MVP while Steve Kerr won the three-point shooting contest. 

Back to Kukoc, he did not  even play the last three games of the Knicks' series as he dealt with a back injury. After having an all-around great series starting for Dennis Rodman against the Miami Heat, Kukoc struggled during the first two games of the New York series. Entering the Eastern Conference Finals, Kukoc was mired in a shooting slump, just 1-for-24 from three during the playoffs.

As Chicago prepared to take on the very dangerous Orlando Magic, the Bulls desperately needed a healthy and best version of Kukoc, a player in Chicago whom had a bit of a "soft" label at the time. As great of an offensive player Kukoc was, he had a knock as being averse to defense and contact down low, despite being 6'11''. 

After starting at power forward against the Magic during the second-round series of the 1995 NBA Playoffs, Kukoc was clearly seen as not the answer at the position, one reason why Chicago ended up trading for Rodman. 

As the Bulls prepared for the Magic, I seem to remember Chicago media questioning Kukoc's toughness, wondering if he was truly hurt against the Knicks and if he didn't want to participate in the physical series. 

Unfortunately for Kukoc, such unfair criticism was par for the course during his early tenure with the Bulls, in large part due to how Chicago General Manager Jerry Krause seemingly adored him more than Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. In turn, the superstar duo took out their wrath on Kukoc, years before he had even come to the United States to play for the Bulls. 

Heck, I'll admit that I did not always recognize Kukoc's greatness at the time. It was easy to pile on the kid when things weren't going well. Jordan and Pippen were especially hard on Kukoc, through no fault of his one, though they knew he belonged on the Bulls. 

Sadly, Kukoc deserved better, though his greatness is truly appreciated many years later. Without Kukoc, Chicago does not win three-straight titles in 1996, 1997 and 1998. 

While those Bulls' team are remembered for Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and Jackson, Kukoc deserves just as much recognition, earning a fifth spot on Chicago's Mount Rushmore for this time period. 

Make the jump to read more about Kukoc rising above the doubts to be an invaluable member of the Bulls' title-winning teams. 

Drafted in the second round of the 1990 NBA Draft, Kukoc was seen, at least by Krause, as the future of the Chicago Bulls. When given the opportunity, Krause spoke highly of Kukoc's abilities, drawing the ire of Jordan and Pippen, who felt like the General Manager was not appreciative of what the current Bulls were doing, winning back-to-back titles in 1991 and 1992. 

Consequently, Jordan and Pippen took out their ire on Kukoc, specifically during the 1992 Summer Olympics. The Dream Team duo made it personal, doggedly guarding Kukoc during USA's qualifying matchup with Croatia. Even poor Kukoc had no idea why Jordan and Pippen seemingly hated him, though the issue was really Krause. The United States would eventually play and beat Croatia again in the Gold Medal Game, with Kukoc acquitting himself better and earning the respect of Jordan, Pippen and the rest of the Dream Team. 

As Chicago was down 2-0 to the New York Knicks during the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals, Kukoc was in Chicago, watching the Bulls at the Chicago Stadium, seemingly negotiating his contract to play for the team. Leave it to Krause, never one to have the greatest bedside manner, to be negotiating with Kukoc at a time when the Bulls were most vulnerable against a New York team that Chicago would stun with four-straight victories. 

Kukoc would eventually sign with the Bulls during the summer of Chicago's third championship, though his dream of playing with Jordan would seemingly never happen. As Jordan retired during October of 1993, Kukoc was one of many stunned Bulls at the press conference. According to legend, Kukoc cried when first hearing that Jordan was retiring. 

Despite the animus some teammates may have felt, Kukoc acclimated well to the NBA, having a great rookie season and hitting several buzzer beaters, including during a second-round Game Three victory against the Knicks when Pippen chose to sit out the final 1.8 seconds after Phil Jackson did not draw the final play for him. 

Losing in seven games to the Knicks, Chicago had nothing to be embarrassed about as a team but plenty to be excited about when it came to Kukoc. The southpaw was an incredible offensive talent, with an inside-outside game and beautiful shooting and passing touch. Known as "The Waiter," Kukoc could certainly dish it out to his teammates, a near seven-footer with point-guard abilities. Even in the post, Kukoc brought much finesse to his offensive repertoire. My favorite Kukoc move was when he would back down an opponent on the right block with a couple of dribbles before reversing baseline for a lefty banker or scoop shot. 

In terms of defense and rebounding, Kukoc left a lot to be desired, at least in Jackson's book. Unfortunately, Kukoc would have to play out of position as a power forward with the Bulls during his second season as Horace Grant left for the Orlando Magic. Kukoc's lack of physicality would be exposed against Grant and the Magic during the second-round loss that season. With Jordan back in the fold, Kukoc was inconsistent at best, seemingly deferring too much to the Chicago superstar. In Kukoc's defense, so were all the other Chicago teammates who had not played with Jordan before. 

Ultimately, Kukoc would become more comfortable with Jordan during the 1995-96 season, averaging 13.1 points off the bench en route to being named Sixth Man of the Year. 

Yet, as the Bulls took on the Magic, doubts remained about Kukoc. While his teammates had nothing but respect for his game, Kukoc was viewed by some as a bit of a frontrunner who was good when the going was good but sometimes nonexistent when things got tough. 

As Chicago would go on to win three straight championships, Kukoc would shake that label, with no bigger of a performance than his Game 7 heroics against the Indiana Pacers during the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals. Watch that game to see how important Kukoc was to Chicago. 

Like many a Bull who played with Jordan, Kukoc was overshadowed and undervalued. Even an all-time great like Pippen had to deal with similar experiences playing alongside Jordan. 

The more I rewatch these Bulls' playoff games, the greater my appreciation is for Pippen and Kukoc. 

After the 1998 title, the Bulls would be broken up, with Kukoc and Ron Harper the lone players remaining. While Kukoc was expected to be a superstar, he was not surrounded with much to work with. Krause would eventually trade Kukoc during the middle of the 1999-00 season for John Starks and a first-round pick from the Golden State Warriors. That first-round pick would turn out to be Jamal Crawford. 

While Kukoc may have never been a franchise player in the NBA, he was a game-changer for the Bulls, a true matchup nightmare off the bench for opponents, an early trailblazer for a sport that has become more and more international. 

In 2001, Kukoc was rightfully inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, a much-deserved honor for a player I should have appreciated much more back in the day but now recognize as a truly special talent, a basketball genius in many respects.  

How perspectives often change with time and...uniforms! 

Consider the power forward matchup between the Orlando Magic's Horace Grant and the Chicago Bulls' Dennis Rodman entering the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals. 

Just a few years before this series, Grant was a hero to Chicago fans, the starting power forward on the team's first three championship teams in 1991, 1992 and 1993. 

As for Rodman, he was a hated member of the Bad Boys' Detroit Pistons, with his cheap shot of Scottie Pippen during Game Four of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals a searing reminder of his boorish brutality. 

Now wearing different uniforms and colored goggles and hair, in the case of Grant and Rodman, respectively, Grant was considered the villain, Rodman the antihero prior to the much-anticipated rematch of a second-round series between Chicago and Orlando in 1995. 

Drafted out of Clemson University with the 10th overall pick of the 1987 NBA Draft, Grant was always linked with his Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen, whom Chicago acquired in that same draft. After Seattle selected Central Arkansas' "Scott" Pippen with the fifth overall pick of the 1987 draft, Chicago selected Virginia's Olden Polynice with the 8th overall pick. The Bulls then traded the rights to Polynice, along with a second-round pick in the 1988 NBA Draft, to Seattle for the rights to Pippen. 

Ultimately, the development of Pippen into an All-Star and Grant into the third best player on the Bulls was what keyed Chicago's rise from Michael and the Jordanaires to a championship level team. By their fourth seasons, Pippen and Grant were well-established, major contributors on a squad that would defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in five games during the 1991 NBA Finals. 

Of course, being in the shadow of Jordan was not easy for Pippen and especially Grant, who often felt overlooked on those Bulls' teams. While Pippen joined Jordan on All-Star teams and the original Dream Team, Grant was left in the shadows, despite being a terrific player. 

At 6'10'', Grant was a rangy forward with an automatic mid-range jumper. Defensively, Grant provided great versatility, especially when Chicago would press, with Grant often releasing and bringing off-ball pressure, leading to turnovers and easy transition baskets for the Bulls. 

By the time Jordan retired after the 1993 NBA Finals, Chicago had won three straight titles, with Grant's overlooked block of Kevin Johnson sealing the last championship. 

Grant's contributions to the Bulls were recognized during the ensuing 1993-94 season when Pippen, B.J. Armstrong and he were selected as starters on the Eastern Conference's All-Star team. Playing during the last year of his contract, Grant figured to be in store for a big payday, a problem when it came to the Chicago Bulls. 

Make the jump to read more about Grant's free-agent decision to leave Chicago and join the rising Orlando Magic.

Historically, the Bulls were a tough franchise to deal with in terms of getting paid.

Despite being the best player in the game, Jordan was vastly underpaid, until after the 1996 and 1997 seasons, when he signed respective one-year contracts for $30 million and $36 million. 

Seeking financial security, Pippen signed a contract during the 1990-91 season that did not age well with rising player contracts, with the Bulls refusing to renegotiate, leading to much acrimony and the eventual end of the dynasty following Chicago's last title in 1998. Chicago was just not a team to redo deals, even if Pippen was the exception to the rule, a player who outplayed his contract, helping the Bulls win six titles during that time frame. 

With Grant, the Bulls did not seem to be in a hurry to resign the power forward, still in his prime. In fairness to Chicago, Grant did not seem all that urgent in resigning with Chicago, feeling that the team had tried to replace him with Stacey King earlier in his career, and seeking more opportunity to showcase his game. At the very least Grant wanted to explore the free agent market. 

Ultimately, Chicago made a competitive offer to Grant, who decided to sign with Orlando in September of 1994, with his first contract voided before a second contract was agreed to, a five-year deal worth $17 million. 

Grant has explained that the decision to leave Chicago, especially Pippen, was not easy, ultimately calling it a business decision based upon the fact that Orlando had O'Neal and Hardaway entering their third and second seasons, respectively. 

In Orlando, Grant seemed to be the missing veteran piece, rounding out a young starting lineup that featured Nick Anderson at shooting guard and Dennis Scott at the small forward. 

Always underappreciated in Chicago, Grant's arrival in Orlando was just what the Magic needed. Orlando became the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference, waiting for the Bulls in the second round of the 1995 NBA Playoffs. 

To Bulls' fans that series, Grant seemed a different player, someone who had gone Hollywood, or at least Disney World, with the popular Magic. 

Of course, Chicago failed to fill Grant's departure that year, signing a stopgap in Larry Krystowiak while trying to incorporate young power forwards Corie Blount and Dickey Simpkins, first round draft picks in the 1994 and 1995 NBA Drafts. Ultimately, Chicago would start Toni Kukoc at power forward during the series with the Magic. While a great player, Kukoc was more of a finesse player than a power forward who liked to bang down low. 

Ultimately, Grant seemed to be the difference during Orlando's six-game victory against the Bulls, with his new teammates recognizing it. After Orlando stunned Chicago in Game Six, Magic players hoisted Grant on their shoulders. Reveling in the moment, Grant swung his fists and shouted out in excitement as if the Magic had won the NBA Finals, which the team would lose to Houston in four games that season. 

In the moment Grant had seemed to have gotten the last laugh, coming back to ruin Jordan's return and end Chicago's season. 

However, the Bulls would not forget the humiliation, with Jordan rededicating himself that summer and the organization acquiring Rodman, the missing piece since Grant had left. 

The 1996 Eastern Conference Finals would be a much more humbling experience for Grant and a franchise-changing series for the Magic. 

Dealing with a shoulder injury, Grant would watch the last two games in a suit on the bench as Rodman got under O'Neal's skin and the Bulls humbled the Magic. 

By this time, Grant was just another opponent, another victim of a Chicago juggernaut one step closer to reclaiming an NBA championship. 

Still, without Grant, Chicago would not have won three straight titles from 1991-1993. 

In a different world, Grant very well could have started on Chicago's last three title teams, forming a Big Three with Jordan and Pippen, the only players on all six of the Bulls' title teams. 

Of course, reality did not play out that way for Grant, who would eventually reunite with Phil Jackson and win a fourth title with the 2001 Lakers. 

by: Chris Maynard
(thecollegebasketballnostalgic@gmail.com)

After cruising past the Miami Heat and winning ugly against the New York Knicks during the first two rounds of the 1996 NBA Playoffs, the Chicago Bulls were preparing to step up in competition. 

Fresh off a sweep of the Detroit Pistons and five-game victory against the Atlanta Haws during the first and second rounds, the Orlando Magic represented the future of the NBA behind young superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway and former Chicago Bull Horace Grant. 

After knocking out Michael Jordan and the Bulls in six games during the second-round of the 1995 NBA Playoffs, the Magic were eventually swept in the Finals by the Houston Rockets. 

Despite this surprising loss to Houston, and being the two-seed to Chicago's one-seed, the Magic entered the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals as formidable foes for the Bulls, which were seeking revenge for last year's disappointing defeat to Orlando during a series where Michael Jordan looked mortal and did not seem like his old self. 

Throughout the 1995-96 season, a playoff rematch between Chicago and Orlando seemed inevitable, with the 1995 playoffs serving as a reminder that the Bulls were no sure thing against the Magic. 

Make the jump to review Orlando's second-round victory against the Bulls during the 1995 NBA Playoffs. 

The Bulls seemed to be on the verge of stealing the first game in Orlando before Michael Jordan had two huge and unimaginable turnovers late in the game. With Chicago nursing a one-point lead, Jordan dribbled the ball up court, only to have it poked away by Orlando's Nick Anderson. The Magic's Penny Hardaway eventually picked up the ball and fed former Bull Horace Grant for the go-ahead dunk. After a timeout, Jordan then threw the ball away trying to hit a cutting Scottie Pippen.  

Jordan famously switched back to jersey number 23 prior to the game, ditching the strange 45 he had been wearing since he returned in mid-March, and scored 38 points to help Chicago achieve a split in Orlando. 

Despite being back home on a Friday night at the United Center, and Jordan scoring 40 points, the Bulls couldn't capitalize on their momentum, with Orlando controlling the third game and regaining home-court advantage. 

Despite Jordan only scoring 19 points and Scottie Pippen 7 points, Chicago won an ugly game on Mother's Day to even the series at two. 

Orlando held serve at home despite Jordan's 39 points as Grant led Orlando with 24 points on 10-for-13 from the field. 

I vividly remember listening to this game on the radio with my Dad in the basement of our home. B.J. Armstrong hit a three to give the Bulls an eight-point lead with a little more than three minutes remaining, seemingly making a Game 7 back in Orlando a certainty. However, Chicago did not score the rest of the game as Orlando finished on a stunning 14-0 run, with Grant hoisted on the shoulders of his teammates, conquering his former team on the road. Pippen and Jordan combined for 50 points but 10 turnovers this game!

Afterwards, Orlando's Anderson would comment how Jordan wasn't the same Jordan, words that fueled the Chicago superstar the coming summer. In the meantime, Chicago would not be winning the title during Jordan's return season, the first time Chicago had been eliminated in the playoffs with Jordan on the team since Game 7 of the 1990 Eastern Conference Finals! 

As shocking as Chicago's collapse was in Game Six, it was not all that surprising to see the Bulls not win it all in 1995. Even with Jordan's return, the Bulls never seemed quite cohesive enough during those 17 games he played in the regular season. With a glaring hole at the power forward spot, the Bulls were just not ready to win it all in 1995. 

However, the Bulls would be a much different team entering the 1996 conference finals against Orlando, with it seeming that whatever team won this series would likely be the upcoming NBA champions! 

by: Chris Maynard
(thecollegebasketballnostalgic@gmail.com) 

I have watched and reviewed Chicago's 4-1 series victory against the New York in the second round of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. 

Here are the total stats for the series and my recaps for each game: 

• Game 1 Recap: Chicago 91, New York 84. 
• Game 2 Recap: Chicago 91, New York 80. 
• Game 3 Recap: New York 102, Chicago 99. 
• Game 4 Recap: Chicago 94, New York 91. 
• Game 5 Recap: Chicago 94, New York 81. 

5 Quick Observations/Revelations from Game 5

1. New York lost this game in the first half. With the Bulls off to a slow offensive start with shots not falling, New York had a chance to go up nine in the second quarter but failed to do so. Overall, New York lacked enough urgency to get up on the Bulls, which was not playing all that great. For a team in an elimination game, New York needed more desperation but let the Bulls hang around. 

2. Chicago survives with spurts of offense. Once again, it felt like the Knicks were in control for major parts of this game until the Bulls finished with offensive flurries at the end of the first quarter to tie the game at 18 and the end of the second-quarter to go up six at the break. For a team that couldn't find the offensive rhythm for large chunks of this series, Chicago's ability to go on quick runs really proved huge. The Bulls came out looking to kill in the third quarter and essentially put the game away in that frame.

3. This game was a bit of a snooze to watch. The first half of this game was hard to watch, as Chicago's offense really stalled out and New York did not take advantage.  Chicago had the luxury of feeling things out, New York did not. The second half picked up a bit, but overall, this might have been the most boring game of the series. 

4. Pippen gets hot when it matters. Like in Game Three, Pippen struggled with his shot but got on a couple of quick heaters that really changed the game. Pippen found his shot late in the second quarter and early in the third quarter, which coincided with when the Bulls took control of the game. When Pippen has been scoring in the 1996 playoffs, the Bulls have been virtually unbeatable. 

5. The little things are big. Game Five felt like history repeating itself. New York was playing decent defense while Chicago was struggling to hit shots. Yet the Bulls did all the little things to turn these games, like extending possessions on the offensive glass. Conversely, New York did all of the little things wrong when it mattered, having inopportune turnovers, failing to block out, etc. The Knicks were much closer than this five-game series indicated yet still so far away. 

1. Rebounding: Chicago outrebounded New York 227 to 188 in the series, including having 84 offensive rebounds to New York's 45 rebounds, an astounding +39 in that area, leading to #2.

2. Field Goal Attempts: While New York shot better than the Bulls, 44% to roughly 41%, Chicago had 71 more field goal attempts as a result of the offensive rebounding domination. 

3. Turnovers: New York nearly committed 30 more turnovers than the Bulls this series, (98 to 70), often at the worst times, a credit to the Bulls' defense as well as the Knicks' poor decision making. 

4. Fourth-quarter performances: Each game was close heading into the fourth quarter, where Chicago was the better team with the exception of Game Four, which the Bulls stole late in the game's final two minutes. 

5. Backcourt differential: Jordan averaged 36 points per game this series while John Starks and Derek Harper combined for roughly 25 points. Ron Harper averaged nearly 11 points a game, with Chicago having a 47 to 25 advantage in back-court scoring each game. 

Top Five Games of the Series in Terms of Viewing Excitement

1. Game 3 - Saturday matinee provides an overtime classic. 
2. Game 4 - Mother's Day contest goes down to the wire.
3. Game 1 - Jordan's individual greatest shines. 
4. Game 2 - Intensity picks up with fiery fourth quarter. 
5. Game 5 - A sleepy finale concludes an ugly series at times for the Bulls. 

Three-Word Descriptions of Game 1 for the...

• Chicago Bulls - Jordan breaks out. 
• New York Knicks -  Fourth quarter foreshadowing. 

After being on the verge of big games against the Miami Heat, only to be limited by a back strain, Jordan busted out with 44 points in Game One while New York went scoreless the last five minutes, a symbol of fourth-quarter woes to come.

Three-Word Descriptions of Game 2 for the...

• Chicago Bulls - Fiery fourth quarter. 
• New York Knicks - Should be even. 

New York was only down two entering the fourth quarter, where the Bulls turned it on and Assistant Head Coach Jim Cleamons got into it with Patrick Ewing, whose Knicks let two winnable games get away, leaving the Windy City down 2-0 instead of going back to the Big Apple tied at one game apiece. 

Three-Word Descriptions of Game 3 for the...

• Chicago Bulls - Three ultimate warriors. 
• New York Knicks - Stars step up. 

Rodman played a game-high 51 minutes while Jordan and Pippen led Chicago on a furious rally late in the fourth quarter, forcing overtime, but John Starks and Patrick Ewing both had great performances when the Knicks needed it most. 

Three-Word Descriptions of Game 4 for the...

• Chicago Bulls - Madison Garden steal. 
• New York Knicks - Can't blame Ewing. 

Chicago was up 11 early in the fourth before New York seemed to have the game won behind Ewing's late game heroics, but the Bulls got two big baskets from Bill Wennington to steal the win late. 

Three-Word Descriptions of Game 5 for the...

• Chicago Bulls - Must be better. 
• New York Knicks - Lacked enough urgency. 

Chicago did not play a great Game 5 or overall series against New York, which lacked enough fire and desperation in the finale, as if accepting of its fate against the Bulls. 

Individual Player Grades for the Bulls  

Point Guard Ron Harper: A
After two series, Harper is the unsung hero for the Bulls, with his defensive efforts on Tim Hardaway and Starks crucial as well as being an efficient scorer who has been doing a lot of little things to help Chicago. Harper killed New York with timely threes out of New York double teams of Jordan. 

