Watching the playoffs over the past week and seeing Barkley mocked by Magic and Kenny Smith on TNT for not having any rings has made me think of the 93 finals where Barkley and the Suns gave the Bulls a tough time in the finals... But I wanted to know the opinion of everyone else on the BBS as to what team they think gave the Bulls the hardest time in the finals. 91--Lakers vs Bulls I don't relly remember a WHOLE lot about this series, but it seems as if the Lakers stole the 1st or 2nd game in LA and the Bulls just kicked their butts for the rest of the series. 92--Blazers vs Bulls This series might have been Michael's best of all time. I remember in one game he had what--30 plus points in the 1st half? Clyde was at his best during this series, but his team never really had much of a chance. 93--Suns vs. Bulls I might be a little biased here, but I really think the Suns gave the Bulls their toughest challenge in this series. If Paxon doesn't hit that three at the end of game six this one goes to seven. The triple OT game in Phoenix was CLASSIC. 96--Sonics vs. Bulls I really thought the sonics had a good chance in this series. Payton and Kemp were both in their prime and were simply dominating that year. After several playoff flops, they finally made it to the finals and gave MJ & Crew a run for their money. 97--Jazz vs. Bulls Jazz played hard this series but they weren't as great as they were the next year. 98--Jazz vs. Bulls This series was another one that nearly went to game seven, but Michael's 'final shot' propelled the Bulls to their 6th championship. I think the Jazz team in 98 gave the Bulls almost as much of a challenge as the Suns did in 93.
while i can remember at least seeing highlights of paxon's shot i didn't become a full-time rockets/nba fan until the start of 93-94 (brilliant timing if you ask me) so I don't know about the first 3 runs, although your analysis seems correct based on clips and accounts i've seen. i would say the 98 Jazz were their biggest challenge for two reasons. they played the exact kind of game needed to beat the bulls and the bulls were declining from their peak in 96. not sure how 96 sonics and 98 jazz compare head to head but the 96 sonics faced the 72-10 bulls team and had no real chance (were down 3-0 at one point). as ashamed as i am to admit it, i rooted for the jazz both times (only times i ever have i promise) b/c i just didn't want jordan to win that bad. looking back on it i'm so glad i can always rest easy knowing flopton and karla don't have their rings. anyway, the jazz were a great shooting team that could counter the bulls sometimes smothering D just by the fact they could hit tough jumpers the rest of the nba couldn't. plus they played smart and didn't really get rattled like others teams. hell if it wasn't for two of the more egregious shot clock calls of all time the 98 series may have gone 7. remember eisley's 3 waved off in the second quarter that was a good 8 feet out of his hand when the buzzer went off, and harper's runner in the fourth that was quite obviously still in his hand when the shot clock expired, that's a 5 point friggin swing in one of the closest series i can remember. i swear except for the 96-54 game (or was that 97) it seemed like the lead in every game was never more than 4 or 6 points the whole time. anyways, the 98 jazz may not have been the biggest challenge if they had played the 96 bulls but against the 98 bulls they were the bulls biggest challenge.
Personally, I believe that the 93 Bulls was the strongest Bulls team and that the 93 Suns was the team that came closest to beating them. To beat the Bulls, you needed a dominant inside scorer to exploit them. If your team was based on a dominant perimeter scorer they'd have to contend with 2 great perimter defenders in Jordan and Scottie. I think Jordan's performance in the 93 finals was the 2nd best individual performance in an NBA playoff series to Hakeem's sick series against D Rob in 95. Jordan had to be at his absolute best to beat the Suns because Barkley was just a beast at that time. If that Suns team was just a little better defensively, they could have beaten Da Bulls. As for the Jazz, yea they came close, but the Bulls weren't as dominant as their first 3-peat at that point as Jordan and Pippen were aging. They barely got past Indy in 98.
We never faced them in the playoffs, but I believe the Rockets are only one of two team against which Jordan has a losing record in the regular season when he played for the Bulls...
I was a Lakers fan back then, and yep, that description is about right. A very depressing experience. By this time, I was living in Chicago ... and I can confirm that after the Sonics won Game 5 to make it 3-2, Bulls fans were worried. That series was decided by injuries -- Ron Harper had been hurt but came back to play Game 6, and Nate Macmillan (who, with Payton, gave Seattle two guys who could give MJ trouble defensively) had been playing hurt but couldn't go anymore. My opinion then was (and still is) that if Harper hadn't played the rest of the series and Macmillan had, the Sonics would have won it in 7 games.
I didn't consider any of them a real challenge. No---the Jazz were the most worrisome because I really think they were the only team we ever played in the Finals that had 0% intimidation by MJ. Even w/o admitting it---you could see that the other teams were a tiny bit cowed by him---and that only made him stronger. If they were younger it might have been tough. That Seattle team---injuries made it tough for them---but MJ would have risen to the challenge either way If you want to know---I think T-Mac is the next alpha-male unstoppable warrior in the NBA. He just needs a team. When he gets one it will be all over...rings, rings, rings, rings... And Krause wanted to team him with Brand and Jermaine Oneal...wow.
