1993 Nba Finals, Game 4
June 16th, 1993. Chicago Stadium, Chicago.
The holidays are over, the Patriots are out of the playoffs, and the Celtics are in NBA purgatory…let’s go back to the ‘93 Finals!
I wish we had more of these two in the Finals.
1st Half
We’re back at old Chicago Stadium for game 4. I find that game 4 of a series is when the matchups really start to present themselves and the games start getting chippy. Familiarity breeds contempt after all. We get a few dustups in this one. Two shoving matches with Ainge and Jordan and some words and chest bumps between Pippen and Barkley.
Phoenix begins the game with Richard Dumas covering Jordan to show him some length. It ended up showing Jordan an inexperienced rookie who was unaccustomed to covering smaller players. After Jordan racks up a few buckets on Dumas, Westphal changes the coverage to Dan Marjerle. Jordan takes the slower Marjerle off the dribble, his favorite being a left to right crossover, and tortures him driving to the hoop to score several times. Next up, Kevin Johnson gets a chance. Jordan takes KJ off the dribble and rises above the shorter Johnson for mid-range jumpers. If you can only watch a small segment of this game, watch the second quarter. Jordan puts on an offensive clinic. He knows the weakness of each man that comes to guard him and he’s able to exploit each matchup. It's fascinating to watch.
2nd Half
It’s 58-61 at the half with the Bulls ahead. Despite 22 points by Jordan in the second quarter the Suns are able to keep the game close. Early in the third Chicago is able to extend their lead by 11 points mostly due to John Paxson. Both teams have their second units in and Paxson is able to sneak out to the three point line and nail a few. An interesting wrinkle in the game comes in the 4th when Mark West fouls out. Tom Chambers is inserted for West and Phoenix’s strategy then becomes trying to put KJ and Chambers in a pick and roll with Cartwright defending. It's fairly late in the game at this point, and I would have liked to have seen Barkley with the ball in his hands more. The strategy works a few times but doesn’t make too much of a dent. With two minutes to go Ph
... keep reading on reddit ➡| ^boxscoregenerator.sportsdeck.com ^by ^/u/bazman1976 ^(original work by /u/Obi-Wan_Ginobili) |
| 130 - 103 |
| Box Scores: NBA & Yahoo |
| |
| GAME SUMMARY |
| Location: STAPLES Center(0), Clock: |
| Officials: Marc Davis, Sean Wright and John Goble |
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix Suns | 33 | 33 | 31 | 33 | 130 |
| Los Angeles Clippers | 29 | 28 | 26 | 20 | 103 |
| |
| TEAM STATS |
| Team | PTS | FG | FG% | 3P | 3P% | FT | FT% | OREB | TREB | AST | PF | STL | TO | BLK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix Suns | 130 | 53-94 | 56.4% | 17-31 | 54.8% | 7-11 | 63.6% | 10 | 47 | 27 | 21 | 5 | 9 | 4 |
| Los Angeles Clippers | 103 | 33-79 | 41.8% | 12-39 | 30.8% | 25-32 | 78.1% | 7 | 32 | 18 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| |
| PLAYER STATS |
1993 NBA Finals, Game 3
June 13, 1993 - Chicago Stadium
Sorry for the delay, must have been all that turkey...on to Game 3!
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1st Half - We find ourselves at Chicago Stadium, a building that was built in 1929. We are treated to the iconic starting lineup call of the Bulls given by Tommy Edwards (now retired) set to Alan Parsons “Sirius.” Rumor has it Edwards heard the song while waiting for a movie to start in a theater in 1984 and thought it would be a great introductory song. Whatever the origin is, what a great choice.
The Suns are down 0-2 and this is a must win game for them. On the flip side, the Bulls are looking for momentum for a sweep. Later the Bulls would admit they looked too far ahead. Phoenix is nice and loose to start, perhaps the pressure of performing for their home crowd was too great, and they catch the Bulls flat footed. Barkley has a large wrap on his right elbow due to the hard landing he took in Game 2. He would have it drained 30 minutes prior to the tip. Kevin Johnson finally starts to have some success penetrating the Bulls defense by going around defenders instead of trying to dribble right through. It's effective and the Suns are up by 1 at the half.
Halftime - Bob Costas and Quinn Buckner interview Chuck Daly. The questions are thoughtful as are Daly’s responses. As head coach of the Nets Daly had to deal with the sudden death of Drazen Petrovic. He had to grapple with not only the personal loss but the reality that his roster now had a gaping hole. Peter Vescey and Bill Walton also make an appearance. Walton declares the series over, and he makes a good point, Chicago has control of the clock at all times. After watching the prior two games, I see his point. The Bulls are always in control.
2nd Half - Both teams pick up right where they left off in the 3rd quarter. The line score for this game is pretty impressive and shows the back and forth nature of the contest. The first four quarters are incredibly entertaining. There are some games that have lulls here and there but not this one.