Shooting Guard Michael Jordan: A
Jordan did not have his most efficient series shooting the ball, but still averaged 36.0 points. His performance at the end of the fourth quarter of Game Three was legendary. 

Small Forward Scottie Pippen: B+
Pippen struggled with his shooting throughout the series and a bad back in Games Four and Five, but got going in spurts to propel the Bulls. Also Pippen's shooting never impacted his overall effect on the game. 

Power Forward Dennis Rodman: A 
Rodman was fantastic this series, averaging 15.6 rebounds, playing focused and engaged basketball, providing some surprising offense, and frustrating Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley without crossing the line. 

Center Luc Longley: C
The big man was in foul trouble pretty much all series long, at least Games Three through Five. 

Bench: A
With Toni Kukoc missing Games 3-5 with a bad back after having two bad games in Chicago, the bench really stepped up. Steve Kerr was excellent the first four games as were Randy Brown and Jud Buechler in Games Four and Five. Wennington had a strong series, as seen during his Game Four heroics, and probably should have played more while John Salley and James Edwards provided decent minutes as big bodies against Ewing. 

Head Coach Phil Jackson: B 
The Bulls really struggled offensively this series, with Jackson unable to get the team going in this regard. With Kukoc out and back-to-back games in New York, Jackson really had to use his bench to leave the Big Apple with a split. 

Overall Series Team Grade for the Bulls: B- 
Chicago really did not play a great offensive series but did enough of the little things to prevail. The Bulls would definitely have to be better against the Orlando Magic to reach the NBA Finals. 

Individual Player Grades for the Knicks 

Guard John Starks: C - 
Starks struggled shooting during all three games in Chicago, and while breaking out for 30 points in Game Three, he forced and missed some crucial shots when it mattered during the critical Game Four. 

Guard Derek Harper: C 
Harper was excellent offensively in Game One and the start of Game Four but struggled mightily in Games 3 and 5. Harper played physical defense on Jordan, with his 6'4'' body providing some resistance. Ultimately, Jordan was too much for Harper, one of the underrated players of the eighties and early nineties. 

Small Forward Anthony Mason: B- 
With the exception of a confounding Game Four where he only had 1 point and 2 shots, Mason had a decent series that left me wanting more. New York did not get Mason involved enough at points, as seen during Game Five when he didn't even have a shot in the fourth quarter. 

Power Forward Charles Oakley: B- 
Oakley had a solid, workman like series, averaging a double double in points and rebounds. However, his turnovers were astounding, with four per game. 

Center Patrick Ewing: B 
Ewing was great during the two games in New York and had moments in Chicago but was quiet too often in the fourth quarter of these road games. 

Bench: C
New York's lack of depth really hurt this series. Hubert Davis was good in Game One but seemingly lost Van Gundy's confidence as the series went on. Veteran Willie Anderson was on the decline at this point in his career. Charlie Ward had a nice series.  J.R. Reid played in Game One, but did not get time the rest of the series. Herb Williams saw some spot minutes. 

Head Coach Jeff Van Gundy: C- 
The Knicks competed but made the same maddening mistakes over and over again throughout the series, which is a reflection of coaching. 

Overall Series Team Grade for the Knicks: C- 
New York was in every game, but just couldn't get over the hump due to bad rebounding and decision-making and a lack of clutch plays when it mattered most. Still, New York should have probably pushed this series to six games. 

Implications for Both Teams 

For Chicago, the Bulls got some much needed rest, with four full days off before the start of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Orlando Magic. As Jordan and Pippen alluded to after defeating New York, the Bulls would need to be much better against the Magic. Getting healthy would be a good start, with Kukoc out with an ailing back and Pippen dealing with back and ankle problems. 

For New York, major changes were coming. Van Gundy would return as coach though the Knicks would move on from Mason and Derek Harper. New York traded Mason to Charlotte for Larry Johnson. The Knicks let Harper walk as a free agent, choosing to sign Detroit's Allan Houston and New Jersey's Chris Childs. New York would also have three first-round choices in Syracuse's John Wallace, Kentucky's Walter McCarty and Mississippi State's Dontae Jones, all of whom looked good on paper but didn't contribute much as rookies.

The revamped Knicks seemed ready to meet the Bulls in the 1997 Eastern Conference Finals, getting a 3-1 lead on the Miami Heat in the second round. Of course, a fight between Charlie Ward and P.J. Brown during Game 5 changed the entire complexion of the series, which the Knicks would lose in seven, in large part due to player suspensions. Ewing's Knicks would never see Jordan's Bulls again in the playoffs. In fact, the teams haven't met in the playoffs since this series in 1996, which is crazy to think about. 

by: Chris Maynard
(thecollegebasketballnostalgic@gmail.com) 

Today is the 30th anniversary of Game Five between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference second-round series of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. I have gone ahead and rewatched this game, listing my observations of what I saw with a fresh set of eyes. Here is some background about the series so far. 

Game 4 Recap: The series seemed to be on the verge of heading back to Chicago tied at two games apiece before the Bulls stole the game late on a short baseline jumper from Bill Wennington. New York was down double digits early in the fourth quarter before chipping away at the foul line as the officiating was incredibly tight all night long. Patrick Ewing almost carried the Knicks to victory late, but it was ultimately Chicago's works on the offensive boards that proved the difference. Chicago has been +6, +5, +2, and +19 on the offensive boards during the first four games, leading to 60 more shot attempts than the Knicks! 

5 Quick Observations from Game 4

1.  That was weird. In the fourth quarter, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen combined for the same number of points, four, that reserve Bill Wennington gave the Bulls in the last two minutes. Wennington had a dunk and short jumper set up both times by Dennis Rodman of all people to steal Game Four and give Chicago a commanding 3-1 lead. Jordan was 0-for-6 from the field in the fourth and did not score until he hit two free throws with 11 seconds left in the game. Pippen had an alley-oop layup from Jordan with just over a minute left for his only basket in the fourth quarter. Pippen played a rather passive game during which he only took 11 shots. 

2. Dennis Rodman proved his worth during the two games in New York. Rodman played 51 and 41 minutes in Games Three and Four, respectively, staying on the court and avoiding technicals (he had just one early in Game Four). Ten of his 19 rebounds in Game Four came on the offensive glass, where Chicago had a 23-4 advantage against the Knicks. Chicago outrebounded New York 46-28 in Game Four. 

3. Chicago's bench/role players really stepped up. With Toni Kukoc out for the second straight game with a back injury, the Bulls had to steal minutes all night long. Beside Wennington's late heroics, scoring all 4 points late in the game,  Randy Brown contributed 8 points, Steve Kerr 7 points, Jud Buechler 6 points, John Salley 2 points and James Edwards 2 points. Starter Ron Harper had a big game, scoring 18. Chicago got contributions from all who played.

4. Phil Jackson should have played Wennington and Buechler more. Wennington only got 7 minutes and was not inserted in the second half until there was less than two minutes to go. He had been having a very solid series in limited minutes. Despite going 3-for-3 from the field in the second quarter, Buechler did not play in the second half. While Jackson was searching for minutes all night to rest Rodman, Jordan and Pippen, who played so much in Game Three, the Zen Master missed the opportunity to use Wennington and Buechler more. 

5. Ewing did not get the support he needed. While Ewing finished with a game-high 29 points compared to Jordan's 27 points, the Knicks' big man did not have enough support. After scoring 13 points early in the game, Derek Harper finished with 15 points. Anthony Mason had only two shots all night while a frustrated John Starks took a lot of bad shots en route to an inefficient 13 points on 4-for-11 from the field. With the exception of Charles Oakley, who had 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting, the rest of the Knicks were not good enough. As a team New York should have been embarrassed by the poor job it did boxing out Chicago on the boards. 

What I remember from this day of Game Five: This was a Tuesday, the day of my eighth-grade class's big trip to Springfield, Illinois. I remember we had to show up to school at like 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. to board the bus. The day was quite long but fun, as we visited Abraham Lincoln's home and the State Capitol. By the time we got home, it was like 10:30 p.m. My Mom let me skip school the next day. I caught up on sleep, only to be interrupted in the afternoon by a phone call from my Uncle John, who had some good news. My cousin Kaitlyn had just been born, with the baby and my Aunt Donna healthy and doing fine. Amazingly, Kaitlyn is turning 30 today, which we will be celebrating one of these upcoming weekends. 

What I remember from Game Five: We were on the road back from our trip. With no televisions on the charter bus, one of my buddies named Dan got the game on his Walkman radio. He turned it up, and we listened the best we could while driving home. I remember Dan informing us that the Bulls had won and ended the series, which made me extremely happy. Jordan would famously wave goodbye to Spike Lee as the Bulls closed out the series. 

New York leads 8-5 with 8:47 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. New York has had four of its five starters score, with John Starks, Anthony Mason, Charles Oakley and Patrick Ewing all hitting jumpers. Chicago's five points have come off three offensive rebounds so far. Rodman had a putback of one miss and Jordan hit a fadeaway following another offensive board. Jordan is 1/3 from the field, Chicago is 2/5. New York is 4/6 to start the game. 

New York leads 14-11 with 2:44 remaining. The Bulls are off to another poor shooting start and are turning the ball over left and right. Ron Harper had two layups off nice assists from Jordan and Rodman, who just had a put back make off his own miss. Besides that, Chicago's offense is miserable, shooting just 27% from the field. Jordan is 1/6 from the field and missed a technical free throw after Ewing was called for a charge. New York is shooting 50% but only up three. Derek Harper got a lucky bounce to drop on a jumper and Mason scored again. He has 4 points after scoring just 1 point in Game Four. Chicago picked up two charge fouls on the Knicks, which led to Ewing getting a technical. New York has 4 points off Chicago turnovers, including a Willie Anderson dunk. It feels like the Knicks should be up more. Chicago's Game Four hero Bill Wennington is the first Bull off the bench. 

The game is tied at 18 at the end of the first quarter. The Knicks continue to shoot themselves in the foot. New York was up 18-13 but had two horrible turnovers. Pippen missed a three, New York got the rebound, but threw the ball away. Jordan responded with a fadeaway and then forced a travel on Mason. Jud Buechler hit a three right at the end of the quarter to tie the game up. That was an ugly quarter. New York has 7 turnovers, Chicago has 5. New York was shooting 53%, the Bulls 30% late in the first quarter, but the game is tied. That is not a good sign for New York. Pippen continues to struggle with his shot, missing three three-point field goal attempts. Rodman has been excellent, with 6 rebounds and at least 3 assists. New York has 0 offensive rebounds while Chicago has 6, leading to seven more shot attempts (25 to 18). 

New York leads 24-22 with 8:32 remaining. Jordan is starting to heat up, now 5/11 from the field after a 1/5 start. Jordan had a nice fadeaway to start the quarter and then a jumper off a Randy Brown offensive rebound. New York finally got an offensive rebound off a missed three by Hubert Davis, who responded by hitting a two on the second-chance opportunity. Ewing had a nice baseline layup on Luc Longley, and Willie Anderson hit a corner jumper. All in all, it has been a ragged first half so far for both teams. 

New York leads 30-24 with 6:16 remaining. Chicago's offense has been brutal from the get go. The Bulls only have two free throws from Steve Kerr during this stretch while New York gets a nice spinning layup from Hubert Davis and jumper in the lane from Willie Anderson. This has been a real snoozer. New York had a chance to go up nine but Charlie Ward rushed a bad three. Chicago leads 20-16 on the glass. 

New  York leads 34-32 with 2:51 remaining. Chicago is starting to find some offensive rhythm. Steve Kerr hit a nice jumper out of the Triangle, Jordan hit a ridiculous fadeaway to the baseline, and Rodman scored on a layup off a great post feed from Ron Harper. Rodman has 6 rebounds and 7 points on 3/7 from the field, but just picked up his third foul. Longley also has 3 fouls. Anthony Mason had two buckets during this stretch and now has 10 points on 5/7 from the field. New York has a 10-9 advantage with bench points, with Willie Anderson having 6 points off the pine. Anderson should have more as he has missed some wide-open corner jumpers. 

Chicago leads 39-36 with 57.0 seconds remaining as New York takes a 20-second timeout. After sleepwalking through the first half, the Bulls have come alive. After missing his first five shots, Pippen hit a nice banker off a pump fake and then canned a three. Chicago's Ron Harper just got a defensive rebound and fed a baseball pass to Jordan for a dunk, leading to the timeout. Like the first quarter, Chicago is finishing the second quarter with a flurry. New York has to be very disappointed as the Bulls have not played well. Unfortunately, New York has kind of just went along with the flow of this game, not having enough urgency. 

Chicago leads 42-36 with 3.7 seconds remaining as the Bulls take a 20-second timeout. New York has really imploded here late. Pippen comes with a double team on Mason, who had Buechler in the post, and Mason turns it over. Chicago is on a 12-2 run in the last 2:55. Jordan drew a foul on Mason while shooting a three as Chicago sought a 2-for-1, and Jordan canned all three free throws. New York has 11 turnovers, Chicago 8. 

Chicago leads 42-36 at the break. Jordan has 11 points in the second quarter and 17 for the game. The Bulls did not even play well in the first half and are up 6. New York does not look like a desperate team trying to keep its season alive. All in all, that was a pretty ugly half, with the exception of late spurts by the Bulls at the end of both quarters. 

Chicago leads 54-43 with 7:02 remaining. The Bulls have come out in the second half looking to end the series. Jordan hit a curling jumper to begin the half and just canned a pull up over Derek Harper, who is having a miserable night. Harper is 1/6 from the field, threw a ball away, had one stolen, had a shot blocked and got a technical during this stretch. His backcourt mate, Starks, hasn't taken a shot since the first quarter, when he went 1/5, after sitting the entire second quarter. Scottie Pippen has found his stroke, hitting a curling jumper in the lane and a three. He has hit his four last shots since the first half. Ron Harper hit a tough banker over the outstretched hands of Patrick Ewing. Fouls are piling up. Chicago has five already. Ewing is the only Knick doing anything as he has five points during this stretch. 

Chicago leads 61-51 with 3:22 remaining. The Bulls' offense is really clicking this quarter, with the shooting on point. Jordan canned a jumper in the lane and is now 10/19 from the field. Bill Wennington hit a baseline turnaround and Buechler had a nice lefty layup. Anthony Mason is keeping the Knicks alive. He has 14 points on 6/8 from the field. New York has also taken 13 free throws this quarter, compared to just two for the Bulls. The Knicks are lacking the overall fire necessary to win this game. Starks took a bad three, and the Knicks are 0/8 from deep. Ewing dribbled a ball out of bounds off his foot. New York seems to always shoot itself in the foot when opportunities are there to cut the Bulls' lead. New York has 15 turnovers, the Bulls 8. 

Chicago leads 68-59 at the end of the third. New York finally got something out of its backcourt, with Derek Harper rattling home a corner jumper and Starks hitting a three, as well as making two free throws. Chicago had two incredible put backs. Wennington had an awesome reverse putback of a missed lefty layup by Buechler while Pippen followed with a nice banker off a missed Wennington three. Chicago has a 15-10 advantage in bench points and a 11-4 advantage in offensive rebounding. New York is three turnovers away from its third straight game with 20 turnovers. 

Chicago leads 72-62 with 9:35 remaining. John Salley just drew a charge on Patrick Ewing, sending us to the break. Rodman had a beautiful layup on a dribble drive from the free throw line. He has 9 points and 9 rebounds, though he picked up a 5th foul and is on the bench. Randy Brown hit a jumper and had a nice rebound as Chicago continues to get strong play from its bench. Charlie Ward hit one three but missed another as New York fails to cut into the Chicago lead. 

Chicago leads 74-67 with 7:35 remaining as Pippen hustles down an offensive rebound and calls a timeout. That was a great play by Pippen, who sneaked in from the baseline between several Knicks to grab an offensive board of a Longley miss. Pippen was wincing as he walked to the bench as his back is bothering him as well. Speaking of injuries, Derek Harper is on the bench with his stinger from Game Four flaring up. Charlie Ward has given New York nice minutes, driving and hitting Oakley for a corner jumper that cut the lead to seven. Oakley also had a nice dish to Ewing for an and-one. Jordan hit a ridiculous jumper off a crossover over Willie Anderson, though MJ is just one-for-his last four. New York is at 19 turnovers for the game, Chicago at 9, with just 1 for the half. 

Chicago leads 74-67 with 6:20 remaining as the Knicks take a timeout. Chicago's offense has grinded to a halt a bit with Jordan missing a jumper. He is 1/5 from the field this quarter. Jordan also got called for a moving screen while Randy Brown had a turnover. New York has been unable to cut into the deficit though as Ewing missed a short jumper on the baseline over Longley. 

Chicago leads 83-70 with 4:11 remaining as New York takes a timeout. Well, that seems to be the series. Starks just missed a jumper which Pippen rebounded. Pippen hit Rodman ahead and the Worm found Luc Longley for a two-handed dunk. New York had a chance to cut the game to 74-69 but Willie Anderson missed a layup at the rim, Jordan followed with a scooping layup, Ewing split two free throws, and Ron Harper canned a three. All series long Chicago has done the little things when it mattered most. 

Chicago leads 86-74 with 3:02 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout with Pippen diving for a loose ball. Ewing hit a corner jumper to silence the United Center crowd briefly before Jordan buried a three from the top of the key and waved goodbye to Spike Lee. Derek Harper hit a corner jumper to keep the Knicks alive. 

Chicago leads 92-78 with 1:44 remaining. Dennis Rodman just had a driving layup to put this game away, which has mostly been free throws during this stretch. 

Rodman gets ejected late for a weak technical foul after a foul on Oakley. The Bulls don't play great offensively but finish off the Knicks in five games. As Scottie Pippen says in the postgame interview, "It was a tough series" and "We haven't played up to our potential." Here is the box score. 

1. Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls. Jordan finishes with 35 points and 5 assists. Jordan didn't have his best shooting night, going 13-for-29 but made some big baskets when it mattered. 

2. Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls: After missing his first five shots, Pippen hit 5 of his next 7, getting Chicago's offense going late in the second quarter and early in the third quarter. Dealing with a bad back, Pippen finishes with 15 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 steals. 

3. Dennis Rodman, Chicago Bulls. Rodman caps off a wonderful series with 11 points on 5-for-9 from the field, 12 rebounds and 3 assists. Rodman was looking to score when the opportunities were there, showing that he was a better offensive player than people remembered when he applied himself.  

4. Ron Harper, Chicago Bulls. Harper finished another great series, holding John Starks to 10 points on 3-for-10 from the field while scoring 12 points, grabbing 5 boards, dishing out 5 assists and having 2 steals. 

5. Anthony Mason, New York Knicks. In his final game with New York, Mason had 16 points on 6-for-8 from the field. He could have used more touches. 

New York backcourt. Starks (10 points) and Derek Harper (6) points get outscored 47-16 by Jordan and Ron Harper. Like Mason, Derek Harper will not play another game for the Knicks. 

Here are the Game Five highlights. 

If it's not broken, why fix it? 

After getting off to an amazing 18-2 start through the first 20 games of the 1995-96 season, the Chicago Bulls would follow a similar theme, losing just one game during its next ten contests. 

That loss would come the day after Christmas, to the Indiana Pacers at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Of all the road venues Chicago played in during its championship runs, Market Square Arena always seemed to be the toughest for the Bulls, a notoriously awesome team away from the Chicago Stadium and United Center.  This would be apparent during the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals, when Chicago lost all three games in Indianapolis before prevailing during a tight Game 7 back home. 

Looking back at Games 21-30 of the 1995-96 season, nothing jumps out at me in terms of personal memories, though one thing certainly caught my eye. Chicago did not play on Christmas Day, which seemed odd. On December 25, 1995, NBC broadcasted a doubleheader of San Antonio versus Phoenix and Houston at Orlando, a rematch of the 1995 NBA Finals. It seems odd that the schedule makers did not have Chicago and Orlando face off on Christmas Day as the Magic had defeated the Bulls in six games during the second-round of the 1995 NBA Playoffs. 

Speaking of Houston, the defending two-time champion, Chicago would meet the Rockets during this stretch, winning 100-86 at home. As this game was on cable and during the school week, I wasn't able to watch it, though I remember being ecstatic seeing that the Bulls had won during the 10 p.m. news. By defeating Houston during the first game of the new calendar year, Chicago was sending a message that it was going to reclaim what had been the Bulls three of the last five seasons, the NBA championship. 

I have "scoured" the Internet, specifically YouTube, for Games 21-30, with only two full games missing from this stretch, though highlights have been included. 

by: Chris Maynard
(thecollegebasketballnostalgic@gmail.com) 

Today is the 30th anniversary of Game Four between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference second-round series of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. I have gone ahead and rewatched this game, listing my observations of what I saw with a fresh set of eyes. Here is some background about the series so far. 

