1993 NBA Finals

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The 1993 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1992-93 NBA season, featuring the Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, and the Phoenix Suns, winners of 62 games and led by regular season MVP Charles Barkley. The Bulls became the first team since the legendary Boston Celtics of the 1960s to win three consecutive championship titles, clinching the "three-peat" with John Paxson's game-winning 3-pointer that gave them a 99-98 victory in Game 6. This series was also notable in that the road team won each game, with the exception of Chicago in game 4.

Contents 1 1993 NBA Finals roster 1.1 1993 Chicago Bulls 1.2 1993 Phoenix Suns 2 Series Summary 3 Game 3 4 Game 4 5 Game 5 6 Game 6 7 Trivia 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] 1993 NBA Finals roster

[edit] 1993 Chicago Bulls

Head Coach:Phil Jackson
Michael Jordan | Scottie Pippen | Horace Grant | B.J. Armstrong | Scott Williams | Bill Cartwright | Stacey King | Trent Tucker | John Paxson | Will Perdue | Rodney McCray | Ricky Blanton | Darrell Walker | Corey Williams | Jo Jo English |

[edit] 1993 Phoenix Suns

Head Coach:Paul Westphal
Charles Barkley | Dan Majerle | Kevin Johnson | Tom Chambers | Danny Ainge | Richard Dumas | Negele Knight | Oliver Miller | Mark West | Jerrod Mustaf | Frank Johnson | Tim Kempton |

[edit] Series Summary

Game	Date	Home Team	Result	Road Team	TV Time
Game 1	June 9	Phoenix	92-100	Chicago	NBC 9:00pm et
Game 2	June 11	Phoenix	108-111	Chicago	NBC 9:00pm et
Game 3	June 13	Chicago	121-129 (3ot)	Phoenix	NBC 8:30pm et
Game 4	June 16	Chicago	111-105	Phoenix	NBC 8:00pm et
Game 5	June 18	Chicago	98-108	Phoenix	NBC 8:00pm et
Game 6	June 20	Phoenix	98-99	Chicago	NBC 9:00pm et

Bulls win series 4-2

[edit] Game 3

The Phoenix Suns won game 3 in 3OT, 129-121. By the way, Suns Head Coach Paul Westphal became the only person to appear in both triple-overtime finals games. The first was the classic 1976 contest against Boston, in Game 5 as a player. Ironically, his Suns also appeared in that year's finals, thus becoming the only team to appear in two triple-overtime finals games. Back in 1976, the Suns lost 126-128 against Boston.

[edit] Game 4

In Game 4, Michael Jordan was unstoppable, scoring 55 points at Chicago Stadium and making a tough driving layup late in the game while getting fouled. The Bulls won 111-105.

[edit] Game 5

The Suns never trailed in a 108-98 Game 5 win on the road to head home for Game 6 down 3-2.

[edit] Game 6

The Bulls got off to a good start in Game 6 but struggled in the fourth quarter, wasting a double-digit lead to trail 98-94. Michael Jordan made a layup to cut the margin to 2 points, and the Suns missed a shot on their next possession. Trailing 98-96 and facing a Game 7 on the road if they lost that day, John Paxson took a pass from Horace Grant and buried a three pointer with 3.9 seconds left, giving the Bulls a 99-98 lead. The victory was secured by a last-second block from Horace Grant.

[edit] Trivia

• Michael Jordan, who averaged a Finals-record 41.0 PPG during the six game series, became the first player in NBA history to win three straight NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Awards. He joined Magic Johnson as the only other player to win the award three times. The NBA started awarding the Finals MVP in 1969.

• This series was aired on NBC. Marv Albert and Mike Fratello called the action.

• Bill Swerski's Superfans appeared at the Bulls championship parade.

• Before game 5, Charles Barkley famously announced to his teammates that they needed to win to "Save the City", a reference to the riots anticipated in Chicago if the Bulls won the championship at home.

• The 1993 NBA championship documentary marked the first time since 1982 that NBA Entertainment used film in on-court or off-court action, although most of it used videotape. It was narrated by Hal Douglas, who narrated the NBA Championship documentaries of 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997.

[edit] See also

• 1993 NBA Playoffs

[edit] External links

• NBA History