James Worthy felt the Bulls’ home-court disadvantage in 1991 Finals was meaningless: “We’ve lost with it. We’ve won without it” originally appeared on Basketball Network.
In the 1991 Finals, the Chicago Bulls (61-21) enjoyed home-court advantage over the Los Angeles Lakers (58-24). It is also worth noting that in their regular-season matchup, both teams split their meetings and won on their turf.
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Hence, the odds seemed to favor the Bulls just slightly ahead of the series. But as far as James Worthy was concerned, this meant nothing since the Lakers were oozing with championship experience.
“The home-court advantage is what you make it,” he said via the New York Times. “We’ve lost with it. We’ve won without it. If you believe you can win on the road like we do, then it’s just a matter of blocking out the outside forces and playing basketball. We have enough experience to do that.”
The Lakers show grit for one game
Worthy was part of three champion teams (1985, 1987 and 1988), and he felt that this could negate the Bulls’ home-court advantage.
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True enough, Worthy and the Lakers backed up that belief. They took Game 1, 93-91, at the Chicago Stadium and took the home-court advantage from the Bulls. All they had to do after that was to make sure they didn’t drop any games at the Great Western Forum in Games 3 and 4.
Unfortunately for L.A., that win at their opponents’ arena would turn out to be their only one in that series. Michael Jordan and the Bulls racked up four straight victories and finished off LA in Game 5, 108-101.
Related: Michael Jordan shows off his $115 million luxurious superyacht in Croatia
Worthy’s injury slimmed L.A.’s chances
Worthy’s confidence was understandable. However, he was not 100 percent healthy at the time.
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Worthy initially suffered a high ankle sprain in the Lakers’ Western Conference finals against the Portland Trail Blazers. It worsened in Game 1 of the Finals, with the Lakers forward re-injuring that same ankle and hobbling for the rest of the way. When all hope seemed lost, Worthy did not play at all in Game 5.
With their star forward struggling, so did the Lakers. According to then-coach Mike Dunleavy, James’ injury altered the chances of LA in that series.
“The worst part was James Worthy getting injured,” Dunleavy stated. “We felt really good about our chances there.”
Looking back at that series, former Lakers center Mychal Thompson echoed the same sentiment. He believed that Worthy’s injury was costly and was the reason why the advantage shifted to the Bulls.
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“We won game 1 HEALTHY…IN CHICAGO…James goes down for the series …and we were done without him,” he lamented.
The Lakers held the edge in championship experience. However, with Big Game James not at full strength, that advantage quickly faded.
Magic was clearly the leader for the Purple and Gold at the time, but he needed significant support from the Lakers’ supporting cast, especially Worthy. With that in mind, all the Bulls had to do was clamp down on Magic, limit his options and the championship was theirs for the taking. It was a strategy that worked perfectly under the intense pressure of the Finals stage.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 5, 2025, where it first appeared.