Game 3 Recap: A Saturday afternoon matinee, Game Three was very similar to the first two games of the series, with a few exceptions. Rather than the Chicago Bulls getting out to an early lead, the New York Knicks were the team to do so at Madison Square Garden. New York seemed to be on cruise control with a 13-point lead with about five minutes to go, but the Knicks were done in again by fourth-quarter issues as Chicago stormed back behind Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Jordan hit a three with just under 20 seconds to go to tie the game, and the Bulls had a final shot to win in regulation. Luckily for New York, Chicago did not muster much of a good look, and the game went to overtime. Unlike the first two games of the series, Knicks' center Patrick Ewing was big when the game mattered most, scoring 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. Ewing made two big baskets in overtime to give the Knicks a 98-97 lead that it would not relinquish. The Knicks were led by John Starks, who broke out of a shooting slump from the first two games to score 30 points. After having chances to steal Games One and Two, New York finally broke through in Game Three, which the Bulls almost stole late in regulation. With Game Four happening within 24 hours of a Game Three classic, the Knicks seemed to have some momentum on their side. Down Toni Kukoc again, would the Bulls be able to respond, especially after Dennis Rodman and Jordan played more than 50 minutes in Game Three? 

1) Of the six games I have reviewed so far during the Bulls' championship run during the 1996 NBA Playoffs, this was by far the most exciting to rewatch. It's been 30 years, but the intense atmosphere of Madison Square Garden could still be felt today. For my money there was no better team than the Knicks to watch the Bulls play on the road in the playoffs back then. What an atmosphere! 

2) While the modern NBA is about all player maintenance and load management, Game Three harkened back to when players were warriors. Rodman, Jordan and Pippen played 52, 51 and 49 minutes, respectively, despite being in their thirties as Toni Kukoc was out with a back injury. Four out of five Knicks starters played at least 40 minutes, with the lone exception being Derek Harper, who played 39 minutes. Game Three reminded me of a time when NBA players had pride, winning took precedent before anything else, and the game meant something to these players.  

3) Starks and Ewing deserve flowers for their Game Three performances. Starks was active from the jump, scoring the first two points of the game on a jumper, after really struggling the first two games in Chicago. Ewing responded from his fourth-quarter struggles to do whatever it took to win Game Three. 

4) Whenever people want to have the G.O.A.T. debate, turn on the fourth quarter of Game Three and watch Jordan go to work in the final five minutes. That was something to behold. Jordan had 16 of his 46 points in the fourth quarter. As for Pippen, he continued to shake off rough shooting performances to deliver when it mattered in the fourth quarter. Jordan and Pippen scored 35 of Chicago's 39 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, certainly looking like the greatest duo the game has ever seen. 

5) Bill Wennington and Steve Kerr continued to have under-the-radar good series against the Knicks. In limited minutes Wennington did some nice things for the third straight game. It was no coincidence that Wennington was the first Bulls' big off the bench in Game Three after his production in the first two games. Wennington's familiarity with Ewing, having played against the Georgetown legend while at St. John's, was certainly a factor in his solid play. As for Kerr, he hit some important shots to keep the Bulls within striking distance during the first three quarters. His back-to-back steals of Charlie Ward and John Starks reveal how Kerr was a hard worker on defense for not being the biggest or quickest guy out there. Overall, Kerr gave the Bulls 25 solid minutes on a night he was needed with Kukoc out. While Kerr's significance on these Bulls' title teams is overblown nowadays, given his status as Head Coach of the Golden State Warriors, he deserves credit for playing well through the first three games of this series. 

What I remember from Game Four: Of course, it was Mother's Day so I watched this game with family at my grandparents' house as we celebrated the special occasion. I remember being very stressed this game, which went back-and-forth throughout the fourth quarter, thinking at one point that New  York was going to win and even the series at two. I think I was having flashbacks of Game Four of 1992 second-round series between the Knicks and Bulls. That game was also played at Madison Square Garden on Mother's Day, with my family watching at my grandparents' house. Thankfully, the Bulls would experience a different fate in 1996, with Wennington hitting a go-ahead jumper to give Chicago the victory during another tight contest. 

During a break in the Seattle-Houston game, back in the studio NBC's Bob Costas provides an update with the Knicks leading 12-6 with 7:26 returning. Derek Harper is off to a fast start, with 5 points after scoring only 3 points in Game Three. Michael Jordan has four points while Dennis Rodman was slapped with an early-technical for slapping the ball out of  Mason's hands after a whistle. 

As Seattle-Houston are still wrapping up, NBC cuts to the Bulls-Knicks game for a few possessions. New York leads 19-14 with 3:10 remaining as Mason posts up and kicks out to Oakley, who cans a jumper. Jordan rebounds with an offensive stick back of a missed shot by Longley, who has three blocks at the beginning of the game. Jordan now has 6 points on 3/8 shooting. Derek Harper cans a three as the game goes back to Seattle and Houston. 

Seattle and Houston finally ends, with the Sonics winning 114-117 in overtime to complete the sweep of the Rockets in Houston. NBC goes to the Bulls-Knicks game with 12 seconds left in the first quarter. Oakley misses a corner three at the buzzer as the first 12 minutes end with Rodman grabbing the rebound.  

New York leads 28-24 at the end of one. The Knicks got off to another fast start like in Game Three but Chicago has hung around within striking distance. The Knicks are 10/16 (63%) from the field; Chicago is 9/23 (39%). The Bulls have gone 3-for-6 from three, New York is 4-for-6 from deep. Derek Harper is atoning for a rough Game Three, going 4/4 from the field for 13 points. Jordan has 6 points and 2 fouls. Rodman has 6 rebounds and a tech, which was quite weak as he lightly knocked the ball away from Mason.  

The game is tied at 32 with 8:54 remaining. Both teams are trying to steal some minutes at the beginning of the quarter, with Randy Brown in for Chicago and Herb Williams in for the Knicks. Neither player played in Game Three. The refs are calling tight whistles. New York has three foul calls during Chicago's first possession of the quarter, with Williams immediately picking up two. New York has four fouls already this quarter. After hitting two free throws, Jordan got a dunk on a break created by a Pippen steal of Williams. Chicago has two steals during this stretch and was in the midst of a 10-2 run to tie the game at 28. New York's Willie Anderson broke the run with a wing three off a nice pass from Charlie Ward, who then drew a questionable third foul on Jordan, who is now on the bench. Ron Harper replaced Jordan and just had a beautiful offensive tip in off a missed Pippen three to tie the game 32. The prior possession, Steve Kerr split the defense and made a beautiful banker. Ron Harper was just called for a ticky tack foul leading to the break. Apparently, Phil Jackson was complaining about the free-throw disparity between the Knicks and Bulls in Game Three. New York shot 33 free throws, the Bulls 20. Right now the refs have had several questionable foul calls against both teams. 

New York leads 38-36 with 6:53 remaining. Both teams are getting important contributions from the bench. Anderson hit two free throws for the Knicks to start this session before Ron Harper made a beautiful lob pass to Randy Brown, who dunked the ball. That was a great half-court set. After having a great Game One but struggling in Games Two and Three, Hubert Davis has come out aggressive and driving to the hoop, missing a shot in the lane before scoring on Steve Kerr at the rim. Chicago got a layup from James Edwards off a beautiful pass from Dennis Rodman. Ewing responded right away with a fadeaway over Edwards to give New York its current lead. Ewing has 6 points on 3/4 from the field. Chicago has a 14-10 advantage on the boards, including a 6-0 lead on offensive boards. Rodman has 7 rebounds. 

New York leads 50-46 with 2:23 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. The gamesmanship is picking up as Chicago is complaining about the condition of the basketball, saying it is too slippery. New York has started the game shooting 65% from the field, the Bulls 41%. As for the free throws, Jackson can't be happy with the Knicks already shooting 16 (making 13) and the Bulls only getting 8 attempts (making 6). Ewing is off to a great start, going 5/6 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line for 14 points. He just hit a baseline fadeaway over Edwards after a Rodman outlet pass was stolen by Charles Oakley. Ewing also had a tough banker across the lane as he was falling down. Hubert Davis added a corner jumper during this stretch, which saw the Bulls pick up some questionable fouls, leading to Knicks free throws as Chicago is in the penalty. Edwards and Jud Buechler got two quick fouls called on them. Buechler has been awesome on the other end, going 3/3 from the field for a much-needed 6 points. Buechler hit two long jumpers from both wings and had a nice reverse layup off a beautiful offensive rebound and tap to him by Jordan, who has been playing this whole segment with three fouls. Randy Brown also had a layup off a Ewing goal tend. Honestly, it looked like that ball was still going up, leading to another questionable call by the officials. Edwards has been aggressive, taking four shots but hitting just one. Right now Chicago has a 16-12 advantage on the boards, including 8-1 on the offensive glass. The Bulls are hanging without Kukoc and despite some tough calls against them. 

Chicago leads 51-50 at the break. The Bulls just took its first lead of the game, with Rodman getting a tap in of a missed shot of his own and Jordan hitting a faceup three over Anthony Mason. New York's offense got frazzled late in the quarter, with Starks overdribbling and losing the ball, and Ewing taking a deep jumper with Longley in his grill. Jordan missed a three at the end of the half but has 15 points on 5/13 from the field, along with 4 rebounds. Ewing leads the Knicks with 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting and 6 rebounds. The Knicks led by as much as 8, but did not do a good job in the second quarter of extending the lead. Starks did not get a shot in this quarter and is 2/4 from the field. Give credit to Chicago, which is controlling the boards, leading to second shots, and picking up the defense, keeping the Knicks off guard with late traps. New York can't be feeling good, shooting 57% on 16/27 from the field while losing by one point. Chicago is only  20/46 from the field (44%), but has 19 more shots, due to a 10-1 advantage on the offensive glass. Chicago has a 20-14 edge on the glass. Rodman has 10 boards, 5 offensive, along with 4 points. 

Chicago leads 59-56 with 7:03 remaining. It has been an ugly stretch to the start the third as the refs are calling fouls nearly every possession. New York is already in the penalty. Longley picked up three fouls during this stretch and now has 5 fouls. Jordan got his fourth foul, a flagrant on a fast-break run out by Starks. That was a hard foul but not a flagrant, a terrible overreaction by the refs. Chicagos continue to pounds the offensive glass, leading to a 14-1 advantage on second-chance points. Longley had a nice offensive stick back for Chicago's first points of the half. Jordan also drove and found Rodman for a layup. New York went scoreless for 5 minutes, dating back to the first half, before Ewing hit a faceup jumper, ending a modest 10-0 Bulls' run. Oakley had a jumper as well. That's all this stretch has been, 2 made field goals for both teams and a bunch of fouls. Bill Wennington is in for Longley. Starks is seemingly getting frustrated with his lack of involvement, overdribbling and losing the ball out of bounds. New York has also not gotten Mason going. Back to Jordan and his four fouls. The last time he fouled out of a game was November 22, 1991 against the Sonics. The last time he fouled out of a playoff game was May 5, 1989 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

New York leads 64-62 with 4:55 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. The Knicks are on an 8-3 run. Oakley was keeping the Knicks in the game with a nice layup off a great pass from Ewing out of a double team and then a corner jumper before picking up his fourth foul. Ewing drew a questionable foul call on Wennington, hitting two free throws for his 18th and 19th points. Ewing is 7/8 from the free throw line, where he has struggled this playoffs. Speaking of struggling at the line, Pippen just missed two after Jordan missed a couple earlier in the quarter. Pippen had a rare terrible turnover, spinning baseline and getting caught in the air. He kicked the ball out to no one, with Derek Harper picking up, dribbling down court and hitting a jumper over Ron Harper for his first points since the first quarter. Derek Harper is 5/6 for 15 points, and New York has hit 5 straight shots. After taking 29 shots in Game Three, Pippen has not been too aggressive looking for his shot. With the exception of a Ron Harper off a Jordan steal of Starks, the Bulls have no offensive rhythm. This is becoming a grinder of a game, with the officiating this half very frustrating on both ends. 

Chicago leads 77-68 with 18.7 seconds remaining as New York takes a 20-second timeout. The Bulls have finally found offense, going on a 15-2 run. Jordan just hit a three over Willie Anderson, who was accidentally hit in the face as Jordan swept the ball. Rodman has been amazing during this stretch, coming over for a weakside block of Ewing and drawing a charge on Mason. He has 15 rebounds, 7 offensive, and is not coming off the court. The Bulls have a 34-20 edge on the glass, 16 to 1 on the offensive boards. The Knicks are imploding with bad shots and turnovers. After a nice dribble kickout for a Ewing jumper, Starks has forced three awful shots during this stretch. After missing a couple of open threes early in the quarter, Ron Harper had a huge four-point play, hitting a desperation three at the end of the shot clock plus the foul on Charlie Ward. Harper has a quiet 16 points for the Bulls. Randy Brown had a nice block of Ward, which Rodman retrieved prior to Jordan's three. 

Chicago leads 77-68 at the end of three. That was looking like a bad quarter for the Bulls until the last few minutes, finishing on the 15-2 run for the biggest lead of the game. Jordan has 25 points on 7/17 from the field, adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Ewing leads the Knicks with 21 points. Chicago has taken 21 more shots than the Knicks, who are shooting just under 60% for the game but obviously giving up too many second-chance points. 

Chicago leads 82-71 with 9:59 remaining. These refs are something today, calling a technical foul on Phil Jackon on the first possession after Pippen fouled Mason. Oakley got a technical shortly thereafter after talking trash to Pippen, who wisely kept his mouth shut. With Jordan on the bench, the Bulls have extended the lead thanks to a Steve Kerr corner three and a beautiful dribble drive layup by Randy Brown, who split the Knicks defense. Rodman has picked up two fouls during this stretch and has 4 for the game. Starks just hit a tough field goal during which was fouled by Ron Harper, though the refs missed the call. Starks then threw up another bad shot, picking up an offensive foul crashing the boards while trying to atone for his bad decision. 

Chicago leads 86-78 with 6:42 remaining. It feels like the game is starting to turn in favor of the Knicks. Chicago just had back-to-back turnovers, with Kerr throwing a pass that went through Rodman's hands and Ron Harper being called for a travel. Fortunately, Ewing followed Kerr's turnover with a moving screen. Oakley has been fighting hard this game, drawing Jordan's fifth foul on an offensive rebound attempt. Fouls are piling up. Longley was disqualified for his sixth and picked up a technical foul expressing his frustration. He had four quick fouls in the second half. Rodman and Ewing both have four fouls. Chicago got a needed basket from John Salley, who made a tough layup off a nice cut as Jordan hit him out of a double. The Bulls have 20 more shots for the game due to an 18-3 edge in offensive rebounding and 39-23 advantage overall. Ewing has hit 9/10 free throws tonight. He has three blocks this half, including one just on Rodman, who apparently reinjured a pinky finger he broke earlier in the year. Ron Harper had a nice bank shot off a headfake and dribble. Jordan has missed his last several shots after sitting out the first few minutes of the half. Jackson has been trying to rest Jordan, Rodman and Pippen for the stretch after they logged big minutes in Game Three. The Garden is getting loud as this game figures to have a tense and exciting ending. 

Chicago leads 86-82 with 4:29 remaining as New York takes a timeout. Derek Harper is down holding his shoulder after Salley set a hard screen. That was a weird sequence. After a missed Jordan jumper, and with Harper down on the ground, Starks got the long rebound, dribbled through three Bulls and made a layup plus the foul. He will have a free throw out of the break. New York is 8/8 from the line this quarter. Rodman has picked up his fifth foul. Three of his five fouls have come this quarter. Jordan and he have 5 each. Pippen just reentered after getting some rest. Jordan has missed at least four straight shots. Chicago has been kept alive on the glass, with Rodman and Harper getting key offensive boards. It's now a 21-4 advantage in offensive rebounding. Rodman missed two free throws though. The Bulls need Pippen to be assertive as he has just reentered the game. 

New York leads 87-86 with 2:26 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. Ewing just hit a tough shot over Pippen inside the key to give New York the lead. The Knicks have 4 field goals this quarter but are 11/11 from the line. Chicago's offense has gone stagnant as the Knicks have forced several 24-second shot clock violations. Jordan is 0-for-5 this quarter and just 7/23 for the game. Phil Jackson has gone with John Salley for a long time since Longley fouled out. Wennington hasn't played a lot this game despite having a good series so far. As for Derek Harper, he went to the locker room after his injury, which was described as a possible separation. However, he just reentered the game, as the Knicks think he is dealing with muscle spasms. 

New York leads 89-86 with 1:41 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. Ewing just hit a tough fadeaway across the lane over Rodman as Chicago has gone to a small-ball lineup of Kerr, Harper, Jordan, Pippen and Rodman. Jordan got bailed out on a weak foul call on Oakley, though it was on the floor. Pippen missed a three before Ewing's big jumper. New York is on a 13-0 run in the last 5:36. 

Chicago leads 92-91 with 36.9 seconds remaining. Chicago scores on three straight possessions, with the unlikeliest of combinations. Out of the timeout, Jackson inserts Wennington, who gets a dunk on a dribble drive assist from Rodman of all people. Ewing then hits another tough shot over Wennington. Chicago quickly scores as Jordan lobs to Pippen for a layup with 1:01 remaining. Ewing is called for a travel, and then Rodman finds Wennington off another dribble drive for an open baseline jumper. What a job by Wennington! 

Chicago leads 92-91 with 18.8 seconds remaining. Ewing misses a tough baseline fadeaway over Salley, who was brought in the game for defensive purposes. Rodman secures the rebound and alertly calls timeout as he was falling out of bounds. What a heady play by the Worm. 

Chicago leads 92-91 with 13 seconds remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. Pippen couldn't inbound the ball and called a timeout. Previously, Pippen inbounded from in front of the Bulls' bench, lobbing the ball into Jordan, who smartly hit the ball ahead to Harper, who found Kerr, who was fouled by Ewing. New York has one more foul to give. Chicago has 1 timeout left, the Knicks have none. 

Chicago survives as Jordan hits two free throws. New York had a chance to tie the game but Starks traveled on the dribble handoff before hitting the three with 1.4 seconds left. Chicago gets the inbound to an open Wennington and the clock runs out. Jordan had just 2 points in the fourth quarter, both from the free throw line. Ewing did all he could to tie the series at two but Chicago leaves with a 3-1 series lead. Here is the box score. 

1. Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks. Ewing was the best player on the floor, especially in the fourth quarter, finishing with 29 points and 10 rebounds, and hitting some tough shots to give the Knicks the lead. 

2. Dennis Rodman, Chicago Bulls. Rodman had 19 rebounds on the game, 10 on the offensive glass, and dished out the two big assists to Wennington in the final two minutes. Rodman was a warrior in New York, playing 51 and 41 minutes. In large part to Rodman, Chicago won this game because of its board work. The Bulls outrebounded New York 46 to 28. Half of Chicago's boards were on the offensive glass, with Chicago having a 23-4 advantage rebounding missed shots.  

3. Bill Wennington, Chicago Bulls. Despite only getting 7 minutes total, Wennington had a dunk and the game-winning baseline jumper with 38 seconds left. After doing a nice job in limited minutes all series, Wennington should have played more. As a whole, Chicago's bench was wonderful this game with Steve Kerr, Randy Brown, Jud Buechler, James Edwards and John Salley giving key minutes. 

4. Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls. With his aggression limited by five fouls, Jordan finished with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, maybe having his best all-around game of the playoffs despite only scoring 2 points in the fourth quarter. Jordan was o-for-6 from the field in the fourth quarter. 

5. Ron Harper, Chicago Bulls. Harper had a quiet but big 18 points and 5 rebounds in 40 minutes. 

1. The officiating. I thought the refs were brutal for both teams. There were a lot of tight fouls, with New York getting back in the game at the line in the fourth quarter. Jordan and Rodman had 5 fouls each, and Longley fouled out. For New York, Ewing and Oakley had 5 fouls each. That was a strange game to see so many key players in foul trouble. New York was 28/34 from the line while Chicago was 22/29. New York shot 11 free throws in the fourth quarter while the Bulls had 4. The Bulls were up double digits early in the fourth quarter as the refs quickly got the Bulls in the penalty. Rodman picked up 3 immediate fouls at the start of the fourth quarter as did Longley in the third quarter. Jackson, Oakley, Longley and Rodman all received technicals. Ultimately, the refs had their undies in a bunch this game, coming in with a decision to call things way too tightly rather than letting the play dictate the game. If I was a Head Coach, I would have been fined after this game. 

Here are the highlights of Game Four between the Bulls and Knicks. 

by: Chris Maynard
(thecollegebasketballnostalgic@gmail.com) 

Today is the 30th anniversary of Game Three between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference second-round series of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. I have gone ahead and rewatched this game, listing my observations of what I saw with a fresh set of eyes. Here is some background about the first and second games of this series.

Game 1 Recap: Chicago held on for a 91-84 victory despite playing maybe its worst team game of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. The Bulls came out blazing in the first and second quarter, leading by as many as 15 points, with Michael Jordan scoring 15 points during the game's first twelve minutes. Give credit to the Knicks, which got the game back to its style the rest of the second and third quarters. New York got hot from the field and closed the rebounding gap. The fourth-quarter was back and forth, but Chicago did just enough behind Jordan's 44 points while New York went cold in the game's final five minutes. All in all, the Knicks played the better team game, but Chicago had the best player on the court in Jordan.  

