“That ball was really the start of a dynasty” – Scottie Pippen said his performance in Game 5 of the 1991 Finals sparked the Chicago Bulls’ reign originally appeared on Basketball Network.
The 1991 NBA Finals carried more weight than just a championship series. It marked a turning point between eras.
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The fading brilliance of the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers and the surging dominance of a Chicago Bulls team that had clawed its way through the unforgiving trenches of the Eastern Conference.
The Finals pitted them against a Lakers team still drenched in the glow of the 1980s, where Magic Johnson and company had redefined basketball flash. The Lakers were seasoned, clever and still capable of imposing their tempo, but they were also older and a touch slower.
The Bulls were faster, hungrier and fresher.
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Claiming the title
After dropping Game 1 at home, Chicago didn’t lose again.
The Bulls blitzed through the next four games with precision, fury and rhythm — winning by margins of 21, 14, 15 and finally seven points in the Game 5 clincher.
That series sealed the arrival of the league’s next powerhouse. The Lakers, meanwhile, walked off the floor as a once-great empire on the decline.
“That ball was really the start of a dynasty,” Bulls legend Scottie Pippen said. “And almost I want to say the end of a great dynasty in the Los Angeles Lakers who we’ve known for many years in the ’80s as showtime and pretty much, they kind of were the show in basketball. But I think the Game 5 ball that I have is very recognizable to some degree.”
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Johnson was still sharp, posting 11 points and 20 assists, orchestrating plays with elegance, but he was chased relentlessly by defenders who had studied him like a textbook.
Meanwhile, Pippen played the finest Finals game of his career. He dropped 32 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, outpacing everyone on the floor. Michael Jordan, named Finals MVP with a series average of 31.2 points, 11.4 assists and 6.6 rebounds, added 30 points and 10 assists. But it was Pippen who delivered the silencer.
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For nearly a decade, the Bulls had fallen short — shoved aside by the Boston Celtics and mauled by the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons. But by 1991, everything about the Bulls had matured. They had a newly sharpened edge.
Jordan was no longer just the most gifted player in the league; he had become its most complete. And beside him stood Pippen, the lanky forward who had grown into an elite two-way force and, as history would later reveal, the co-architect of a dynasty.
The Bulls shot 53.7 percent from the field that night. They controlled the boards, moved without hesitation and defended with a kind of synchronicity that only comes from seasons of hard-earned chemistry.
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The Lakers had no answer, and by the final buzzer at The Forum, the message was clear.
The league had a new ruler.
The Chicago dynasty
That Game 5 still holds up today as the moment the Bulls became inevitable.
Chicago would win six titles in eight years, including two separate three-peats from 1991–1993 and 1996–1998. They became the standard. And the run began with that Game 5, where the balance of power shifted decisively eastward. The Bulls became the new image of basketball excellence.
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“This ball really sort of describes and tells a story about the start of a great run in basketball as a whole, but more so for our Chicago fans and basketball fans around the world,” Pippen said.
Pippen’s performance that night, often overshadowed by Jordan’s MVP award, deserves special attention.
He guarded Johnson, ran the offense, filled lanes in transition and rebounded like a center.
In a single game, he embodied the versatility and composure that would define the Bulls throughout their run. It was Pippen who steadied the game’s pace, absorbed pressure and punished mismatches. He was the engine in that deciding game.
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This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 17, 2025, where it first appeared.