NBA Finals: Top 7 Upsets In NBA Finals History
By Phil Watson
6. Chicago Bulls over Phoenix Suns, 1993
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls came into the 1993 NBA Finals as the two-time defending champions, but they were in unfamiliar territory.
The Phoenix Suns had taken the NBA by storm in 1992-93, swinging a blockbuster trade the previous summer to bring in All-Star Charles Barkley from Philadelphia.
All Barkley did was wrestle the regular-season Most Valuable Player award from Jordan, who had won it the previous two seasons and three of the last five, while leading the Suns to an NBA-best 62-20 record during the regular season.
But Phoenix came into the Finals off a grueling seven-game conference finals win over Seattle while the Bulls had relatively coasted in, beating the Knicks in six games in the East.
Chicago rolled into America West Arena and behind 31 points and five steals from Jordan to go with 27 points from Scottie Pippen, the Bulls grabbed Game 1 100-92, holding Barkley to 21 points and 11 rebounds on 9-of-25 shooting and limiting All-Star point guard Kevin Johnson to just 11 points and two assists.
If not for Richard Dumas (20 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks), the Suns might have been blown out of their own gym.
In Game 2 in Phoenix, the stars played like stars—Barkley went off for 42 points and 13 rebounds and Jordan finished with 42 points, 12 boards and nine assists. Danny Ainge scored 20 points for Phoenix off the bench, but the only 3-pointer he missed on the night was huge; Pippen blocked a potential game-tying attempt in the closing seconds and the Bulls went home up 2-0 after a 111-108 win.
Horace Grant chipped in with 24 points for Chicago and Pippen had a triple-double with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 12 dimes.
Game 3 at Chicago Stadium was simply one of the greatest games in the history of the NBA Finals. Back and forth the teams went before the Suns pulled out a must-win game 129-121 in triple overtime. Dan Majerle canned six 3-pointers and led Phoenix with 28 points, Johnson finally snapped out of his funk with 25 points and nine assists and Barkley finished with 24 points and 19 rebounds.
Jordan was … well, Jordan … with 44 points, Pippen had 26 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, B.J. Armstrong scored 21 points, Grant grabbed 17 boards and Scott Williams came off the bench to grab 14 rebounds.
Game 4, though, was all Jordan. The league’s scoring champ in 1992-93 hit 21-of-37 from the floor en route to a 55-point night—tied for the second-most points in a Finals game—and the Bulls took a 3-1 series lead with a 111-105 win.
It was just the fifth 50-point game in the history of the Finals and is still the most recent.
Grant backed up Jordan with 17 points, 16 rebounds, three steals and three blocks and Pippen finished with 14 points and 10 assists. Barkley had a triple-double with 32 points, 12 boards and 10 assists.
The Bulls couldn’t close it out in Game 5, as Johnson and Dumas had 25 points apiece and Barkley pumped in 24 in Phoenix’s 108-98 win at Chicago Stadium. Jordan “only” had 41 for the Bulls and Pippen added 22, but the Suns did something they hadn’t done in the series—control the glass—and came away with the victory.
The Suns held a 98-96 lead late in Game 6, but Jordan did something unusual. He got the ball to John Paxson, who knocked down an open 3-pointer to give Chicago a 99-98 lead. Grant swatted away Johnson’s last-second drive at the other end and Chicago had a third straight championship, joining the Celtics of 1959-66 and the Minneapolis Lakers of 1952-54 as the only teams to turn the trick.
Jordan had 33 in the finale and averaged 41 points per game in the Finals to earn his third straight Finals MVP trophy. What we didn’t know at the time was that was to be Jordan’s final act for awhile.