Game 2 Recap: Don't be deceived by the final score of Chicago's 91-80 victory in Game Two. The Bulls only led by two points after three quarters. After struggling from the field through the first six quarters of the series, Scottie Pippen was a major catalyst in the fourth quarter of Game Two as Chicago outscored the Knicks 27-10 at one point to put the game away. The game got chippy halfway through the fourth quarter as Patrick Ewing and Bulls Assistant Head Coach Jim Cleamons were hit with double technical fouls. Ultimately, Ewing and the Knicks' offense went missing in the last 12 minutes as the Bulls ratcheted up their defense. Michael Jordan led Chicago with 28 points while Dennis Rodman had his best game so far in the playoffs, notching 19 rebounds. 

5 Quick Observations from Game Two 

1. New York had to be feeling discouraged leaving Chicago down two games. The Knicks had legitimate shots during the first two games, giving Chicago problems defensively and hanging around. Unfortunately, New York's offense, especially Patrick Ewing, was nowhere to be found in the fourth quarters of both games. New York only scored 15 points in the fourth quarter of Game One, going scoreless for the last 5 minutes. In Game Two, New York got outscored by 17 points in the fourth quarter, until making up some ground with some meaningless points during garbage time. So far the Knicks had been close in this series but unable to get over the hump when it mattered.

2. Chicago has been doing a great job on the offensive glass. Offensively, the Bulls have not been playing that well, with Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc really struggling from the floor. However, Chicago has done a great job at the start of games pounding the offensive boards, which have led to a lot of second-chance points. In Game Two, Jordan made a more concerted effort to get the ball on the offensive glass, leading to several easy baskets. At times, Chicago's best offense has come off of second-chance points and points off turnovers. Chicago had 18 offensive boards in each of the first two games! 

3. Give credit to New York's half-court defense. The Knicks have really made the Bulls' offense uncomfortable in the half court. In the third quarter of Game Two, Chicago was turning the ball over left and right. In fact, I cannot remember Jordan and Pippen having lost the ball so many times. While he has struggled offensively, John Starks had a really nice defensive performance in Game Two, providing great help-line defense. 

4. Rodman breaks out. Just like Jordan was due for a big scoring game entering Game One of this series, Rodman was due for a big rebounding game. After only averaging 6 boards per game during the first round sweep of Miami, Rodman is averaging 15.5 boards through the first two games. While Rodman has been frustrated and limited at points due to fouls, he has done a good controlling his emotions and having better focus this series. 

5. Ewing struggles when it matters. Ewing is one of the greatest centers of all time, one of the greatest superstars to never win a championship. In the first three quarters of Games One and Two, Ewing has been arguably the second best player on the floor, behind Jordan. However, his lack of impact during the fourth quarter was apparent in both games and is something that I remember a lot from the Georgetown product throughout his playoff career against the Bulls. In the first two games, Ewing scored 3 combined points in the fourth quarters of Games One and Two. 

What I remember from the day of Game Three: I know this was a Saturday afternoon game, at 12 p.m. central time in Chicago on NBC. This was an early game for the Bulls, who would play the Knicks again in less than 24 hours. I remember watching this game upstairs in my room. I had to take a break for a bit and help my Dad unload some slabs he was laying down on the small basketball court in my backyard. Basically, the court was the width of a lane; it was very small, but I got good at shooting free throws out in my yard on that rim. After helping my Dad, I watched the rest of the game. 

What I remember from Game Three: It felt like New York was in control the entire game, with the Bulls hanging around, though. I do remember Jordan hitting a tough three to send the game to overtime, where New York prevailed to cut the series in half. 

Here is Game Three between the Bulls and Knicks. 

Starting Lineups: Chicago Bulls vs. New York Knicks 

• Point Guard: Ron Harper vs. John Starks 
  
• Shooting Guard: Michael Jordan vs. Derek Harper 
• Small Forward: Scottie Pippen vs. Anthony Mason
• Power Forward: Dennis Rodman vs. Charles Oakley
• Center: Luc Longley vs. Patrick Ewing 
• Head Coaches: Phil Jackson vs. Jeff Van Gundy 

*Notes: Bulls' forward Toni Kukoc is out of today's game with a back injury suffered in practice the day before while Knicks' guard Charlie Ward is available after missing Game Two with a stomach virus.  

NBC T.V. Commentators: Marv Albert with the play-by-play, Matt Guokas with the color commentary.

New York leads 9-6 with 6:36 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. Good news for the Knicks as John Starks hits his first two shots, both jumpers. Starks canned a jumper off a screen on the game's first possession and hit a three to give New York its lead. The Knicks started off hot, hitting their first three shots, with Mason hitting a faceup on Rodman (and sticking out his tongue a la Michael Jordan on the way down the court) and Ewing scoring on a post up. New York missed four straight before Starks' three. Jordan has come out aggressive, going 2-for-6 from the field. Jordan missed his first two shots, hit two fadeaways and missed his next two jumpers. Rodman had an offensive rebound on Chicago's first possession, leading to a made Longley half hook in the lane. Pippen has picked up two quick fouls. The Garden crowd is engaged, which made these Bulls-Knicks games so much fun to watch back in the day. 

New York leads 17-6 with 4:33 remaining as Chicago takes another timeout. Starks and Mason have come out to play today. Starks had two nice dribble drive assists to Mason, who is 4-for-5 from the field for 8 points. Chicago has missed its last 7 shots, with Pippen 0-for-4 to start the game. Ron Harper and Charles Oakley got in each other's faces after Harper was called for a foul down low. Oakley also elbowed and stared down Pippen after both players fell down following a missed layup on a Scottie drive. The Bulls look flat-footed, with the offense struggling once again to get any rhythm. 

New York leads 21-11 with 2:03 remaining as the Knicks take a 20-second timeout. Starks began this stretch with a steal of a Bill Wennington pass and a reverse dunk on the break. New York was on a 13-0 run until Jordan canned a corner jumper, breaking a 4:29 drought for the Bulls. After missing his first five shots, Pippen finally banked one in. Ron Harper is also 0/3, though he had two steals during this stretch. Rodman received a technical for shoving Oakley in the back after a foul on a fastbreak. That is Rodman's 1st technical of the series. Rodman and Phoenix's Charles Barkley led the NBA with 29 technicals during the 1995-96 season. Anthony Mason had 22 techs on the season. The refs have been calling a tight whistle against the Bulls, with Chicago's old friend Hue Hollins reffing he game. Chicago committed six fouls before New York was whistled for its first. 

New York leads 25-17 at the end of the first quarter. The refs are really calling a tight whistle, disrupting the flow to the game. Jordan leads Chicago with 11 points but is just 3/6 from the free throw line. He is 4/9 from the field while the Bulls are 6/19 from the field. The only other Bulls to score in the first quarter were Longley, Pippen  and Jud Buechler, with each player having two points. Mason and Starks, who has two fouls, both have 8 points while Ewing has 7 points and 4 rebounds. Jordan and Oakley had an interesting moment. After Jordan canned a jumper from the winger over Oakley, Jordan patted Oakley on the behind, as if to say Oakley has no chance of stopping him. 

New York leads 33-23 with 8:08 remaining. Charlie Ward has sparked the Knicks during this segment, penetrating and feeding Oakley, who has scored four quick points, for a layup. Ward then stole a lazy pass by Pippen and coasted in for a layup. Ward then made a beautiful lefty layup in traffic. Chicago had hit two bank shots in a row by Pippen and Rodman of all people. However, Pippen blew a layup off a beautiful up and under that had Hubert Davis out of his shorts and then missed another banker. Pippen was icing down his shoulder between quarters after straining it early in the game. Steve Kerr also hit a shot for Chicago, but the Bulls offense is once again looking ragged. New York has been the more aggressive and energetic team so far. New York has a 15-8 advantage on the boards, limiting Chicago to just 2 offensive rebounds. The Knicks have committed 5 turnovers but only yielded 3 points off those mistakes. New York also has a 20-6 advantage with points in the paint. 

New York leads 33-27 with 6:54 remaining as the Knicks take a timeout. Chicago is on a mini 4-0 run as Pippen made a nice layup off a curl screen in the lane and Jordan just hit a nasty fadeaway on Willie Anderson, who was juked out of his shorts. Anderson has had a tough time off the bench, missing three shots and getting schooled here. Rodman had two defensive rebounds during this stretch and is starting to come alive. Steve Kerr deflected a ball out bounds, and Jeff Van Gundy saw enough, electing to call a timeout. 

New York leads 35-33 with 2:55 remaining. Chicago is starting to swing this game, in the midst of a 10-2 run. Jordan has hit two faceup jumpers and now has a game-high 19 points. Jordan has 58% of Chicago's points and just came out for his first rest, with Steve Kerr replacing him. All 7 of Jordan's makes have been jumpers. He is 7/12 from the field and 5/8 from the free throw line. Pippen is really struggling with his shot, as he is just 3/13 to start the game. Without Kukoc, the Bulls feel like they lack a bit of depth off the bench. Longley has three fouls after Willie Anderson had a beautiful finish at the rim on him. New York's offense has gone cold, and the Knicks have had three turnovers during this stretch. This feels like the reverse of Games One and Two, when Chicago got off to strong starts and the Knicks chipped away. The Knicks got off to a hot, but now Chicago is doing the chipping. 

New York leads 43-38 at the end of two quarters. New York led by as many as 13 points at one point, but the Bulls have gotten back into the game. Starks has been phenomenal, hitting 5/7 for 13 points, including a jumper and three during this stretch. Jordan has 22 points, the rest of the team has 16. Steve Kerr hit a nice banker during this stretch. Rodman had a beautiful one-handed block of a reverse layup attempt by Ewing. That was great help defense by Rodman. Charles Oakley was hit with a technical foul, pushing Rodman after a free throw make. According to Jim Gray, Oakley was talking to the Bulls' bench, specifically Scottie Pippen and John Salley, telling them to stop crying. Oakley has scored 6 points and been looking to lay out people throughout the game. All things considered, Chicago has to feel good to be relatively close. 

New York leads 49-45 with 7:44 remaining as the Knicks take a timeout. Both teams are really struggling from the field, throwing up bricks left and right. Pippen is now 3/16. Ron Harper is 0/5. Derek Harper missed a layup and three. He is 1/9. The Knicks began 1/6 to start the half. New York does lead 26-19 on the boards. Rodman is having an active half, nearly missing two offensive rebounds, with one tap out leading to a Starks breakout and feed to Harper for a layup. Besides Jordan, Starks has been the best player on the court so far during Game Three. Bill Wennington had a nice jumper off a steal of a Ewing rebound. He has given Chicago great minutes this series. Jordan hit a tough baseline fadeaway during this stretch. Ewing has been very quiet since a strong first quarter. He has not scored since the opening 12 minutes.  

Chicago leads 51-49 as New York takes a quick 20-second timeout. The Bulls finally hit a three. Ron Harper bags one off of a double team of Jordan, and Pippen steals the inbound pass to hit another three. A similar sequence happened in the second quarter of Game Two. That was a terrible inbound pass by Oakley, who showed indifferent defense on Pippen's shot. Pippen is now just 15/53 from the field this series. Chicago is in the midst of an 8-0 run. The Knicks cannot find any offense, with Ewing having a pass stolen by Jordan and missing a jumper, and Starks missing an open shot off a screen. New York has 11 turnovers for the game. 

New York leads 57-51 with 3:37 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. Oakley has sparked the Knicks with his activity. After Starks missed two free throws, Oakley tracked down the offensive rebound in the corner, and kicked out to Starks for a three. Oakley just had an offensive tip in leading to the Chicago timeout. Ewing also hit a shot across the lane for his first bucket since the first quarter. New York has picked up the defense. Derek Harper had a nice steal of a posting Jordan, leading to a Starks run out and foul. The Knicks then forced a 24-second violation, and Steve Kerr followed with a long miss on a deep three. The Garden is rocking, with the Defense chant getting loud. I am getting boosebumps watching this. What intensity!  :-) 

New York leads 60-58 with 48 seconds remaining. Steve Kerr just pickpocketed Charlie Ward and John Starks on back-to-back possessions, but missed a layup and lost the ball out of bounds. I think Kerr was so shocked by his defense that he tensed up when going up for his shots. Ron Harper gave him a hug after losing the ball, making for a funny moment. As for the game, Mason is getting going for the Knicks, slamming a dunk after Rodman made the mistake of doubling Ewing. Rodman has been awesome, playing the entire game and not getting whistled for a foul. He had a layup during this stretch and hit two free throws. 

New York leads 62-58 at the end of three. Mason had a beautiful face up, dribble drive and spin for a layup on Rodman. Mason has been big the last few minutes, and has 16 points for the game. This is setting up for a tight/tense fourth quarter. 

New York leads 69-63 with 9:31 remaining. Hue Hollins just whistled a foul on a Knick and inadvertantly hit Jeff Van Gundy on the sidelines. Van Gundy fell down and looked like he was temporarily conccussed. Well, the game is certainly picking up. Chicago was whistled for three fouls during the first 1:05, with Rodman getting two fouls after not being whistled for one the entire game. Rodman has played all but 10 seconds in Game Three. Starks hit a beautiful baseline three off a great pick by Ewing and Charlie Ward had a nice floater in the lane. Ward needed to play more in this game. Scottie Pippen is getting going for the second-straight fourth quarter. Pippen had a beautiful layup plus the foul off a backdoor lob pass from Kerr, who put that one right on the money. Pippen then canned a three. 

New York leads 77-67 with 6:23 remaining. As Marv Albert just said, "The Garden is rocking." Charlie Ward has had two beautiful layups. He is 5/6 for 12 points. After starting 1/5 in the half, Jordan had two beautiful layups of his own, including a ridiculous spin move on Willie Anderson off the left wing. New York has outscored Chicago 15-9 so far this quarter. Ewing is doing a lot of little things, hitting two free throws and getting an offensive board. Longley has five fouls. The fouls are picking up for both sides. This is a fun game to watch, with 90s playoff intensity at MSG at its finest. Chicago only has 6 offensive boards. 

New York leads 82-74 with 4:45 remaining. The Knicks were up 82-69 with 5:24 remaining but Chicago has gone on a quick 5-0 run. Pippen canned a three and Steve Kerr hit a corner jumper off a beautiful head fake and one dribble. Jordan had a ridiculous fadeaway during this stretch on the baseline. New York had a chance to push the lead back to 13 but Willie Anderson missed a wide-open three off a beautiful kickout from Ewing, who was facing a double team. Ewing has 6 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. Jordan leads all scorers with 30 points. 

New York leads 84-78 with 2:46 remaining as Chicago takes a timeout with Ward at the line to shoot a second free throw. Pippen has had a big fourth quarter, getting an offensive rebound of a missed Rodman layup for a putback. Ewing has been having a great all-around fourth quarter, securing a defensive board and throwing a deep pass down court to Starks for a dunk. While having a rough game, Longley just had a nice lefty half hook in the lane. Chicago was in the midst of a 7-0 run before Starks' slam. New York has a 41-30 advantage on the boards. Rodman has 16 rebounds thus far. New York has scored 22 points this quarter, Chicago 20. The Bulls are shooting 60% from the field, New York 50%. The Bulls are 2/2 from deep, both by Pippen. The Knicks are 1/3 from three, with Derek Harper having a bad miss in the corner that hit the side of the backboard. Chicago has 4 turnovers this quarter, New York 2. 

New York leads 88-80 with 1:30 remaining. Ewing just canned a big corner jumper, leading to a Bulls timeout. After Chicago missed a shot, Ewing almost got into it with Rodman, who tried to trip him after failing to secure the loose ball. Jordan began this segment with a one-hand dunk down the lane, as two Knicks accidentally picked each other off following a wing-entry pass from Pippen to Jordan, who was at the foul line. Starks followed up with a glorious baseline spinning layup. Starks has been incredible! Ewing has stepped up, with 8 of his 17 points during the fourth quarter. 

New York leads 88-83 with 1:07 remaining as the Knicks take a timeout. Derek Harper got bailed out by the refs as he was trapped by Pippen and Jordan at halfcourt. It looked like Pippen had a steal, but the ref awarded a timeout to New York. Jordan just hit a three after Pippen secured an offensive rebound off a missed Jordan three. Chicago is on a 14-6 run. 

New York leads 88-85 with 30 seconds remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. The Bulls have just forced back to back turnovers. Pippen stole a Starks pass. Jordan then hit a ridiculous, high-arching shot over two Knicks. He has 37 points for the game. Rodman got Oakley to shuffle his feet on a drive. Oakley has six turnovers. Here come some more Jordan heroics. :-) 

The game is tied at 88 with 19.4 seconds left as New York takes a timeout. Jordan just hit a three from the top of the key to tie this game up. He now has 40 points and is 2/4 from deep in the game. Chicago is just 6/16 from three, with Pippen 3/8. Still Jordan has gone on a personal 8-0 run here to stun the Garden. Jordan has 16 of his 40 in the fourth quarter. He has scored Chicago's last 10 points. Chicago is on a 19-6 run in the last 5 minutes. 

The game is tied at 88 with 2.6 seconds left as Chicago takes a timeout. Starks misses a jumper and the ball is knocked out of bounds by the Knicks. The Bulls will have a chance to steal this game here. 

The game is tied at 88 as we go to overtime. Jordan gets off a one-handed prayer as the lob inbound pass from Pippen was guarded tough by New York. Jordan's impossible shot gets air as the game goes to an extra five minutes. What an exciting finish that was to the end of the fourth quarter! 

Chicago leads 97-94 with 2:03 remaining. What a furious start to overtime. Starks hits a mid-range jumper. Pippen cans a three off an offensive rebound. Starks drains a three. Jordan scores on a post up and then gets two free throws. Ewing splits a pair of free throws. Jordan scores on a missed shot of his own, banking in the ball after the rebound. Jordan has 46 points. Pippen and Jordan have 35 of Chicago's 39 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. 

New York leads 98-97 with 37.9 seconds remaining as Chicago takes a timeout. Ewing has been the hero here, just hitting a faceup jumper over Longley. A few possessions before Ewing threw up a prayer that fell down while falling across the lane. He also blocked a Jordan layup at the rim, which Chicago recovered, though Longley missed a jumper. Pippen also missed a three as Chicago was unable to score on back-to-back possessions. 

New York leads 99-97 with 27.3 seconds remaining as Chicago takes a timeout with Starks having one more free throw. Oakley knocked the ball away from a dribbling Jordan, with Starks picking up the 50/50 ball. Jordan fouled Starks, who hit his first free throw. Jordan was upset as he felt he fouled Oakley, who is not as good of a free-throw shooter. 

New Yorks leads 102-99 with 11.3 second left as Chicago takes a timeout. Oakley just hit two free throws after Starks hit the back end of his free throw. Chicago had the game down to one point on a Pippen dunk off a nice feed from Longley. I wonder who is taking the last shot here? :-) New York is 23/33 from the foul line; Chicago is 16/20. 

Pippen misses a three at the buzzer as New York sent a double team at Jordan, who made the right basketball play by passing to the open player. Chicago finishes 7/21 from three and loses its first game of the playoffs. The Knicks cut the series to 2-1 with a gutty victory in a classic. Here is the final box score. 

1. Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks. Ewing scores 13 of his 22 in the fourth quarter and overtime, including two big shots to put New York up for good. What a great response from Ewing, who only scored a combined 3 points in the fourth quarters of Games One and Two. 

2. Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls. Jordan finishes with a game-high 46 points and nearly stole the game all by himself in the final minutes of regulation. He also played 51 minutes, with his sore back no longer an issue. Jordan hit 17/35 shots from the field. 

3. John Starks, New York Knicks. After struggling offensively in Games One and Two, Starks breaks out with 30 points on 11-for-18 from the field and 5-for-8 from three. 

4. Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls. After another miserable first three quarters shooting the ball, Pippen caught fire in the fourth quarter, hitting several big threes. Pippen was only 10/29 from the field, finishing with 24 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. 

5A. Anthony Mason, New York Knicks. Mason played 49 valiant minutes, keying New York in the third quarter and finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds. 

5B. Dennis Rodman, Chicago Bulls. Rodman played a game-high 52 minutes, finishing with 16 rebounds and 7 points. 

1. Derek Harper, New York Knicks. Harper had one of those miserable games players occasionally have, scoring 3 points on 1-of-11 from the field. 

Here are the highlights of a thrilling Game Three. 

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful Moms out there, especially my:

• Beautiful Mom.
• Incredible sister. 
  
• Dedicated sister-in-law. 
• Amazing aunts. 
• Selfless cousins. 
• Dearest friends. 
• Female teaching colleagues. 

One great thing about my childhood during the late eighties and early nineties was watching the Bulls move through the playoffs, with several notable games taking place on Mother's Day. 

Each Mother's Day my family would usually gather with the families of my Mom's three sisters. We would either go out to a nice restaurant for dinner or have a party at one of our houses, where typically the Bulls were playing during the playoffs. 

In fact, Game Four of the second-round series between the Bulls and Knicks took place on Mother's Day 1996. I will be covering that game on Tuesday of this week. 

