Their First Dance: 95 Playoffs Magic vs Bulls Game 5

Game 5 of the 1995 playoff series between the Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls saw them put together the best performance in their brief history.

The Chicago Bulls had their moment with “The Last Dance“, ESPN’s Michael Jordan documentary, and so they should. The greatest player of all-time in 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, Game 2, Game 3 and Game 4.

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Game 5 would prove to be the moment when the Magic truly looked like they could be a dominant force for years to come, and looking back on this fantastic 103-95 victory now only brings with it sadness because of what might have been. In the moment, however, the feeling was euphoric, and fans had every right to dream that a championship was possible in 1995.

The primary reason for this was because, at the fifth attempt, everybody on the roster was playing close to their best at the same time. Whereas previous games had seen Shaquille O’Neal mostly dominate and hit a lot of free throws, the rest of the roster had been inconsistent. Penny Hardaway was getting rushed off the ball, and neither Dennis Scott nor Nick Anderson could hit 3-pointers consistently.

On the other hand to have been tied up 2-2 despite not knowing which player, if any, other than O’Neal was going to have it going was a positive because it had shown that even when not playing well, the Magic could pull out a win against a legitimate opponent (they had done similar against the Boston Celtics in the previous round).

The beginning of this game looked like it might follow the same pattern as well. The Bulls jumped out to an early 10-2 lead, with players not named Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen accounting for eight of those points. Jordan would go on to finish with 39 (although he wouldn’t score in the final three minutes of the game), so early signs were discouraging for the Magic.

Other players were getting going, and Jordan would sweep in later on to close the game out and take it back to Chicago with a chance to win the series. Point guard B.J. Armstrong showed why he had been named an All-Star the previous season, putting up 18 points, four assists and four rebounds to be a real thorn in the Magic’s side throughout.

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Yet despite missing his first six attempts, Hardaway finally had continued success with various jumpers and floaters around the basket. He appeared to have more time on the ball as well, figuring out how to do more of what he wanted, despite the attention from the Bulls. His 19 points and 11 assists were crucial to the Orlando Magic pulling out the win here.

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What helped to get them over the line, as had been the case many times prior to this, was the play of Horace Grant. Whenever there was a jump shot to be made he was there, and they always seemed to go in when needed most. Grant’s ability to get himself open for these shots, Hardaway deserves credit for the passing on some of these makes as well, was brilliant.

He led the team in scoring with 24 points, and 11 boards in a monster performance. O’Neal was making life difficult down in the paint for the Bulls, something Kenny Smith recently said the Houston Rockets would have done to them as well had they met in the NBA Finals, but Grant was doing that just about everywhere else on the court.

The perfect veteran leader for this group, who was clearly relishing playing against his former teammates. At one point late in the game, Pippen helped Grant up after he had fallen down after a made basket. If Jordan had seen he wouldn’t have been happy with that kind of sportsmanship at that point, but it speaks to the teammate Grant was.

The icing on the cake then was Scott finally, finally scoring some 3-pointers. He made five from a possible nine attempts but had two huge buckets back-to-back in the third quarter to cut the lead of the Bulls to one and then give the Magic a one-point advantage. Couple this with O’Neal having three assists in the third (he finished with four), and it is clear this was the period when they began pulling away.

Given that they only shot 31 percent as a team in the first half and only found themselves down by seven at the break, to see the Orlando Magic roar back in the second half and put together a superb 24-minute stretch showed that they had the mental strength to win the series and potentially a title. In order to get there, they only have to beat the Bulls once more.