Their First Dance: 95 Playoffs Magic vs Bulls Game 2

The Orlando Magic dropped Game 2 of their 1995 playoff semi-final series to the Chicago Bulls at home, and face a daunting trip to the Windy City next.

The Chicago Bulls are having their moment right now with “The Last Dance“, ESPN’s Michael Jordan documentary, and so they should. The greatest player of all-time in Michael Jordan, vanquishing all who challenged him in the 1990s. Except for one. In 1995 the upstart Orlando Magic had a fantastic young core and looked set to close out the rest of the decade as a contender.

Which is why we’re dubbing this series “Their First Dance”. The Magic were on the come-up and would go on to the NBA Finals in the 1995 playoffs where they would lose to the Houston Rockets in disappointing fashion. But that was only supposed to be the start for them. Already we’ve broken down Game 1 here. Game 2 however, was a different story.

More from Hoops Habit

• 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
• Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
• Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
• Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
• NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers

The Bulls pulled out the win, 104-94, but the Magic will feel that this was an opportunity missed. On the surface this might not seem like the case, Jordan putting up 38 points on the night in his mythical number 23, but the reality of the game was different. In the first half of the game he was poor, and at one point missed three free-throws in a row late in the second quarter.

This meant that Shaquille O’Neal up until that stage had a better free-throw percentage in the game than the guy who would go on to be the greatest of all time, a crazy stat when you consider how awful O’Neal’s free-throw shooting was and would go on to be for the rest of his career. But in Game 2 he again held firm at the charity stripe, going 13-of-20.

The problems for O’Neal, and as a result the Magic as a whole, was the foul trouble he found himself in early. He finished with five for the game, which limited his run time to 33 minutes. This also meant head coach Brian Hill had to expand the rotation slightly, giving seven minutes to future Magic telecast favorite, Jeff Turner.

Horace Grant on the other hand put in a heroic 46-minute shift, and after two games in the series would have to be considered the Magic’s second-best player. A constant presence defensively, he also has a knack of popping up with 18-footers to bail the offense out of trouble when they need it most. He has been massive for the organization, and it is clear he has championship experience.

For Penny Hardaway however, this makes it two subpar performances on the bounce. He got his 20 points, but watching the game it certainly didn’t feel like he put up that many, and his passing and athleticism were seen in small and tantalizing bites only.

The hope is that the best is yet to come, but his passiveness is worrying. Often bringing the ball up the court and getting rid of it right away. He has to be a more vital piece than Grant going forward though, if the Magic are serious about advancing to the conference finals.

Jordan’s poor first half was replaced with a much better second half, and a run in the third quarter in which he made his typical trademark shots was what set the Bulls apart and allowed them to keep the Magic’s at arm’s length the rest of the way. As the game was going on though, you felt that the Orlando Magic had the personnel to sneak a win, but it never came.

Late in the fourth the Bulls received offensive fouls on back-to-back possessions, something rarely seen and which it looked like might allow the Magic to sneak some points in through these wastes possessions on the part of the Bulls. In reality though it only delayed the inevitable.

More from Orlando Magic

• The most exciting NBA team you won’t see on national TV this season
• 5 NBA teams on the rise that will surprise everyone in 2023-24
• Ranking the 10 championship-less NBA teams by closeness to title
• Orlando Magic draft odds: What are the chances of landing the #1 pick?
• Franz Wagner has smashed the sophomore slump for the Orlando Magic

With the series now switching to Chicago, it would be interesting to see if the Magic could use O’Neal in a slightly different way more often. Namely, passing from the top of the key. O’Neal has been in that position less than five times in two games, but every time he finds himself out there, the Bulls tend to panic.

Only once did this lead to a basket directly, O’Neal passing the ball into Nick Anderson for an easy layup, as the two players switched roles. O’Neal is so dominant inside, and that is where he belongs. But adding this wrinkle to their offensive game even two more times per contest would give the “three-headed monster” that is the Bulls center rotation something else to think about.

Anderson and Dennis Scoot combined to go 1-for-11 from 3-point range, which didn’t help the Magic’s cause at all. If a couple more of those go in, this is a different game. After two matchups between the teams, the pathway for the Orlando Magic to actually win this series against the great Jordan now seems pretty clear.

Keep O’Neal out of foul trouble and ensure that a few more 3-pointers go down. Both complement the other as if the shots from deep are falling, there’s more space in the paint for O’Neal to do damage. If he creates chaos in there, that will suck help defenders away from the shooters. A tough combo to stop and one the Magic would roll out again 14 years later.

It is unrealistic to expect O’Neal to keep hitting his free-throws (a fantastic 25-of-36 through two games), but getting to the foul line even more should make up for that. Game 2 was a reality check for the Orlando Magic though, as some vintage Jordan mixed with the timely plays from his supporting cast highlighted just how difficult a task this will be. Game 3 is a crucial one.