Gathering to watch Bulls' playoff games with family on Mother's Day, during Holy Communions, for the NBA Finals and other special occasions is something I cherished as a child and reflect upon fondly as a middle-aged adult. 

Make the jump to read about several Mother's Day memories I have of watching the Bulls during the 1990s. 

I remember third-grade me watching this Mother's Day game on a small black-and-white television in my room. I went crazy went B.J. Armstrong hit a shot at the buzzer at the end of the third quarter, with my Mom coming in my room to tell me to relax and start getting ready for dinner. Later that day we went to a restaurant named Michella Terrace. I remember my Uncle driving me back home at what seemed to be late at night. I asked him if he was excited the Bulls had knocked the Sixers out of the playoffs. He informed me the Bulls still had one more game to win. For some reason, I thought the Bulls only had to win three games, like in the first round. 

I remember watching this Mother's Day game at my Grandpa Herb's and Grandma Della's house. We are all crammed in the living room, around a small television. This was the day after my brother's Holy Communion, during which he got a pet cockatiel that lived for more than 20 years. Speaking of great Moms, my Mom took care of that bird more than my brother ever did. Anyways, I remember my Uncle Larry hysterically laughing when Phil Jackson got ejected during this game, specifically with the Bulls' Head Coach waving goodbye to the crowd as he was escorted off the court. None of us were laughing though as the Knicks ended up defeating the Bulls, evening up what we though was going to be an easy series at two games apiece. 

The Bulls had just swept the Atlanta Hawks and were waiting on the winner of the Nets and Cavs series. The Cavs would win Game Five on Mother's Day, which also featured Game One between the Hornets and Knicks and Game Five between the Lakers and Suns. I remember watching the Lakers nearly defeating the Suns as my family had Mother's Day dinner at some fancy restaurant. At dinner my Uncle Larry turned to me and asked me what I thought about the Bulls having to play the Cavs in the second round. I told him I wasn't worried, though I added that the Bulls wouldn't beat the Knicks in the next round. He disagreed and said the Bulls would win. He was right. 

This Mother's Day we had a party at my house. With Michael Jordan off in retirement, I figured the Bulls had no chance to beat the Knicks in Game One. To my surprise, the Bulls came out and played a great first half, with a double-digit lead at halftime. Excited, I asked my Mom if my cousins and I could walk a few blocks to go to the card shop to get some basketball cards. She let us go; however, when we got back a few minutes into the third quarter, the Knicks had already come back. The Bulls would lose a tough Game One and the series in seven games. 

I remember watching this Mother's Day game at my Uncle Larry and Aunt Karen's house in the suburbs of Chicago. In seventh-grade at this time, I was playing basketball with my brother and cousin in the backyard. I would pause our game to run back into the house and check on the Bulls' game. Chicago would win to tie the series at two. That would be Chicago's last win in the series. I remember faking sick the next day of school as I had a big test on the Greek Gods and Goddesses on Tuesday. I spent that Monday studying for the test, which I did well on. 

I remember watching this game on the back porch of my Grandma and Grandma's house. After Chicago won the first two games of this series, the Bulls dropped Game Three the day before this Mother's Day contest. I was freaking out as it was looking like the Knicks were going to win again. However, Dennis Rodman made a great pass to Bill Wennington, who hit a short corner jumper to help the Bulls escape. Two days later the Bulls would end the Knicks as my eighth-grade classmates and I visited Springfield, Illinois for our class trip. 

I remember watching this Mother Day's game at my Uncle John and Aunt Donna's house. The day before my cousin Jimmy made his Holy Communion. As we were driving to the church, we were listening to Game Three of the Bulls and Hawks. Atlanta had stunned the Bulls in Game Two and were up double digits when we had to go into the church. I was freaking out during the entire Holy Communion, wondering if the Bulls lost. Once the ceremony was over, I asked my Dad for his car keys. I ran to the car and turned on the radio to find out the Bulls were up big late in the game. The following Game Four on Mother's Day would be another easy win for the Bulls, though the Hawks rallied late to make things interesting.

I remember watching this game once again during a party at my Uncle John and Aunt Donna's house. I was happy that the Bulls were taking care of business against Charlotte but worried about high school at the moment. Sophomore me had a big presentation the upcoming week about the digestive system as part of my Honor's Biology class. In fact, I had spent the day before Mother's Day working on the presentation at my friend Rich's house. The presentation would eventually go well. 

Prior to Game 2 of the 1996 second-round series between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls, Head Coach Phil Jackson was awarded the IBM Head Coach of the Year award. Amazingly, this would be the first and only time Jackson would win the Coach of the Year award despite winning 11 championships as a Head Coach. 

I don't know about you, but the fact that Jackson won just one Head Coach of the Year award is pretty insulting and probably reflective of how he was envied and disliked by others throughout the league. 

To some Jackson has been characterized as a guy who only won with some of the greatest players in the history of basketball. Michael Jordan. Scottie Pippen. Dennis Rodman. Shaquille O'Neal. Kobe Bryant. 

To others Jackson is the greatest coach of all time, the Zen Master, a guru at managing egos and building winning cultures. 

As Jackson went to the Los Angeles Lakers, became a bit Hollywood, and won win with teams that were not as good as his Bulls' teams, I started to feel that maybe Jackson was a bit overrated, a guy who was the product of the superstars around him, and certainly lucky to be in the right place at the right time. 

Over time, I have softened my stance on Jackson, realizing just how phenomenal he was with the Bulls. Jackson always had a wonderful feel for his teams and coached them accordingly. Chicago was always focused and prepared when it mattered, with Jackson setting the emotional tone.

Early in his tenure, Jackson was willing to take a backseat behind Jordan and Pippen, and not be the story. As his career progressed, especially with the Lakers, Jackson became more of the story and could come off as pompous, superior and even bigger than the game. As his success grew, his ego did as well. 

Upon reflection I wonder if how I felt about Jackson as the Lakers' Head Coach was how Knicks' fans felt about Jackson as the Bulls' Head Coach.

Make the jump to read more about how Phil Jackson's genius could be a blessing and curse in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.  

Of course, Jackson was a former Knick, drafted by the organization out of North Dakota with the 17th pick of the 1967 NBA Draft. Jackson played 10 seasons with New York, mostly as a long-armed, defensive reserve who provided physicality and fouled hard. Considered counterculture at the time, Jackson was a part of New York's 1972-73 NBA championship team coached by Red Holzman, whom Jackson would view as a coaching mentor. *Note: Jackson was injured and did not play during the 1969-70 season, when the Knicks won their first NBA title. 

After spending his last two seasons with the New Jersey Nets, Jackson retired as a player before eventually getting into coaching. Jackson was not some hot coaching commodity at the time, beginning with the Albany Patroons of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) and even coaching several teams in Puerto Rico. 

For some reason, Bulls' General Manager Jerry Krause saw something in Jackson. For all of Krause's many warts, he did have a talent at recognizing hidden gems. 

While Krause had gotten Jackson an interview to be on the staff in Chicago, I believe with Head Coach Stan Albeck prior to the 1985-86 season, Jackson was not hired based upon his appearance. In other words, he did not dress appropriately for the interview, apparently wearing a fedora. 

Eventually, Krause got Jackson another interview with Head Coach Doug Collins. Krause told Jackson not to blow this one, to dress in a suit and tie. Jackson was hired by Collins and would serve as an assistant for two seasons before being named the Bulls' head man after the 1989 NBA Playoffs. 

By year two in Chicago, Jackson had led the Bulls to its first title, doing what some thought would be impossible: winning a championship with a guard as the league's leading scorer. Not only did Jackson win with Michael Jordan as his superstar but he got Jordan to buy into getting his teammates more involved. While Jordan scoffed at the notion of Assistant Coach Tex Winter's Triangle Offense, he ultimately played ball, with Chicago taking off with the emergence of Scottie Pippen and a strong supporting cast of Horace Grant, John Paxson, Bill Cartwright and others. 

By the 1991-92 season, Chicago looked like it would cruise to a second title, going 67-25 in the regular season. However, a familiar organization, the New York Knicks, had something to say about that during the second round of the 1992 NBA Playoffs. 

Coached by former Lakers' Head Coach Pat Riley, the Knicks stole a page from the playbook of the Bad Boys' Detroit Pistons, taking the physicality to the Bulls at all costs, whether legal, borderline or criminal. As New York surprisingly pushed the Bulls to seven games, the disdain between Jackson and Riley germinated. I'll never forget Jackson getting eliminated in Game 4 of that series, with the Madison Square Garden crowd mocking him as he left the court. In an all-time great move, Jackson waved to the crowd with a huge grin on his face. 

Make no mistake: Jackson was no longer a beloved former Knick. Rather he was the opposing coach of the hated rival. While the Bulls would survive against the Knicks during seven grueling games in 1992, Riley used that offseason to fortify his New York team to topple the Bulls. 

New York seemed to be on the verge of doing just that, taking a 2-0 lead against the Bulls during the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals. Just when it looked like the Bulls were dead to rights, Chicago blitzed New York during Game Three and Jordan went off for 54 points during Game Four. Chicago won an all-time nail biter at MSG during Game Five, sending back Charles Smith's shot at the rim multiple times, and then closed things out at the Chicago Stadium two nights later. Somehow, someway, the Bulls had won four straight games against the Knicks and advanced to the 1993 NBA Finals, where Chicago beat Phoenix in six games for its first three peat. 

Riley and the Knicks would finally get Jackson and the Bulls during the second round of the 1994 NBA playoffs. Following a familiar script to the 1993 series, New York took a 2-0 lead heading to Chicago. Symbolic of the vitriol between the two organizations, between Jackson and Riley, between Chicago and New York as cities, Game Three would involve a nasty fight between the Bulls' Jo Jo English and the Knicks' Derek Harper, who spilled into the stands as they beat upon each other. Chicago would ultimately build and blow a big lead before Toni Kukoc hit a buzzer-beating three, with Pippen refusing to enter the game with 1.8 seconds left because the final shot was not called for him. 

Ultimately, the Knicks would win that series in seven games. New York had finally toppled Chicago, Riley had finally beaten Jackson. The Bulls' championship reign was done, and the team would lose many players, including Horace Grant, Bill Cartwright, John Paxson and Scott Williams that offseason. 

With Pippen seemingly wanting out of of Chicago and the team barely over .500 by mid March of the 1994-95 season, Jackson was apparently ready to take a leave of absence from the Bulls, frustrated by a team that was no longer as talented and seemingly past its prime. 

However, with the return of Jordan with 17 games left that season and the trade for Dennis Rodman that offseason, a reinvigorated Jackson would do a wonderful job in 1995-96, proving himself to be the greatest psychological coach of all time. Rather than trying to get Rodman to conform, Jackson gave the eccentric power forward a longer leash, reigning him in when necessary. With Jordan and Pippen being accepting teammates, Rodman responded with a great season because of his respect for not only these superstars but Jackson. 

As the Bulls took on the Knicks during the 1996 NBA playoffs, the animosity was not as strong, with Riley off to a Miami Heat team that Chicago easily handled in the first round, and Jeff Van Gundy now on the sidelines for the Knicks. Chicago would defeat New York in five games, and Jackson would lead the Bulls to a second three peat with championships in 1996, 1997 and 1998. 

However, it quickly became clear that Jackson was not getting along with Krause. After the 1996 and 1997 titles, Jackson nearly walked away before signing one-year deals. In fact, I remember reading in the paper during the 1996-97 season about how the Knicks were considering offering Charles Oakley to Chicago for Jackson as part of an offseason trade. The idea of a player-for-coach trade blew my mind at the time. 

Eventually, Jackson would walk away after Chicago's Last Dance, though the shady Krause tried to lure him back with a half-baked, last-minute attempt to have Iowa State's Tim Floyd serve as Director of Basketball Operations while Jackson coached again. Tired of the fighting and drama with Krause, Jackson saw right through the ploy and drove out of Chicago on his motorcycle. The Bulls have never been the same since Jackson, Jordan and Pippen all left. Jackson has had very little to do with the organization beyond jersey retirement ceremonies and reunions of the championship teams. 

Following a year off during the strike-shortened 1998-99 season, Jackson was hired by the Lakers, a team that seemed to be on the verge of great things but needed the right coach. Jackson was that guy, winning a title during his first season, getting Shaquille O'Neal over the hump while managing a young know-it-all in Bryant. As the Lakers won two more titles, the team always seemed to have some drama, specifically between Shaq and Kobe. Even Jackson himself became more of a diva, allegedly driving off Lakers' legend/executive Jerry West and then dating Jeannie Buss, the daughter of Lakers' owner Jerry Buss. 

After getting upset in the 2004 NBA Finals by the Detroit Pistons, the Lakers announced that Jackson would not be returning. Apparently, Jackson gave the franchise an ultimatum, saying he would not coach the extremely difficult Bryant, who had been dealing with a sexual assault case throughout the 2003-04 season. Jackson later wrote a book called The Last Season, during which he blasted Bryant's selfishness and immaturity. 

Of course, the 2003-04 campaign would not be the last season for Jackson and his own enormous ego. 

Similar to after his run with the Bulls, Jackson would be drawn to the bright lights of Hollywood, returning after just one season away. In 2009 and 2010, Jackson would win two more titles as the Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic. By this point Jackson seemed, at least to me, to be adding championships to his mantle in a watered-down NBA. 

By the time he left the Lakers following the 2011 NBA Playoffs, Jackson had become more of a caricature than an innovative coach, at least in my opinion, seemingly going through the motions and lacking the fire. 

And yet the allure of Jackson still resonated in the NBA, with the New York Knicks finally getting the Zen Master, this time as president of the organization in March of 2014. 

Jackson's time as President of the Knicks did not go well as he couldn't convince former Bull Steve Kerr to become his head coach. Jackson settled on his former Lakers player Derek Fisher, who had a miserable first season as New York finished with a franchise-worst 17-65 record. Fisher would be fired halfway through his second season while Jackson's vision of the Triangle Offense never meshed with the game of Knicks' superstar Carmelo Anthony. Jackson would try to shake things up by adding two former Bulls, trading for Derrick Rose and signing Joakim Noah, but those moves did not work out. After just three seasons with the Knicks, Jackson and the organization announced a mutual parting of ways. 

Jackson would leave the NBA with a little less luster to his name, justifying the criticism that he could win with ready-made teams but not build his own teams. 

Regardless of how Jackson may be viewed in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York today, there is no arguing that he was the perfect coach at the perfect time for Jordan and the Bulls, as evidenced by his six titles in eight seasons. 

I highly suggest reading Jackson's 1995 book Sacred Hoops, which details his basketball philosophy and portrays an introspective and prescient mind before he became a bit too big for the game.

To this day, it is one of my favorite sports books, indicative of a truly brilliant person who didn't have to say how great he was but just showed it through his words, actions and wisdom, which Jackson was certainly doing as the Bulls took a 2-0 lead on the Knicks during the 1996 NBA Playoffs. 

While reviewing Game Two between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls, I got a great kick out of an improbable fourth-quarter interaction that took place, which made me want to write about one of the involved "combatants." 

Roughly halfway through the fourth quarter of the Bulls' eventual 91-80 victory against the Knicks, New York set up to inbound the ball in front of the Chicago bench. Positioning to set a back screen, New York center Patrick Ewing suddenly and aggressively stormed his way toward the Bulls' bench, as if he was going to fight someone. Ewing's target wasn't a player, rather, it was Chicago Assistant Coach Jim Cleamons, who rose to his feet with no fear of the 7-footer heading his way. 

Fortunately for all involved, Bulls' Center Luc Longley got in the way of the angry Ewing, who along with Cleamons received a technical foul. Prior to the testy exchange, Chicago had been called for three straight defensive fouls on that possession, and Ewing and Cleamons began having words. Apparently, Ewing did not like something Cleamons said and was ready to throw hands with the Chicago assistant.   

Whatever was said between Cleamons and Ewing, the moment added fuel to a fired-up United Center as the Bulls were in the midst of blowing out a lead that was just two-points at the end of the third quarter. What had been a back-and-forth contest now had the true feel of a Bulls-Knicks playoff game thanks to this fiery moment between Ewing and Cleamons. 

Cleamons' surprising, funny and, quite frankly, badass altercation with Ewing got me thinking about his time on the bench with the Bulls as one of Phil Jackson's trusted assistants, and the strange turn his coaching career took after the 1996 NBA playoffs. 

Make the jump to read more about Cleamons' strange career trajectory following his time with the Bulls. 

When I decided to do a recap of the Chicago Bulls' march through the 1996 NBA playoffs, I learned that Cleamons was a rookie on the historic 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers team that went 69-13, a record that the Bulls would surpass in 1995-96, going 72-10. Honestly, I was not too familiar with Cleamons the player, knowing him more as a coach. 

Cleamons was a member of the Bulls' coaching staff ever since Jackson took over for Doug Collins in the spring of 1989 after Chicago had been eliminated by the Detroit Pistons in six games during the Eastern Conference Finals. 

Along with defensive mastermind Johnny Bach and Triangle-offense founder Tex Winter, Cleamons helped form one of the stronger assistant coaching staffs in the league as Chicago won three straight titles in 1991, 1992 and 1993.  To young me, Cleamons was the hip assistant, the youngest-looking of all the Bulls' coaches, the one who probably got along best with the team's players. 

By 1996, Cleamons was viewed as a head coaching candidate, which was even mentioned during the Game Two broadcast by either Verne Lundquist or Danny Ainge. 

In fact, Cleamons would be hired as Head Coach of the Dallas Mavericks on May 31, 1996, a handful of days before the Bulls began the 1996 NBA Finals against the Seattle SuperSonics. He would continue coaching with the Bulls through the Finals before leaving for Dallas, Texas. 

In Dallas, Cleamons would be coaching what looked to be a promising young core of Jason Kidd, Jimmy Jackson and Jamal Mashburn, a group that allegedly had some issues with chemistry and drama. According to legend, Kidd and Jackson had been fighting over singer Toni Braxton, which has been denied years later. 

Cleamons would try to run the Triangle in Dallas, but the headstrong Kidd resisted. By the end of December, before the New Year had even rung in, Dallas traded Kidd to the Phoenix Suns. By January of 1997, former Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks' Head Coach Don Nelson was hired to run the Mavs. Nelson traded Mashburn to the Miami Heat and Jackson to the New Jersey Nets shortly thereafter. 

The Mavericks would finish 24-58 during the 1996-97 season, suiting up 27 (!) different players. Cleamons would not last long during his second season with the Mavs, getting fired and replaced by Nelson after Dallas lost 12 of its first 16 games.

During his brief stint with the Mavs, Cleamons was 28-70, for a 28.5% winning percentage. In contrast, the 1996-97 Bulls would go 69-13 and win its fifth title. 

With Cleamons fired by Dallas, I wondered if Jackson would maybe bring him back to the Bulls for the Last Dance, the 1997-98 season. However, this development did not happen, though Cleamons did return to the Windy City.

Surprisingly, Cleamons took the heading coaching position of the Chicago Condors of the American Basketball League, a women's basketball league prior to the WNBA. Amazingly, the ABL would fold just 12 games into Cleamons' first season with the Condors, in December of 1998. 

I remember watching a college basketball game at my cousin's house around this time when my Uncle John came up to me and said, "Hey Chris, did you hear that women's basketball league went under?" 

"What?" I said. "How?"

"They ran out of money and declared bankrupty," my Uncle said.  

I was shocked, especially when thinking about where Cleamons had gone in the past two years, from the greatest team of all time to a quickly defunct women's pro basketball league. 

Cleamons would never be a head coach again, though he would wisely reconnect with Jackson, who took the Los Angeles Lakers job after the 1998-99 season. Cleamons would be an NBA assistant for another 15 years following his brief time with the Mavericks and Condors. 

For his career, Cleamons won nine titles as an assistant, 4 with the Bulls in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1996, and 5 with the Lakers in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010. 

As often seen in coaching, not every assistant makes a great head coach, which happened to be the case with Cleamons, though this is not an indictment of his coaching. 

Sometimes jobs are the wrong fits for various reasons, and assistants are better being complementary pieces rather than the lead guy. 

Whatever the case, Cleamons remains another memorable and important figure of the 1990s Chicago Bulls, with his near fisticuffs with Ewing especially noteworthy. :)

by: Chris Maynard
(thecollegebasketballnostalgic@gmail.com) 

Today is the 30th anniversary of Game Two between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference second-round series of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. I have gone ahead and rewatched this game, listing my observations of what I saw with a fresh set of eyes. Here is some background about the first and second games of this series.

Game 1 Recap: Chicago held on for a 91-84 victory despite playing maybe its worst team game of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. The Bulls came out blazing in the first and second quarter, leading by as many as 15 points, with Michael Jordan scoring 15 points during the game's first twelve minutes. Give credit to the Knicks, which got the game back to its style the rest of the second and third quarters. New York got hot from the field and closed the rebounding gap. The fourth-quarter was back and forth, but Chicago did just enough behind Jordan's 44 points while New York went cold in the game's final five minutes. All in all, the Knicks played the better team game, but Chicago had the best player on the court in Jordan.  

