The 1993-1994 Chicago Bulls: The Success and the Drama

Yesterday's Episode Seven of "The Last Dance" talked about how the Chicago Bulls moved from Michael Jordan's first retirement at the end of the 1992-1993 National Basketball Association (NBA) season that saw Jordan and company complete the first of their two three-peats in that decade. While the media back then was speculating that Michael Jordan's 1993 retirement was a "secret suspension" imposed by the NBA for his gambling problems, His Royal Airness simply pointed out that he already ran out of challenge and motivation to play the game on top of the tragic death of his father which came right after the Bulls won the 1993 NBA championship.

As painful as it was for the Bulls, Phil Jackson and the rest of the Bulls organization accepted Jordan's decision, saying that the star player has just gone through a traumatic experience in losing his father but more importantly, Jordan had given so much to the Bulls. The show must go on as they say.

Heading into the 1993-1994 season, there was a floating bubble thought that was following the Bulls all season long. After all, no one can replicate what Michael Jordan has done for the Bulls and even the late Chuck Daly even questioned if that the Bulls' triangle offense would work without Michael Jordan. Apparently, the late Detroit Pistons head coach had forgotten that the triangle offense is about equal scoring opportunities for everyone and without Michael Jordan doing a bunch of the scoring duties for Phil Jackson and with Scottie Pippen being more of a facilitator rather than a scorer, the triangle offense worked even better that season.

Scottie Pippen, during the Bulls' first post-MJ season, averaged 22 points (eighth in the league), eight rebounds, five assists, and two steals while playing for 38 minutes. He finished third in the Most Valuable Player race and was named the MVP of the 1994 All-Star Game that also saw BJ Armstrong and Horace Grant playing alongside Pippen in the All-Star Game. Pippen also made the All-NBA Team as well as the All-Defensive Team while Grant made the Second All-NBA Team. 

The Bulls finished with a 55-27 slate during the regular season and entered the 1994 Playoffs as the third-seeded team in the Eastern Conference. Chicago faced and swept the sixth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round and the Bulls were looking great for a potential deep run in the playoffs.

Then, the Bulls were pitted against the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Knicks won the first two games of the series at home and were in the position to take one in Chicago Stadium until disaster almost hit the Bulls.

With the score tied at 102 apiece with 1.8 seconds left on the clock, Phil Jackson drew up a play that would end in Toni Kukoc shooting the last shot. Toni Kukoc and not Scottie Pippen. That didn't sit well with Pippen and refused to return to the court for the final play. Kukoc made the game-winning shot but that win didn't feel like a win for the Bulls as they felt that Scottie Pippen quit on them in the final seconds. In "The Last Dance" episode yesterday, Pippen acknowledged that he made a mistake and that that incident was something that he wished didn't happen. He apologized to the team after being spoken up to by his teammates and the Bulls went on to force a Game Seven before losing it all in New York. 

At the end of the day, the Bulls had a competitive team during the 1993-1994 season, and the fact that they pushed the second-best team in the East to a Game Seven says something about how great that team was even if it didn't have Michael Jordan. The Bulls may have failed to repeat as champions that year but one cannot take away anything from Scottie Pippen and company. They began the season with a lot of questions and still made the playoffs. If anything, the 1993-1994 Bulls team proved that they were still a team to be reckoned with, and one of the reasons why was Scottie Pippen.

Photo is from CBS Sports