After winning their first NBA championship in 1991, the Chicago Bulls entered the 1991-1992 season brimming with confidence and it showed in their play, as they won a league-best 66 games in the regular season.
They continued their incredible run in the first round of the playoffs, sweeping the Miami Heat in three games. However, their shroud of invincibility was shattered in the East semis by the rough and tumble New York Knicks, who pushed them to the limit.
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Led by All-Star center Patrick Ewing, quick and fearless guard John Starks and a cast of intense and physical players that included Charles Oakley, Xavier McDaniel and Gerald Wilkins, the Knicks had the belief and firepower to topple the Bulls and would have done it had Michael Jordan not pulled his team together and reminded them of their greatness.
The Knicks followed the Detroit Pistons’ blueprint
In the late 1980s, the Bulls and the Detroit Pistons engaged in a fierce battle for dominance in the Eastern Conference. Known as the “Bad Boys,” the Pistons employed the infamous “Jordan Rules” to stifle Jordan and disrupt Chicago’s momentum. It wasn’t until 1991 that the Bulls finally adapted, overcame the challenges, and rose to the top.
In 1992, it was clear to Mike what the Knicks were doing: they were copying the Pistons’ bruising style of play to stymie him and get his teammates out of their usual games.
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“What was happening was, because of the Detroit Pistons and the way they won, a lot of teams were trying to use that brutal type of play—the physical play. And the Knicks was one of those teams where they built on, you know, intimidation. Players who tried to physically demean you—make you scared of them,” Jordan shared what battling the Knicks usually meant.
“Xavier McDaniels, Charles Oakley, and Patrick Ewing being the three nucleus on that team. He used a lot of intimidation to try to have us back down from our—you know, when we were playing—and, you know, have a sense of fear,” the five-time league MVP noted.
MJ stood up to the bullies
Rather than go down to New York’s level and play their type of game, Mike knew he and his teammates had to rise above all the shenanigans and beat the Knicks where it matters most: at basketball. Chicago’s spirit, though, was given a massive shot in the arm by “His Airness,” who stood up to “X” when he tried to dog Scottie Pippen.
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“I guess just standing up to Xavier, who was trying to do exactly what Rodman had done three years and trying to provoke Scottie to do, you know, get away from the game, get out of his game, and get more into a confrontational thing—and, you know, as a leader I had to step in and more or less support him. And I know he would do the same for me,” Mike added.
“And, you know, put the thing back on a level where let’s just go out and play the game of basketball. Let our basketball do our conversation and talking. And show that we’re not afraid of the physical play. We’re going to play our style of basketball game,” the native of Wilmington, North Carolina, remarked.
The series eventually went the distance, but the Bulls showed who they really were in Game 7, routing the Knicks 110-81 to advance to the East finals, where they took care of the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games. They would later put down the Portland Trail Blazers in six games to win their second straight NBA crown.