5 Quick Observations from Game 1 

1. Jordan breaks out. After watching Jordan get off to hot starts in Games Two and Three against the Miami Heat, only to be slowed down by a tight back, this scoring outburst in Game One was due. Jordan absolutely torched the Knicks with his patented post-up and fadeaway game. It had to be crushing as Knicks' fans all those years to have no answer for Jordan, who would seemingly beat New York at least once by himself per playoff series. 

2. Pippen stuffs the stat sheet during a "poor" performance. Scottie Pippen had a rough shooting night, going only 4-for-15 from the field. He didn't even make my five stars of the game. Yet Pippen nearly had another triple double, scoring 11 points, grabbing 10 boards, dishing out 7 assists, getting 2 steals and blocking 1 shot. Even on an off night, Pippen impacted the game in so many ways. 

3. The Ron Harper appreciation society. Ron Harper has really stood out to me rewatching these Bulls playoff games. His defense was really at another level. After shutting down Tim Hardaway following the first half of Game One of the first-round series against the Heat, Harper put the clamps on John Starks, who was 0-for-9 from the field, including 5 misses from three, en route to a measly four points. Starks had set a then NBA record with 14 threes during the Knicks' first-round sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers before Harper got his hooks into him. 

4. A more focused Rodman? Dennis Rodman had a very mature game, getting 12 rebounds while being saddled with fouls. It was apparent that Rodman was focused for the start of this series against the respected Knicks, grabbing 6 rebounds in the first quarter before getting saddled with fouls. While Rodman had yet to break out in the playoffs, his ability to avoid a technical in Game One was a good sign of a player bringing a better mental edge against a more difficult opponent. 

5. A game effort but missed opportunity for the Knicks. Honestly, New York played a very strong Game One, rebounding from a rough 15 minutes to start the game and dictating the pace, tempo and style of play the rest of the way. Derek Harper had a great all-around game as did Charles Oakley. Ewing was very good but came up a bit short in the fourth quarter when it mattered. For New York to have any chance, Anthony Mason and Starks would need to contribute more. As an aside, I absolutely loved these Knicks' road uniforms with the orange stripe down the side. 

What I remember from this day of Game Two: Honestly, I don't remember much of this day and game. I know it was a Tuesday game so I had school earlier that day. As this game was on cable, I didn't watch Game Two at the time. I might have listened to it on the radio and certainly found out the Bulls' won during the 10 o'clock news. Honestly, this is one of the rare playoff games from the 1990s Bulls that I do not have much recollection. Sorry to disappoint. :-(  

New York leads 8-6 with 6:50 remaining. Patrick Ewing is off to a hot start, hitting his last three shots after missing his first attempt of the game. Ewing has two jumpers and a nice layup sweeping through the lane. Michael Jordan has yet to take a shot, electing to get his teammates involved early after scoring 44 points in Game One. Dennis Rodman has been active, notching three offensive rebounds, two of which he stuck back for baskets. Luc Longley opened the game with a baseline jumper and then blocked Ewing but has several turnovers passing the ball Chicago has four turnovers on offense. Scottie Pippen has taken only one shot. Derek Harper had a nice drive and score on Jordan for New York's first points of the game. 

New York leads 14-10 with 3:34 remaining as the Knicks take a timeout. Chicago's offense looks choppy, very similar to the first game, with the exception of the first quarter and early moments of the second quarter. Chicago started the game 3/11 from the field, going scoreless for 3:40. Jordan has only one shot attempt, a missed layup off a bad turnover by Ewing, who made a lazy outlet pass. Chicago is staying alive on the offensive boards, with Pippen tipping in a Jordan miss and Longley grabbing an offensive rebound and scoring with a sweeping lefty hook. Ewing has matched Chicago with 10 points on 5/8 shooting. He is thriving in the faceup game. Rodman was off to a fantastic start with 6 rebounds, 4 offensive, before picking up his second foul. Starks also picked up his second foul and hasn't taken a shot yet. Ewing missed his one free throw attempt and continues to struggle from the line in the playoffs. Charles Oakley had a nice put back off an offensive board. Chicago has no offensive rhythm and needs a spark. Expect Jordan to get aggressive. Derek Harper has missed three wide open threes. 

Chicago leads 22-19 at the end of the first quarter. The Bulls finally get going at the end of the quarter, going on a 10-0 run in a 1:59 stretch. Jordan came out and hit his first jumper then Toni Kukoc found a cutting Ron Harper for a layup. Chicago has picked up the defense, forcing 5 Knicks' on 6 possessions. Pippen has been the catalyst, stripping a driving Oakley and leading break with an assist to Harper for a layup. Pippen then stole the ensuing inbound and canned a three to get his struggling jumper going. Pippen then took a charge on Derek Harper, who has two fouls. New York got a three from Gary Grant, playing for the ill Charlie Ward, right at the end of the quarter to stop the bleeding. Jordan finishes with 4 points in the first quarter after scoring 15 in the first quarter of Game One. New York is getting killed off second-chance points and turnovers. Chicago has 10 second-chance points and 12 points off turnovers. 

Chicago leads 26-19 with 9:53 remaining. The Knicks are not learning the errors of their first quarter ways as Chicago gets three offensive rebounds on its first three possessions, including a Jordan putback. Jordan has been crashing the offensive glass, where he has gotten away with two push offs so far this game. Rodman is playing his best game of the playoffs, with another offensive board. Scottie Pippen had a nasty block of Mason at the rim. New York is getting suffocated by Chicago's defense, and throwing the ball over the place. It hasn't been a pretty Game Two so far but Chicago has turned this game with defense and offensive rebounding. 

Chicago leads 33-25 with 6:57 remaining. Jordan has ditched his passivity, scoring 9 points already this quarter. New York had not scored for the first four minutes of the quarter until Charles Oakley got an offensive rebound and putback. Oakley has a quiet 7 rebounds while Rodman has 8 boards, which have been more pronounced and impactful. Back in the game, Starks had a steal of Steve Kerr but missed a contested layup at the rim with Scottie Pippen hovering. Starks has yet to scratch. Ewing just got an and-one on James "Buddha" Edwards, who also scored on a nice move across the lane a few possessions earlier. New York has finally found some offense, hitting on its last three possessions after a frigid start to the quarter. Chicago has been the aggressor so far in the second quarter. 

Chicago leads 40-32 with 3:03 remaining as the Knicks call a timeout. Things are getting a bit testy as Ewing had to call a timeout while diving on the ground for a loose ball. Pippen stepped over and looked down at Ewing, who was not pleased. Jordan has 14 points this quarter, including a beautiful up and under and and-one off a fast break during this stretch. After starting the quarter 0/8, New York hit 5 straight field goals. However, Rodman blocked a Mason shot at the rim and the Knicks have gone cold. Derek Harper blew a layup on the break, and Jordan made him pay with his own layup. Longley just hit a jumper off a nice assist from Ron Harper. It hasn't always been pretty from Longley, but he has been having a strong start to the series. Starks finally got on the board with two free throws but has yet to hit a shot in the series. He only has one shot so far tonight. 

Chicago leads 42-38 with 1:29 remaining as New York takes a 20 second timeout following a Chicago deflection out of bounds. Give credit to Starks, who has picked up his game. Starks drew a foul on Longley and hit two free throws. He then got a rebound and was fouled on a bad play by Ron Harper, 94 feet away from the basket. That was a rare mistake from Harper. Starks then doubled up Kukoc to force a 24-second shot clock violation and then hit his first shot of the series, a driving layup on Harper. Bill Wennington just scored on a nice duck in against Ewing, who has two fouls. New York has picked up the defense, though, and the Bulls offense has not looked smooth. Kukoc is having another tough game after a rough Game One. 

Chicago leads 42-41 with 9.3 seconds left in the half as the Bulls take a timeout. New York is on a 11-4 run. Out of the Knicks' timeout, Starks got caught driving baseline, hung in the air and kicked out to Derek Harper, who canned a three. Kukoc missed a corner three and is now 1-for-22 from deep in the playoffs. New York had two opportunities to take the lead but Mason and Ewing missed shots in close. Pippen missed a dunk attempt that caromed out to Kukoc, who found Jordan, who missed the open three. Chicago has gone cold again, in large part due to the Knicks' defense. 

Chicago leads 42-41 at the break. Kukoc takes a straight-on three that barely grazes rim. However, the ball goes out of bounds to Chicago. Kukoc floats an inbound pass to Jordan, who misses a fadeaway at the end of the quarter. Jordan finishes the half with 18 points on 7/14 from the field. After going 4/15 in Game One, Pippen is just 2/10. Kukoc is 0/3 from deep. New York has found some success posting up Anthony Mason. Starks provided a spark at the end of the half. Chicago has played maybe two good full quarters this series. The Bulls have lost their shooting touch, after shooting at least 50% in all three games against the Heat. Give credit to the Knicks' defense, which has not been overly physical but just tough. 

New York leads 43-42 as Chicago takes a timeout. The Knicks should be up more, having missed at least four layups on three combined fast breaks. Chicago is settling for, and clanking, jumpers. New York is limiting the Bulsl to one shot at a time. Oakley canned a jumper to give New York its first lead since late in the first quarter. Chicago's offense has looked very stagnant these first two games, with the exception of a few bursts. It feels like the Knicks should be up about 6 points. New York seems to be hungrier but are not taking advantage of in-close opportunities. Rodman has 12 rebounds. Oakley and Rodman are really battling tonight, nothing dirty, just good , hard basketball. Oakley has been outstanding these first two games of the series. After missing two jumpers, Jordan drove to the lane and drew a foul. New York is 1/6 to start the half, Chicago is 0/5. 

Chicago leads 52-51 with 4:59 remaining. Chicago has turnovers on four of its last six possessions. The Bulls have 14 turnovers so far this game, New York has 11. The Bulls are ahead thanks to three pointers from Ron Harper and Scottie Pippen, who finally hit one. Derek Harper briefly gave the Knicks a three on a corner three off a Chicago double of Ewing. At the start of this segment, it was the Jordan and Ewing show. Jordan hit a ridiculous fadeaway on Harper, who played great defense, and then canned a free-throw line jumper. Ewing hit a beautiful baseline fadeaway over Longley and then had an and-one on Wennington, abusing him in the post. Ewing missed the free throw and is just 2/5 from the line tonight. Somehow Chicago is up when it feels like the Knicks should be. New York has had very active hands on defense tonight. The Bulls have looked out of sorts big time. 

Chicago leads 61-59 at the end of the third quarter. Kukoc scores on a dribble drive on Chicago's last possession for his first basket of the game and the Knicks miss four shots on the final possession of the quarter. That was an ugly end to the quarter. I can't remember a game when Chicago was fumbling away so many basketballs on offense. Ron Harper had 8 points, including another big three, that quarter, and has 13 points and 7 rebounds for the game. Jordan sat out most of the last stretch, meaning he should play all of the fourth quarter. New York is 10/16 from the free throw line while Chicago is 8/9. Pippen is 3/16 from the field. The Bulls are 5/17 from three, New York is 4/11. There were 3 ties and 8 lead changes in the third quarter, which was marked by turnovers and fouls in the last stretch. Expect a grinder of a fourth quarter. Jordan has 22 points on 9/20 from the field. Ewing leads New York with 21 points. 

Chicago leads 66-63 with 9:41 remaining. Pippen started the quarter with a nice fadeaway over Mason and then a steal during which he called a timeout while falling out of bounds. Jordan just hit a jumper off a moving Steve Kerr screen, plus the foul. New York got a jumper from backup big Herb Williams. New York is trying to steal some minutes with Williams and Willie Anderson as all five starters played at least 40 minutes in Game One. Hubert Davis has struggled from the field after hitting all of his shots in Game One. Oakley has four fouls and is on the bench. Rodman just went to the bench as well. He has 17 rebounds tonight, which matches his season-high against the Knicks. Mason had a beautiful spin move on Jordan for a layup. Mason has 10 points and is good in the post, but he tends to be forgotten at times. 

Chicago leads 71-63 with 8:50 remaining as New York calls a timeout. The Bulls are finally getting some offensive rhythm here. Jordan hit a free throw out of the timeout. Then Bill Wennington had a nice steal of Mason. Wennington followed up with a nice assist on a give and go jumper by Steve Kerr. Wennington has given Chicago good minutes in limited time the first two games. Derek Harper missed a forced three and then Pippen drove down court and hit a beautiful baseline jumper off a crossover. Like in Game One, New York's fourth quarter offense is going missing. The United Center is rocking. 

Chicago leads 74-63 with 7:34 remaining as the Knicks take another timeout. Pippen just canned a big three from the top of the key over Willie Anderson. New York has scored just 4 points in 4 minutes. Longley blocked a Ewing faceup jumper leading to the eventual Pippen three. The Bulls are not playing well but still up eleven. Give credit to Pippen who has gone 3-for-3 this quarter after starting 3-for-16 from the field. Chicago is on a 10-0 run in the last 2:16, having hit 5/7 from the field this quarter. New York is just 2/6 from the field. 

Chicago leads 81-67 with 4:07 remaining. Well, that was a fun stretch of playoff basketball. Out of the last timeout, Jordan stripped Starks leading to a 2-on-1 break where Pippen dunked on the helpless Derek Harper. Ewing and Bulls Assistant Coach Jim Cleamons got double technical fouls for talking trash after Chicago was called for three-straight fouls. Ewing began making his way to the bench as if he was ready to fight Cleamons. Jordan missed a jumper but crashed the board, knocking a loose ball to Ron Harper, who made a nice floater. Kukoc just hit a baseline fadeaway and stripped Mason. Chicago has turned up the defense this quarter, with New York having just 5 points from the field and 8 points for the quarter. Derek Harper just got a technical foul for barking at the officials following a foul call against Jordan. New York is frustrated, and Chicago is the reason why. The first two games have come down to which team has been better in the fourth quarter. Clearly, it has been the Bulls. New York has 7 turnovers this quarter compared to only 6 shot attempts. 

Chicago leads 88-69 with 2:39 remaining. How this game has turned. Chicago has outscored New York 27-10 in the fourth quarter. Jordan hit a beautiful baseline fadeaway and assisted on a deep Steve Kerr three and a wide open dunk for Rodman. Stick a fork in the Knicks in Game Two. Harper and Starks got double technicals during this stretch, making that five total Ts for the fourth quarter. 

Gary Grant hits a three at the buzzer as the Knicks score some points in garbage time to make their fourth-quarter points look more respectable.  Chicago outscores the Knicks 30-21 in the fourth quarter to take a 2-0 lead. Here is the box score. 

1. Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls. After a quiet first quarter during which he wanted to get his teammates going, Jordan score half of his game-high 28 points in the second quarter. Jordan added 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Jordan made a conscious effort early in the game to hit the boards. In my opinion, this was Jordan's best all-around game of the first five games of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. 

2. Ron Harper, Chicago Bulls. Harper continued to have a great start to the 1996 NBA Playoffs, keeping Chicago in front in the third quarter with 8 of his 15 points. Harper added 9 rebounds and made things tough on John Starks yet again. Starks was just 2/5 from the field after going 0/9 in Game One. 

3. Dennis Rodman, Chicago Bulls. Rodman finishes with 19 rebounds, 1 more than the 18 he had in three games against the Heat during the first round. Through the first two games, Rodman has 27 rebounds and has not been given a technical. Rodman and Oakley have battled like two warriors. Rodman has kept his cool despite being called for some questionable fouls that have taken him out of games early. 

4. Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls. After shooting 3-for-16 during the first three quarters, Pippen hit 4-of-5 shots in the fourth quarter to get the Chicago offense going. Pippen finished 7/21 for 19 points. He added 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals and 1 block. 

5. Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks. Ewing had 23 points and 10 rebounds but was nonexistent in the fourth quarter for the second-straight game. 

New York Knicks' 4th Quarter Offense. After scoring just 15 points in the fourth quarter of Game One, including going scoreless during the last five minutes, New York was outscored 27-10 at the start of the last 12 minutes in Game Two. While New York got 9 points in garbage time, the Knicks let two golden opportunities to steal a game in Chicago slip away as a result of ineffective offense when the games mattered most, during crunch time. 

by Chris Maynard 
(thecollegebasketballnostalgic@gmail.com)

The second round series between the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks in the 1996 NBA Playoffs is a great time to discuss not only the renewed rivalry but an important trade between the two organizations that would be felt years later. 

On June 27, 1988 the Bulls traded popular power forward Charles Oakley to the Knicks for oft-injured center Bill Cartwright. As part of the deal, Chicago also sent its first-round pick, #19 overall, to New York in exchange for the Knicks' first-round pick, #11 overall. The Bulls also received a third-round pick that proved inconsequential. 

With the 11th pick the following night in the 1988 NBA Draft, Chicago picked center Will Perdue out of Vanderbilt. The Knicks selected Bronx basketball legend Rod Strickland out of DePaul with the 19th pick. 

While I was only seven years old at the time, I have read enough to know that this trade was not well-received by Bulls' fans and players. I remember reading in Sam Smith's amazing The Jordan Rules that Jordan was quite upset about the trade, which he heard about while watching Mike Tyson fight Michael Spinks in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 

Serving as Michael Jordan's enforcer on the court, Oakley was a rugged rebounder who actually led the NBA in total rebounds during the 1987-88 season. While only entering his third season at the time, Oakley was a "grizzled" veteran who bullied but looked out for Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant during their rookie seasons. 

On and off the court, Oakley was Jordan's best friend and bodyguard, coming to his aid when MJ was thrown to the ground by Bill Laimbeer and other cheap shot artists on the Detroit Pistons. According to my Uncle Dennis, who was in his late teens at the time Jordan and Oakley were on the Bulls together from 1985-1988, MJ and the Oak Tree would play billiards at a pool hall in my neighborhood before driving to games at the old Chicago Stadium. Whether fact or fiction, the story certainly caught my attention many years later. 

From what I remember of Oakley on the Bulls, he was always ready to mix it up, not the most refined offensive player at the time but someone who gave an honest, hard effort every night, something that goes over quite well in Chicago.  One of my earliest memories of the Bulls as a kid was when Oakley grabbed 30 rebounds in a game. That seemed like a lot of rebounds to young me, meaning Oakley had to be an awesome player. I knew for sure he was never afraid to fight, often getting into altercations with a young Charles Barkley on the Philadelphia 76ers. 

Ultimately, Oakley seemed to be a major part of a rising Bulls' team that had upset the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 1988 NBA Playoffs before losing to the Detroit Pistons in five games during the second round. However, Bulls General Manger Jerry Krause saw things differently, knowing the team had a gaping hole at center.

Never afraid to due something unpopular as he was unpopular, Krause decided to trade Oakley for a center whose best days seemed behind him. 

Make the jump to read how the unpopular trade of Oakley for Cartwright proved to be a shrewd move by Krause. 

At the time Chicago was starting the uninspiring Dave Corzine, also out of DePaul. With his brownish/grayish beard, Corzine reminded young me of a doctor whom my Mom used to work for as a nurse. That man, Dr. Joseph, gave me the creeps so Corzine did as well as a result of having a similar appearance.   

With Grant entering his second year, Oakley was expendable, an opportunity to add two centers. At 31 years of age, with a history of knee injuries, Cartwright seemed to be an odd addition at the time for a 24-year-old Oakley. Even though he was the #3 overall pick in the 1979 NBA Draft, Cartwright's career had been mostly disappointing. New York had tried to start Cartwright with Patrick Ewing, the Georgetown center and #1 overall pick in the 1985 NBA Draft, as part of an Eastern Conference Twin Towers pairing, but that did not bear much success. 

With Cartwright gone, Ewing could now operate more freely down low while Oakley did a lot of dirty work and spaced the floor with his ability to hit the jump shot. 

At first glance, the Knicks had won the trade with the Bulls. During Oakley's first season, the Knicks earned the two-seed in the Eastern Conference, sweeping the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the 1989 NBA Playoffs. Chicago had struggled a bit during the 1988-89 season, entering the playoffs as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Of course, New York would face the Bulls in the second round of the 1989 NBA Playoffs, fresh off Jordan's famous shot against the Cleveland Cavs. 

Love or hate him, Krause did have a good eye for seeing how Cartwright could help the Bulls, which became apparent during the 4-2 series' victory against the Knicks. Knowing Ewing's game quite well, Cartwright always made things tough on his protege, providing elbows to the back and hard defense on the Georgetown product while keeping Ewing honest with his ability to hit a jumper. 

For Jordan, it would take him a few seasons to appreciate Cartwright. Their relationship was prickly, at first, with Jordan once telling his teammates not to pass to Cartwright late in games. However, Cartwright didn't back down from Jordan, telling the superstar that he would break his legs after hearing about Jordan's attempt to freeze him out. Jordan would begrudgingly accept Cartwright, admitting years later that the trade was the right move at the right time for the Bulls. Ironically, Jordan would also not be too kind to Perdue, the center acquired with the draft pick from the Oakley trade. Jordan would famously tell Perdue that he didn't deserve to have the last name of a Big Ten team, referring to the Purdue Boilermakers, of course. 

Ultimately, Cartwright was at his best during Chicago's many playoff series against the Knicks. He was the one player on the Bulls who could make Ewing really have to work for his offense during the team's playoff matchups in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994. 