1 2 3 4 OT OT OT F
PHO 29 29 28 17 4 7 15 129
CHI 29 28 28 18 4 7 7 121
Triple OT - Here’s where the wheels fall off. The exhaustion has set in and play doesn't necessarily become sloppy but it’s fairly evident that guys have no legs left. Shots that w
... keep reading on reddit ➡1993 NBA Finals, Game 1
June 9th, 1993 - America West Arena
It’s been a while since my 1981 NBA Finals poor man’s rewatchables. It’s a slow night in the NBA tonight so if you have the time, join me for a viewing of the 1993 NBA Finals, Game 1.
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There’s a lot to unpack here...Barkley versus Jordan, whatever happened to Richard Dumas, “Thunder Dan'' Marjerle, “The Un-stop-a-bulls”, Roundball Rock, Danny Ainge is in the Finals...again! Let’s get it started...
NBA on NBC
We find ourselves at the nearly year old America West Arena in Phoenix, an arena which is still in use today. (It is now known as the Footprint Center, but is still used by the Suns and Mercury.)
NBC carries this game as it had booted CBS for national coverage in 1990. The pregame hype video is set to the Jurassic Park theme, which coincidentally was released in theaters on the same day. The conclusion of the hype video leads right into John Tesh’s Roundball Rock, the now familiar NBA on NBC theme, and in my opinion still the best sports intro. Bob Costas is our host, he was very familiar to audiences after being beamed into homes for two weeks straight during the ‘92 Olympics. We’re introduced to the announcing team; Marv Albert, Mike Fratello, and Magic Johnson. Marv and Fratello are superb as always and Magic, two years removed from retirement, provides color commentary. Hannah Storm and Ahmad Rashad are the sideline reporters. Storm can still be seen on SportsCenter today and Rashad is still known as one of the few guys that Jordan will do a candid interview with. (At halftime we get the infamous Jordan sunglasses interview, but more on that later!)
The production is popcorn worthy, NBC knows it has great theater on its hands. League MVP Barkley versus two time champion Jordan. There are numerous picture in picture interviews during the broadcast which made me chuckle. Does anyone else remember the tv game show “Love Connection” with Chuck Woolery? If you do, I think the PIP interviews will make you smile too.
1st Half
The Suns are introduced to Alan Parson’s “Sirius” which I thought was odd as that song is always associated with the Jordan era Bulls. There is a lot of nervous energy to start the game as is always expected since teams are just trying to feel each other out in the first quarter. The home crowd is hyped and provides t
... keep reading on reddit ➡1993 NBA Finals, Game 2
June 11th, 1993 - America West Arena
Bonus, this tape has ads! It’s amazing how these taglines stay in your brain after all these years; “Gatorade, for that deep down body thirst. I love what you do for me, Toyota!” If you’re of a certain age you can still hum the tune. There’s also a Nike ad with Dan Majerle that I had forgotten about. Anyways, on to Game 2...
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1st Half
It’s clear that the Bulls have one thing in mind in the first half, keep Kevin Johnson out of the paint. BJ Armstrong picks up the assignment and puts on a defensive clinic. I can’t remember the last time I saw so much pressure in the backcourt in an NBA game. KJ had a rough night, 4 points on 2 of 8 shooting with 4 turnovers. KJ is the motor that makes the Phoenix offense run and with him sputtering for the last two games it's a difficult hole for the Suns to fill. It’s 59-53 at the half, advantage Bulls. Barkley has 25 points for the Suns (nearly half, that’s amazing!), Jordan has 19 for the Bulls.
Halftime
The halftime show is worth a view. There’s an excellent interview with John Havlicek where Costas asks him about his opinion on the state of the current NBA. It’s interesting hearing Havlicek compare modern day (at that time) players with his generation. The Shawn Bradley / Chris Webber interview is fun only because we know how their careers turned out. Webber isn’t even watching the game, he’s playing a friend on Sega. Not a knock on Webber, just an indicator of his age.
2nd Half
Chambers and Oliver Miller spark an early 3rd quarter run for the Suns. But the experienced Bulls weather the storm and manage to pull away and are up 10 with three minutes to go. KJ comes out again and Frank Johnson assists in a 9 point Phoenix run. But Barkley hits the deck hard with 30 seconds to go and lands awkwardly on his right elbow. Barkley would have to have the elbow drained prior to Game 3 just to get some range of motion back. It’s 87-84 at the end of the third.
It’s Winning Time again, Jordan goes to work. He scores 12 points in the final seven minutes. What’s most noticeable about the Bulls in these games is how unfazed they are. Their pace of play is always very even. No one ever panics, they make plays when they have to. The final minute of play is very unusual by today’s standards. Phoenix wasn’t down by muc
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Sorry that this doesn’t pertain to the series at hand. However I was watching the episode of The Last Dance today where MJ beats the Suns; what was it like to have the Suns in the finals? And was MJ really that big of an asshole? I was born 6 years later so I missed it :/