By the time Chicago was ready to win its first title during the 1991 NBA Playoffs, it was clear that Chicago had won the Oakley-Cartwright trade. At no point during Chicago's first three championship runs did Oakley seem like a better player than Grant, who was much more mobile and longer, thus giving Chicago a real defensive wildcard with the Bulls' trapping and pressing defense. 

As Chicago kept defeating New York in the playoffs, I always respected Oakley but kind of viewed him like Doug Collins to Phil Jackson. In other words, Collins was the coach before the legendary Jackson just like Oakley was the power forward before Grant, solid but not great. 

Eventually, Oakley and the Knicks would beat Cartwright and the Bulls, without a retired Jordan, during the second round of the 1994 NBA Playoffs. The Knicks would advance to the 1994 NBA Finals, losing in seven games to the Houston Rockets. 

By 1996, a championship had yet to materialize for Oakley and the Knicks. Meanwhile, the Bulls were gunning for its fourth title of the decade after winning three straight with Cartwright at center from 1991 to 1993. 

With Cartwright retired by the time of this second-round series between New York and Chicago in 1996, Oakley was thought more as a hated member of New York than a beloved former Bull. 

While happening eight years earlier, the Oakley-Cartwright trade seemed like another time in Bulls' history, before Jordan was a global icon and the Bulls were a world phenomenon.

In Chicago, Oakley was a fighter for a team trying to fight its way to relevancy.

As a Knick in 1996, he was just a guy looking to take the fight to the Bulls, another player in the way of Chicago fulfilling its destiny as an all-time NBA champion. 

by: Chris Maynard
(thecollegebasketballnostalgic@gmail.com) 

Today is the 30th anniversary of Game One between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference second round series of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. I have gone ahead and rewatched this game, listing my observations of what I saw with a fresh set of eyes. Here is some background about this game. 

What I remember from this day: My grade school St. Bart's had a baseball game against a rival school Immaculate Conception, actually a doubleheader early this Sunday morning. Coached by my Dad, our eighth-grade team had not won a game yet this season. However, we jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first game of the doubleheader. Somehow, we lost the game. In the second game, I pitched decent. I remember the leadoff hitter on the other team bunted the ball, which I ran down and threw to first base. My throw was a bit wide, causing our first baseman to clothesline the runner accidentally. Apparently, this didn't sit to well with my opponents. A few innings later, I reached base on a walk. As I got to the bag, the first baseman looked at me and spoke under his breath, calling me a "Little Punk." I laughed at the bully first baseman. By the way, we lost and finished without a win, though it was a very fun season. My Dad was a great coach who let us have fun. Unfortunately, we were an unmotivated group of eighth graders who weren't that good at baseball.  

As a side note, St. Bart's and IC had a big basketball rivalry when I was in grade school. In seventh grade, we won all three games against the Cowboys, which beat us all three games in eighth grade. I remember getting slammed into a wall on a fastbreak against IC that season, resulting in a flagrant foul. While not as physical as the Bulls and Knicks, St. Bart's and IC did not like each other. 

What I remember from this game:  As the second game of the doubleheader winded down, I remember my friend Todd's Dad talking about the upcoming Bulls' game with me through the dugout fence. Todd's Dad mentioned that he heard Jordan might not play because of his bad back. I was taken aback, thinking there was no way Jordan would miss the game. Now I was feeling a bit worried. Anyways, my Dad dropped off several of my teammates at their homes and we got back in time to watch Game One. From what I remember, the game was a bit sloppy, though the Bulls pulled it out in the fourth quarter, with Jordan having a big game as I suspected he would. 

Here is Game One between the Knicks and Bulls. I highly suggest watching the opening promo from NBC. It gets me pumped up 30 years later. 

Chicago leads 13-9 with 6:43 remaining. Man, the introduction of the starting lineups still holds up 30 years later. Freaking amazing. As for the game, Anthony Mason is beginning the game on Michael Jordan, with Derek Harper guarding Scottie Pippen. Both teams are coming out firing. Jordan has hit 3-for-5 from the field, with his back hardly looking like an issue. Pippen is doing some major work on the boards, with three offensive boards, including a putback slam of a missed layup by Ron Harper. Chicago has 4 offensive boards and a 9-1 advantage on the glass so far. Luc Longley is off to a good start, hitting a half hook and then blocking a shot at the rim, leading to the fastbreak for Harper. Chicago is threatening to send weak-side traps on Derek Harper. The Knicks are getting good penetration. After missing his first two shots, Ewing finally connected. The only players who haven't scored are John Starks for the Knicks and Dennis Rodman for the Bulls. There has been a nice flow to this game.  

Chicago leads 23-15 with 2:43 remaining as the Knicks take a timeout. Jordan is cooking, scoring 15 of Chicago's 23 points, and matching New York's output. After working Mason during the first segment, Jordan is posting up and getting what he wants against Derek Harper. Jordan hit a nice fadeaway, drew a foul on Harper on another fadeaway and then had a cutting layup off a nice pass from Longley, who has been very active. Speaking of activity, Rodman has 6 rebounds as he is back in the starting lineup. His high in the first series was 10 against the Heat. Chicago has 7 offensive rebounds and a 15-4 advantage on the glass. Ewing has hit 3 field goals so far. Starks, who was hot in the first series against Cleveland, has only taken two shots, both misses.

Chicago leads 25-17 at the end of the first quarter. Ron Harper hits Scottie Pippen for a beautiful lob dunk as Pippen jab stepped Mason out of his shorts and back cut to the rim. Charlie Ward has entered for Derek Harper, who got a stinger with one minute left after Ewing ran into him crashing the offensive glass. Ward hit a nice floater and stripped the ball from Steve Kerr. The Bulls also have put in Kukoc for Rodman, who has two fouls. Jordan finishes going 6/10 from the field in the first quarter. Charles Oakley has been the Knicks' best player with several offensive boards and baskets. Starks missed a three at the end of the quarter, going 0-for-4 from the field during the first 12 minutes. New York has missed 7 of its last 8 shots. 

Chicago leads 34-21 with 9:58 remaining as the Knicks take a timeout. The Bulls have the Knicks frazzled with their aggressive defense. Steve Kerr has hit two threes, one off a Longley offensive rebound, the other off a Jordan deflection in the press. Pippen just forced a turnover off the Knicks in front of the New York bench as the Bulls are picking up full court, trapping and getting in the passing lanes. Jordan had a beautiful, one-arm, length-of-the-court pass to Pippen, who snuck downcourt after a Knicks' miss. The Bulls are really bringing the defensive intensity and making it a focal point on offense to post up New York's smaller guards, with Pippen going after the 6'4'' Hubert Davis. 

Chicago leads 38-27 with 7:29 remaining as the Bulls take a timeout. The Knicks are on a mini 4-0 run as the Bulls have had a few defensive breakdowns, letting Mason and Ewing get behind the defense. Chicago was up 15 points after Jordan posted and scored on Davis and then got a fastbreak dunk off a nice assist from Toni Kukoc. The Bulls did a great job of there of pushing the ball off a Knicks' miss. Prior to the mini run from the Knicks, Chicago was showing very active hands, with Kukoc and Pippen both getting deflections. Kukoc missed a three and is now 1-for-17 from deep in the playoffs. 

Chicago leads 46-38 with 2:36 remaining. The series is now getting a bit chippy with the refs blowing a lot of whistles. Jordan and Derek Harper were whistled for double technical fouls for talking smack after Randy Brown hit a jumper off a broken play. Rodman has three fouls, but did a nice job of playing a few minutes without picking up a fourth. James Edwards picked up two quick fouls for the Bulls. Phil Jackson has played everyone off the bench except Bill Wennington. New York has picked it up offensively, with Hubert Davis hitting two jumpers for 5 points and J.R. Reid giving some nice minutes. The Knicks have overdribbled a few possessions and been called for three travels this quarter. This has been a good response by New York, which trailed by as much as 15 early in the quarter. After shooting just 8/24 from the field in the first quarter, New York is off to a blistering 10/14 (71%) shooting start this quarter.  

Chicago leads 54-47 at the break. Jordan hits a ridiculous jumper with two guys in his face right before the end of the half. Jordan is the reason the Bulls are up seven, with 25 points on 10/18 from the field, including a beautiful up-and-under on Harper the possession before. The Knicks finished the half on a 24-17 burst, shooting a dazzling 68% (13/19) for the second quarter and doing a better job on the glass. Oakley has six rebounds for New York, which found great offensive rhythm in the second quarter. Ewing leads the Knicks with 14 points, on 7/13 from the field. Derek Harper had a nice driving layup and three during this last stretch. The Illinois alum was quite an underrated player in the 1980s and 1990s. Here are some relevant stats. New York shot 49% in the first half, going 21/43 from the field. Chicago was at 46% (20/44). Chicago was 11 for 11 from the free throw line while New York was 2 for 2. 

Chicago leads 63-52 with 8:33 remaining as the Knicks take a timeout. The Knicks had the lead down to 4 points, but Chicago has gone on a 7-0 run. The United Center was feeling a bit anxious as New York got an inside basket from Mason and a jumper from Oakley. However, the Bulls have seized some momentum as Scottie Pippen had a steal and dunk and Mason was called for a technical foul after being whistled for an offensive foul on a rebound attempt. Jordan hit the technical free throw and canned a quick jumper, and just like that the Bulls are up 11. Chicago was never a team to give an inch as the Bulls would take a mile. Ewing was chewing out Mason for his lack of discipline and composure. Jordan has 30 points, hitting 2 of 3 shots so far this half. 

Chicago leads 65-59 with 5:44 remaining. The Bulls led by 13 after a Jordan jumper, but the Knicks have responded with a 7-0 run. Ewing scored five points and Mason had two off a nice post up during this stretch. Chicago's Ron Harper has been great during this stretch, with a blocked shot and steal of John Starks, and a big offensive rebound on a missed Jordan three with the shot clock running down. Starks is having a miserable game, going 0-for-6 from the field and having an awful turnover off a careless pass. New York is hanging around though as the Bulls have missed a few shots on its last three possessions. Jordan has 32 points on 13/23 from the field; the rest of the Bulls have 33 points on 12/26 from the field. New York has done a great job of getting the Bulls in the penalty and closing the rebounding gap, trailing just 26 to 24 on the glass at the moment. 

Chicago leads 73-69 at the end of the third quarter. Chicago had missed 11 straight shots, with the Knicks going on a 13-0 run in five minutes of game time. Derek Harper had a beautiful layup and jumper to tie the game at 63. New York had several chances to take the lead but failed to do so, including off a Harper pickpocket of Jordan at half court. Toni Kukoc was huge in the last minute, breaking the scoreless drought with a running lefty floater on the right baseline, rebounding a missed Jordan three and hitting Longley for a corner jumper, and assisting on a Jordan jumper from the wing. Give the Knicks credit. New York has outplayed the Bulls in the second and third quarters. Rodman has struggled with a couple of close-in shots, and the Knicks are blocking him out quite well on the glass. After notching 6 rebounds in the first quarter, Rodman has just 3 boards since. New York outscored Chicago 22-19 in the third, and went 10/11 from the free throw line. Chicago was just 8/25 from the field. Jordan has 36 points. 

Chicago leads 77-69 with 9:56 remaining as New York takes a timeout. With Jordan on the bench getting his back worked on, New York had two chances to tie the game, but Ward missed a jumper and layup. The Knicks have not scored on four possessions, with Mason recently overdriving, leading to a steal for Kukoc, who hits Harper for a layup. Pippen is now just 4-for-14 from the field after missing a banker just inside the free throw line off a nice curl. Kukoc is 0/4 from three and just 1/20 from deep in the playoffs. New York did not take advantage with Jordan out of the game, and that could be costly. 

Chicago leads 79-71 with 8:17 remaining as the Bulls call a timeout. Jordan has just reentered at the timeout. Give credit to Bill Wennington, who responds to an Oakley offensive board and basket with a nice jumper from the wing off a screen and roll. Wennington just grabbed an offensive board off a missed Kukoc layup and drew a foul on the floor. New York has only hit one field goal with Jordan out, with Ewing 0/3 this quarter and having two misses close at the basket. 

Chicago leads 81-76 with 6:03 remaining. Both teams are cold starting the fourth, with the Knicks 3/12 and the Bulls 2/10. New York had trimmed the lead to three points off a Hubert Davis three and penetrating layup by Harper, but were unable to get it any closer. Jordan had two free throws to extend the lead to five. That was an ugly stretch as both teams are missing some golden opportunities. Longley blew a layup at the front of the rim as he was expecting to get fouled. Rodman just picked up an over-the-back foul, his fourth foul of the game. He has been frustrated with the officiating all night but not received a technical foul. Speaking of techs, Oakley and Pippen got double Ts fighting for a rebound. 

Chicago leads 81-78 with 5:29 remaining as the Knicks take a timeout with Ewing securing a defensive board while falling out of bounds. Ewing just got a baseline fadeaway to hit rim, bounce up and in. Pippen missed a finger roll at the rim before Ewing got the board and called timeout while falling out of bounds. New York had to take a full timeout as the Knicks are out of 20 second timeouts. 

Chicago leads 86-82 with 3:11 remaining. Chicago missed 9 straight shots until Jordan just canned a jumper for his 39 and 40th points of the game. New York had the game down to one twice, 81-80 on a Harper layup, and 83-82 after two Starks' free throws. Jordan's jumper put the Bulls up three. Rodman has hit 2-of-4 free throws during this stretch. Starks is now 0-8 from the field. 

Chicago leads 90-84 with 1:52 remaining as the Knicks take a timeout. This might have been the turning point. Out of the last timeout, Jordan drove coast-to-coast for a layup. Ewing just missed two free throws with an opportunity to cut the Bulls' lead to two. Jordan then followed up with a fadeaway in the lane off a nice post up. 

Chicago survives an ugly performance to win Game One as the Knicks miss their last six shots and do not have a field goal for the final 5:15. Jordan finishes with 44 points on 17/35 from the field while the Bulls go 22/24 from the free throw line. New York had a rough fourth quarter offensively in a game that was there for the taking. New York played well, Chicago didn't and still won. That can't be a good sign for Game Two. Here is the box score. 

1. Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls. Bad back and all, Jordan accounts for nearly half of Chicago's points. Jordan had 15, 10, 11 and 8 points in the first, second, third and fourth quarters, respectively. 

2. Derek Harper, New York Knicks. Harper had 19 points on 8/17 from the field, notched 5 assists and made things harder defensively on Jordan after a hot first quarter. 

3. Charles Oakley, New York Knicks. Oakley had a very effective 14 points and 13 rebounds. 

4. Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks. Ewing had 21 points and 16 rebounds but was just 9/23 from the field. He missed several close shots in the fourth quarter, bricked two big free throws late, and was called for traveling several times. 

5. Luc Longley, Chicago Bulls. On a night when Pippen and Kukoc struggled to shoot, and Rodman was frustrated with fouls, Longley had 8 points and 8 rebounds. These stats may not seem special, but Longley did a nice job playing tough defense on Ewing, using 5 of his 6 fouls, and making several little plays late, including a strip of Ewing, offensive tap that led to Rodman free throws, and great shuffling of his feet to force a Ewing travel late. Longley had an active game as did Ron Harper, as seen with the dud of the game. 

John Starks, New York Knicks. Starks finished with four points, all from the free throw line, and missed all 9 of his shots, including 5 from the three-point line. Give Ron Harper credit for his defense on Starks, who was coming off scoring nearly 20 points a game against Cleveland. To Starks' credit, he didn't get frustrated and lose his cool as had been the case in the past. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

After losing Dennis Rodman to a torn calf muscle following the third game of the 1995-96 season, the Chicago Bulls hardly missed a beat, going 9-1 through the first ten games, with the only loss coming to the Orlando Magic. 

Chicago would go 9-1 during its next stretch of 10 games, losing only at the Seattle SuperSonics on Sunday, November 26, 1995, which was my fourteenth birthday. I remember this day fondly as I watched the Chicago Bears beat the New York Giants earlier that afternoon and then went out to dinner with my parents, brother and sister. While we were leaving the pizza restaurant Suparossa, I remember catching the Bulls-Sonics game on the television. The Bulls were up at that point of the game so I assumed another victory was in store. As I didn't have cable to watch the game at home, I was surprised to open the newspaper the next morning to see that the Bulls had lost to the Sonics. 

Speaking of memorable games, Chicago seemed like it was going to suffer its third-loss of the season to the lowly Vancouver Grizzlies, an expansion team, on Thursday, November 30, 1995. For my birthday, my parents had given me my own television for my upstairs bedroom, which I shared with my brother. It's safe to say I spent many nights watching television way too late in my room when I should have been sleeping for school the next day. Consider this the case with the Bulls-Grizzlies game. 

It was a Thursday night game on Chicago's WGN-Channel 9. I believed it started at 9:30 p.m., meaning it didn't end until around midnight. As I watched the game unfold, I couldn't believe the Bulls were losing to this Grizzlies' team. The last game of the team's infamous Circus Trip, when the team would play on the West Coast as the Ringling Bros. Circus was at the United Center, the Bulls seemed disinterested, that is, until Michael Jordan essentially decided in the fourth quarter that he was not losing to the Vancouver Grizzlies. Jordan went off and put together one of the most incredible performances I had ever seen, single-handedly beating the Grizzlies. It was crazy, and one of my fondest memories of the 1995-96 regular season. 

I do remember watching the Bulls' next game against the Los Angeles Clippers on the following Saturday night. The Bulls cruised to a victory, with Scottie Pippen having a nasty dunk on Terry Dehere and one Clippers' player standing out to me. Center Brian Williams, who would later become Bison Dele, was giving the Bulls' some problems in the frontcourt. I was impressed and ecstatic when the Bulls would sign Williams late the following season as a depth piece prior to the 1997 NBA Playoffs. 

Back home on December 6, 1995, Rodman returned to the Bulls' lineup, helping Chicago to a win against a familiar Eastern Conference foe, the hated New York Knicks, whom the Bulls would play in the second round, which I will be reviewing this week. Two nights later, the Spurs came to town, with the Bulls handling Rodman's former team. I remember sleeping over at my friend Leo's house on this night, watching the game and then waking up the next morning to play a basketball game for our grade school. Unlike the Bulls against the Spurs, my St. Bart's team lost, unfortunately, to some school that had five players as tall as our team's tallest player Todd. 

Also in this stretch of games the Bulls would avenge an early-season loss to the Magic with a home victory. Unfortunately, most of the early season games were on cable, meaning that I would either have to listen on the radio or wait until 10:20 p.m. when the local sports broadcasts would clue me in as to whether or not the Bulls had won. Remember this was before the Internet, which was at least three years away from entering my house. 

I have "scoured" the Internet, specifically YouTube, for Games 11-20, with only two full games missing from this stretch, though highlights have been included. 

Make the jump to view Games 11-20 and link to the box scores as Chicago gets off to an amazing 18-2 start to the 1995-96 season. 

I have watched and reviewed Chicago's three game sweep in the first round of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. 

Here are the total stats for the series and my recaps for each game: 

• Game 1 recap: Chicago 102, Miami 85. 
• Game 2 recap: Chicago 106, Miami 75. 
• Game 3 recap: Chicago 112, Miami 91. 
  

5 Quick Observations/Revelations from Game 3

1. Whenever people doubt Scottie Pippen's greatness, have them watch this game. Pippen was incredible from start to finish, serving as the ultimate connector on offense and defense, with a triple double of 22 points, 18 rebounds (8 on the offensive glass) and 10 assists. He was everywhere on the court. At one point early in the third quarter, Pippen had 15 rebounds while the entire Heat team had 16! 

2. Chicago's Triangle Offense was a thing of beauty on this night, with no wasted dribbles, superior ball movement and open shots sustained by crisp, off-ball cutting. The Bulls shot 50% for the game (40-for-80 from the field), though that percentage would have been much higher if not for some missed shots during the fourth quarter, which was pretty much garbage time. What is amazing about the Triangle was that even when Chicago had its subs in the fourth quarter, the Bulls were still getting open shots. What a beautiful offense. 

3. If Michael Jordan had not tweaked his back near the end of the second quarter of Game Two, he would have gone off for 40 in either of the last two games. Still, Jordan and 29 and 26 points, respectively, in the last two games, which were pretty much not competitive in the second halves. The Bulls did not need Jordan to put his foot down late in any of these games. Still, when Jordan applied himself, he scored at will. Poor Rex Chapman and Tony Smith had no chance guarding Jordan. 

4. There's a reason why Chicago never lost a first-round game during six championship seasons in the nineties, going 18-0 during that time. The Bulls meant business and never played around with inferior opponents. When it was time to put a team away, the Bulls did that. They never coasted or rested on their laurels. They understood the value of ending series early and getting rest. That was seen in Game Three against Miami as the Bulls were laser focused and clicking on both ends despite the Heat getting off to a decent start. 

5. I absolutely loved the old Miami Heat court. It was so cool looking, especially the jump ball circle with the barely distinguishable center circle. The court was so simple yet it popped out much better than these awful courts of today (see the fiascos of the NBA Cup). 

The Bulls turned a tied game at the break with its defense coming first while Miami had three ejections in the fourth quarter. 

From the get-go in Game Two, the Bulls came out to kill a Miami team that showed no resistance after trying to play the role of tough guys in the first game. 

Chicago did whatever it wanted to a Heat team that came out with a better effort for a few minutes but did not belong on the court with this Bulls' team. 

Point Guard Ron Harper: A-
Harper swung this series when he picked up Tim Hardaway in the third quarter of Game One. Harper was very efficient on offense, hitting 13 of 19 field goals in the series (nearly 70%) and a dog on defense, making things very tough on Hardaway, who was not the same player after going off for 26 points in the first half of the first game. 

Shooting Guard Michael Jordan: A
Jordan averaged 30.0 points with the only thing stopping him from getting an A+ being his bad back. 

Small Forward Scottie Pippen: A
Pippen stuffed the stat sheet in three games, nearly averaging a triple double at 19.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game. He also averaged 3 steals per game. 

Power Forward Toni Kukoc: A-
Miami had no one who could guard Kukoc, who scored in bursts and averaged 14 points per game while starting all three games in the series. Imagine if Kukoc would have hit the many open threes he had. Kukoc was just 1-for-16 from three in the series, which did not matter or take away from his overall impact. 

Center Luc Longley: B
With the exception of picking up three cheap fouls in the first half of Game Two, Longley did a great job playing physical defense on the frustrated Mourning and kept the Heat center honest with his own aggressiveness in limited opportunities on offense. 

Bench: B
Steve Kerr averaged 9.3 points per game, with most of his shots coming in garbage time. Dennis Rodman averaged only 6 rebounds per game and 19.7 minutes during the series, but had his moments to frustrate Mourning and the rest of the Heat. John Salley actually gave some nice minutes playing physical defense. The bench played a lot in Games 2 and 3 with the fourth quarters being blowouts and players like Jud Buechler, Randy Brown, Bill Wennington and James Edwards all having nice moments.

Head Coach Phil Jackson: A
Jackson recognized Kukoc's value as a matchup problem for the Heat and started the 6'11'' power forward in place  of Rodman. Jackson also did a good job of easing Rodman into games and conveying the message that Chicago needed The Worm to be focused. If my memory serves right, Jackson would start Rodman against the more physical New York Knicks in the second round. 

Point Guard Tim Hardaway: C- 
Hardaway had 26 points in the first half of Game One and just 27 points the rest of the series. He was not aggressive enough in Games Two and Three, in large part due to the length of Harper. 

Shooting Guard Rex Chapman: C
Chapman averaged 9.0 points per game and a few nice offensive bursts. However, any time Chapman scored, Jordan seemed to make it personal, scoring right back. Chapman had no chance guarding Jordan. 

Small Forward Walt Williams: D- 
After scoring 12 points in Game One, "The Wizard" had two points the rest of the series, including a goose egg in Game Two. 

Power Forward Kurt Thomas: D  
Thomas scored 12 points in three games. After having a decent Game One, he was very passive in Game Two. In the last game, he had five fouls early in the third quarter. While Thomas brought a physical presence, he wasn't ready for the mental aspect of the playoffs yet as a rookie. 

Center Alonzo Mourning: D+
Mourning was seemingly on the brink of losing his mind the entire series as the Bulls got in his head early and often. While he scored 30 points in Game Three, the Heat were not competitive. Overall, Mourning was a disaster in the first two games in Chicago.  

Bench: C
Miami did not have any answers off the bench, with Chris Gatling really struggling the final two games after getting ejected in the fourth quarter of Game One. Tony Smith scored a bit for the Heat but was no match guarding Jordan. That's not a slight on Smith. Jordan was just that dominant. Sasha Danilovic took a lot of shots, putting it gently. 

Head Coach Pat Riley: C 
There's not much Pat Riley could do this series. His team was simply outclassed. Riley tried to have his team impose a physical style in the first game, but the Bulls weren't buying into it. By halftime of Game Two, Riley looked defeated as his team showed no resistance. Riley called plenty of timeouts this series to stop Bulls' runs that just kept coming in the last two games. The Heat were a flawed team that made the playoffs despite starting the season 13-26 based on Riley making trades throughout the season. 

For Chicago, the Bulls got some much needed rest, with three days in between the end of this series against the Heat and the start of the second round against the New York Knicks. 

For Miami, Pat Riley realized his team was very far away. With nine free agents on this team, Riley would resign Mourning and Hardaway but revamp the rest of his starting five and roster. The Heat would sign P.J. Brown from the Nets to play power forward and Dan Majerle from the Cavs to play shooting guard. Riley would eventually elevate Voshon Leonard, who was inactive in the 1996 series against the Bulls, to the starting shooting guard spot. The Heat would trade for Jamal Mashburn near the trade-deadline, sending away Kurt Thomas and Danilovic as part of the package. The Heat would actually reach the 1997 Eastern Conference Finals, where it lost to the Bulls in five games. Jordan's Bulls continued to be a thorn in Riley's side. 

Today is the 30th anniversary of Game Three between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls in the first round of the Eastern Conference of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. I have gone ahead and rewatched this game, listing my observations of what I saw with a fresh set of eyes. Here is some background about the second game of this series. 

Game 2 Recap: After winning the first game by 17 points, Chicago dominated Game Two from start to finish, humiliating Miami by 31 points. The Heat showed very little resistance or pride on defense as Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen did whatever they wanted on the court. This game was a laugher, with the second half borderline unwatchable due to tight whistles. Jordan did tweak his back in the second quarter of Game Two, though he looked more fluid throughout the third quarter. 

5 Quick Observations/Revelations from Game 2: 

1) Miami really showed a lack of competitiveness in the second game. After picking up seven technicals as a team during Game One, the Heat lacked much fire in Game Two. In contrast, the Chicago Bulls showed their championship mettle, coming out to deliver a knockout punch from the start. Amazingly, during the Bulls' six title runs, Chicago never lost a first-round game, going 18-0. This perfect record makes sense considering how hungry and focused the Bulls were in Game Two. 

2) The United Center could never hold a candle to the old Chicago Stadium, one of the loudest venues to ever watch a sporting event in person or on television. With that said, the UC crowd was quite revved up for Game Two, with a local promotion giving away Bulls' clackers. The fans were quite loud as Miami shot free throws. Rewatching Game Two was quite fun in this regard, making me remember how electric watching Bulls' games used to be, even from your living room couch. 

3) Game Two almost had the feel of a second half of a tightly whistled NCAA Tournament game. Trying to prevent any physical altercations, the refs called fouls on seemingly every possession in the third quarter, making the game very hard to watch and leading to very little flow with Chicago up by nearly 30 points. 

4) Dennis Rodman got ejected in the third quarter with the game well out of hand after picking up his second technical foul while barking at Mourning. For Rodman, this was a well-timed ejection that didn't hurt the Bulls. If my memory serves me right, Rodman would have his best game of the series in Game Three. Through the first two games, Rodman had three technical fouls. 

5) While Mourning was a talented player, he was so immature against the Bulls, which always got into his head. At different points of the game, Chicago's various stars were talking at him, with Jordan chirping at him at the free throw line in the second quarter, Pippen having a few words at some point, and Rodman essentially telling him to bleep off before his ejection. The Bulls always got under Mourning's skin, which would be apparent the following season during the 1997 NBA Eastern Conference Finals. Heat Head Coach Pat Riley looked like a dog waiting to be put out of his misery during Game Two as Mourning, Tim Hardaway and others seemed to be in a different world. 

What I remember from the day of Game Three: I remember it was a Wednesday. After school on Wednesdays, eighth-grade me would pick up my sister from kindergarten and walk to my Uncle John's and Aunt Donna's house, which was like a block from our school. Typically my younger brother Tim, cousin Brian and I would play basketball outside or on a mini-rim at the house until my Dad would pick us up from his work. Somehow on this Wednesday, I convinced my Dad to let me go to Brian's baseball practice. After baseball practice, my Uncle John took us out for a pizza at a restaurant named Stevie D's that didn't last too long to watch the Bulls and Heat in Game Three. I remember watching with excitement for the Bulls but some nerves as I had a science test the next morning that I needed to study for. After getting home around 9:30 p.m., I crammed for my test, which I think I did well on the next day. 

What I remember from Game Three between the Heat and Bulls: I think this was a tight game, at least at the start, with the Heat showing some pride back in Miami. The Miami fans were pretty loud, though the Bulls didn't blink. While Mourning would have his best game of the series, Chicago would be propelled by a laser-focused Jordan and aggressive Rodman, who dominated the glass from what I remember. The Bulls would finish off the sweep rather comfortably in a game that's final score was not revealing of how difficult this game truly was. For me, the victory was quite satisfying, as there was nothing better for 14-year-old me than watching the Bulls win in the playoffs while eating pizza, something I experienced many, many times during my youth.

Here is Game Three between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls, from the first round in the Eastern Conference of the 1996 NBA Playoffs. 

The Game Three Starting Lineups: Chicago Bulls vs. Miami 

• Point Guard:  Ron Harper vs. Tim Hardaway 
• Shooting Guard:  Michael Jordan vs. Rex Chapman 
  
• Small Forward:  Scottie Pippen vs. Walt Williams
• Power Forward:  Toni Kukoc vs. Kurt Thomas
• Center:  Luc Longley vs. Alonzo Mourning
  

Head Coach:  Phil Jackson vs. Pat Riley

Announcers: Verne Lundquist on play-by-play, Danny Ainge on color.

Chicago leads 15-10 with 6:24 remaining as Miami takes a timeout. The Bulls are on a 6-0 run. Scottie Pippen has been amazing so far, with 7 points and 4 offensive rebounds. Pippen just fed a cutting Luc Longley for a layup, leading to the Heat timeout. After averaging just 12 points in the first two games of the series, Mourning has 6 quick points on 3/5 from the field, doing a nice job of facing up off of post touches. Miami started 5/6 from the field but has missed its last couple of shots, with Chris Gatling blowing a bunny at the rim off a nice pass from Tim Hardaway. With the exception of a Pippen three, Chicago is 1/4 from deep. Kukoc has missed two open threes, and is just 1/15 from three for the series, which has been the only blemish in this first-round series. Jordan has two points on 1-for-4 from the field, looking spry with his tweaked back. Longley has four points as well, while Rex Chapman has hit his first two shots. Tim Hardaway has yet to shoot the ball. Chicago is staving off a desperate Heat team so far. 

Chicago leads 23-12 with 4:21 remaining as Miami takes a 20-second timeout. The Bulls are clicking on offense, getting whatever they want in the middle of a 14-2 run. Jordan rejected a Longley screen, jab stepped and drove from the wing for a dunk. He then hit a fadeaway over Chapman, who has no chance guarding MJ. Ron Harper canned a corner jumper off a nice drive and kick by Kukoc from under the basket. Pippen then found a wide open Harper off a cut for a layup, and Pat Riley sees enough. The Heat are stalling out offensively and providing little defensive resistance, just like the start of the third quarter in Game Two. Pippen had a great defensive play, pulling the chair out from under a driving Gatling, who lost the ball on a drive under the basket. 

Chicago leads 26-18 with 3:01 remaining as the Bulls take a timeout with Mourning at the line. After not taking a shot for the first eight minutes, Hardaway quickly gets into the lane to hit a layup and then kick out to an open Keith Askins, who cans a three. Jordan hit a tough jumper off a flare screen just inside the three-point line but came up lame. Chicago has yet to put in a reserve. Jordan has 9 points on 4/8 from the field. The last time he played a playoff game in Miami, back in Game 3 of the first round of the 1992 NBA Playoffs, Jordan scored 56 points. 

Chicago leads 37-23 at the end of the first quarter. Man, this Bulls team could just rip out a team's heart. Mourning is having his best game, but Miami still trails by 14 as Scottie Pippen just had one of the greatest all-around quarters you will ever see, scoring 9 points, dishing out 6 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds, 4 of which came on the offensive glass. As for Jordan, he is cooking, hitting a three and a quick fadeaway over Tony Smith. Jordan is 6/10 with 14 points, though he went to the bench late in the first quarter and was laying on the sidelines as his back was locking up. Fresh with a new hair color, a solid yellow rather than the popsicle red of Games One and Two, Rodman entered and committed two quick fouls on Mourning, who didn't like the first one and slapped Rodman's hand away afterward. Beyond Mourning, the rest of the Heat have been pretty ineffective. 

Chicago leads 42-28 with 9:38 remaining. The Miami Arena is pretty silent as Chicago has come out tonight to put this series to bed. After Kurt Thomas makes a lefty half hook to open the quarter and then gives Jordan a touch bump on the next Bulls' possession, Jordan responds seconds later by canning a three in the rookie's face. Toni Kukoc also hit a floater with the shot clock running down. He has hit two shots, including a first-quarter jumper, with the clock expiring. Tim Hardaway just hit a three before Jordan was fouled on a drive by Keith Askins, who wrapped him up quite hard. Jordan's back is bothering him, but the Bulls are shooting 63% from the field and have a 15 to 5 advantage on the boards. As Ainge said, it seems like the Heat are playing okay; Chicago is just that good. 

Chicago leads 48-34 with 6:24 remaining as Miami takes a timeout. With the exception of three turnovers during this stretch, Chicago's offensive is cooking, with the Triangle really working well. Both Luc Longley and Dennis Rodman have jumpers curling off screens, and Longley had an offensive rebound and put back of a Steve Kerr miss. Pippen has two dig-down steals during the last three minutes and is having a terrific all-around game. Chicago had the lead up to 18 before Hardaway hit a three. Jordan has been laying down on his stomach in front of the Bulls bench with his back stiffening. 

Chicago leads 54-36 with 5:02 remaining as Miami takes a timeout. The Bulls offensive is like clockwork tonight, just beautiful execution. The Bulls are getting open shots whenever and wherever they want, doing a great job setting off-the-ball screens in the paint, leading to open shots off simple curls. Scottie Pippen just canned an open baseline jumper. Chicago's defense is also doing a great job, with Jordan stealing a Hardaway pass that led to a breakout and foul of Ron Harper, who hit two free throws. Harper then found Longley wide open under the basket, with the Aussie fouled and sent to the line. Harper and Longley are having sneaky good games. Longley has been very aggressive on offense while doing a nice job of pushing Mourning farther out on his half hooks. Chicago is totally controlling this game, with a 20-6 advantage on the glass. This has been a beautiful first half by the Bulls. 

Chicago leads 62-44 at the break. Mourning leads all players with 20 points, including 8-for-8 from the free throw line. However, it hasn't been the most efficient night for Mourning, who has missed a lot of shots in the lane, though he did get his first rebound of the game off a missed three and scored right away. The Bulls have been in total control, with Scottie Pippen stuffing the stat sheet with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists. Michael Jordan has 19 points on 8/16 from the field, including 3/5 from the three. Chicago has dominated the glass, especially the offensive boards. Harper had a great sequence, getting out to contest a Hardaway three, leading to a long rebound for Jordan, who fed Harper on the wing, who bounce passed to Rodman for a reverse dunk. It has been all Chicago in Game Three. Back to Mourning, who was such a creep. After blocking a Pippen shot out of bounds late in the first half, Mourning immediately turned to a ball boy who was supposed to dry mop the floor and yelled at him to clean up the sweat. That's Mourning this entire series, an emotional mess. 

Chicago leads 70-50 with 7:28 remaining as the Bulls take a timeout after Pippen gets on the ground to get an offensive rebound. Pippen is everywhere on the court tonight. He has 17 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists. During this stretch, Pippen hit a three off a Jordan post-up, assisted on a Kukoc half hook plus the foul and then drove and kicked to Kukoc for a jumper. I did not remember Pippen having such a dominant game tonight! Chicago is really looking to post up every possession and doing so with ease. Miami has had a couple of garbage baskets, including a Thomas offensive put back where the rookie threw down Kukoc. The quite physical Thomas did not get the benefit of the whistle as he fouled Kukoc and then committed an offensive foul on a screen, laying out Harper. Thomas turned out to be a great pro, but the match with Mourning and him did not seem like it would work out as this point in their careers as both guys were young and emotional. In contrast, the Bulls are experienced and poised, taking care of business against a Heat team that is not even close to Chicago's level. The only concern, and this is stretching it a bit, is that Jordan is just 2 for his last 9 shots after retweaking his back at the end of the first quarter. 

Chicago leads 80-55 with 3:43 remaining as Miami calls a timeout. This is Chicago's biggest lead of the game as Harper just canned a three off patient basketball. Harper passed up a shot, dished to Pippen, who drove, collapsed his defender, and kicked to Harper, who stepped in and hit nothing but nylon. Jordan just made his two last baskets, a nifty lefty drive and then an incredible behind-the-back flip shot off a great pass from Rodman, who has been very active. Rodman got an offensive board and layup off a missed Jud Buechler three and then was whistled for a questionable third foul call. Tim Hardaway got T'd up afterward for the first technical of this game. Man, I remember this game being comfortable for the Bulls, but not this comfortable. This has been Chicago's best performance from start to finish all series long. 

Chicago leads 89-66 at the end of the third quarter. Despite his bad back, Jordan has played 33 of 36 minutes, leading all scorers with 26 points. During this stretch, Jordan had two of the nicer misses you will see, a one-handed shot during which he hung in the hair, palmed the ball and got off an attempt, and a finger-roll miss during which he was fouled. Jud Buechler hit a three and got an offensive tap in during this stretch after Miami went on a modest 7-0 run. 

Chicago leads 99-72 with 9:06 remaining. Pippen just picked up a triple double, with an assist to Bill Wennington, who has canned two open jumpers. Pippen has 19 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists, and will be shooting two free throws out of the break. It is essentially target practice for both teams as not much defense is being played. Harper lulled Mourning to sleep with an in-out dribble and hit a jumper that bounced off the rim and down. He then got on the break for a dunk after Steve Kerr found him following a rushed three-pointer by Sasha Danilovic, who never saw a shot he did not like. Danilovic has been chucking and mostly missing all series long. 

Chicago leads 105-74 with 6:52 remaining as the Bulls take a timeout. Steve Kerr just hit a bomb of a three off a nice pass from Toni Kukoc. The prior possession, Chicago got three offensive boards, with Pippen finishing with a tough layup over Mourning at the rim, causing the Heat fans to boo Miami's lack of effort. The Bulls will only score seven more points the rest of this game, which is entering garbage time. 

Chicago leads 110-86 with 2:16 remaining. Chicago has substituted all reserves during this stretch, with Kerr, Randy Brown, Buechler, John Salley and Wennington in. Buechler had his prayers answered on a difficult shot with the shot clock running down while Wennington made a nice layup off a good spin move. For Miami, the only starter out there is rookie Kurt Thomas. Chris Gatling just scored, plus the foul, to get off the snide. He has had a rough night. By the way, Jordan has not played at all this quarter and has already exited to the locker room to get work done his back. 

Chicago finishes off the Heat, which break 90 points for the first time this series, only due to the fourth quarter being garbage time. The Bulls did not play around tonight, controlling this game from start to finish. Up next will be the New York Knicks, which just swept the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier that night. Here is the final box score.  

1. Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls. Watch this game to see what an all-around great Scottie Pippen was. Pippen finishes with a triple double, scoring 22 points, grabbing 18 boards and dishing out 10 assists. Pippen keyed the Bulls early with 4 offensive boards. At one point early in the third quarter, Pippen had 15 boards while the Heat had 16 as a team. Pippen's 18 rebounds fall one short of his career-high 19. By the way, Pippen added 3 blocks and 1 steal. He did have 5 turnovers, but several of them seemed to come more out of boredom than anything the Heat were doing defensively. 

2. Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls. Even with an ailing back, Jordan played nearly the whole first three quarters, sans three minutes, scoring 26 points. Jordan really got cooking in the second quarter before his back flared up, very similar to Game Two. The only things preventing Jordan from scoring 30 points the past two games was his sore back and precaution by the Bulls, which were up big late in both contests.  

3. Ron Harper, Chicago Bulls. Harper scored 13 points on 5-for-6 from the field. More importantly, he limited Tim Hardaway to just 14 points in the third game after containing him for 9 points in Game Two. Harper added 3 assists and 2 boards and just did so many little things. 

4. Toni Kukoc, Chicago Bulls. Kukoc finished with 14 points on only 8 shots, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Miami had no answer for Kukoc all series as a stretch four so give credit to Phil Jackson for starting the Croatian Sensation ahead of Rodman in the first round. Kukoc was such a key cog in the Bulls' offense, with his passing, cutting and ability to create off the dribble. 

5. Alonzo Mourning, Miami Heat. Mourning finished with a game-high 30 points on 11-for-19 from the field, though his scoring really didn't matter. The Bulls were content with letting Mourning score and taking out the rest of his teammates. 

Tim Hardaway, Miami Heat. After scoring 30 points in the first game, Hardaway had just 25 points combined during the last two games. While Hardaway made a concerted effort to get the ball to Mourning, he needed to be more aggressive on offense, though Ron Harper made things tough on him. As Hardaway was a star on this team, he was expected to do more than players like Walt Williams and Chris Gatling, who had very rough series.