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May

27

5-27-1996: Bulls Sweep in Shaq Finale

Filed Under On This Day . . ., NBA, Chicago Bulls, Loose Balls

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Despite being swept by the Houston Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals, the Orlando Magic looked like a team that would dominate the Eastern Conference for years to come, thanks to a roster consisting of young studs Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway and steady veterans Horace Grant, Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott.

On Memorial Day 13 years ago today, all hopes of the Magic making it back to the NBA Finals were denied by the Chicago Bulls.

A man on a mission, Michael Jordan scored 45 points in a 5-point, Game Four victory that concluded a sweep of the Magic in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals.

While a difficult loss for the wounded Magic, it seemed inevitable against a record-setting Chicago team that was focused on winning an NBA title at all costs.

For Orlando, more important than this loss was the status of O’Neal, a free agent in the summer of 1996.

The possibility that the Game Four loss to Chicago would be O’Neal’s last game wearing a Magic uniform was something that Orlando fans would now have to worry about.

Unfortunately for them, this game would be it for Shaq as a Magic man in Orlando.

Spurning an Orlando contract offer that would have paid him $21 million in the first year of the deal, O’Neal bolted to the Los Angeles Lakers with a 7-year, $120 million contract in his big hands.

This stunning move would change not only the course of Orlando Magic history but NBA history.

The Magic would never recover upon Shaq leaving for the much brighter lights of Los Angeles.

Within three years, Hardaway, Anderson and Grant would all be traded away.

Beginning in 1997, O’Neal and a formidable young Lakers team with teenager Kobe Bryant would cut their teeth together as a duo that would eventually lead the organization to three straight titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

For the Bulls, Shaq’s departure made the Eastern Conference theirs to dominant the next two seasons.

Chicago would win three straight Eastern Conference and NBA titles in 1996, 1997, 1998.

The Bulls’ sweep of Orlando in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals proved to be sweet revenge for the team, especially Jordan.

After coming out of retirement with 17 games remaining in the 1995 season, Jordan would look rusty as he regained his basketball legs.

Despite the promise of Jordan returning to the team and the game, the Bulls would lose to an upstart Magic team in six games in the second round of the 1995 NBA playoffs.

That series would be remembered for Jordan struggling, specifically when Anderson stripped the ball from him late in a Game One loss.

After Chicago coughed up a late lead and the series in Game Six, former Bull Grant would be carried off the Bulls’ United Center floor in celebration of the Magic’s victory.

As for Jordan, he would have a summer to contemplate the comments of players like Anderson, who said that M.J, no longer was the same player that he used to be.

Angered over such statements, Jorda rededicated himself to the game of basketball in the summer of 1995.

As for Chicago, the team would bolster its rebounding deficiencies by acquiring Dennis Rodman from San Antonio.

The Bulls would run through the Eastern Conference in the 1995-1996 season and finish with an all-time record of 72 regular season wins.

After quickly dismissing the Miami Heat and New York Knicks in the first two rounds of the 1996 NBA Playoffs, Chicago got the rematch it was looking for in Orlando.

Playing possessed, the Bulls destroyed Orlando at home in Game One.

After Orlando jumped out to a big lead in Game Two, the Bulls stormed back in a thrilling, fourth quarter victory that seemed to drain the Magic’s morale and hopes of making this a deep series.

In Orlando, the Bulls dismantled and demoralized a hobbled Magic team without Grant in a blowout Game Three victory.

With the sweep in sight, the Bulls would send Orlando home in Game Four with a 106-101 victory that didn’t seem that close.

Little could anyone foretell the chain of events that would take place after this game.

The Bulls would go on to beat the Seattle Sonics in six games in the 1996 NBA Finals and win again in 1997 and 1998.

O’Neal would move on to greener pastures in Los Angeles.

The course of NBA history would forever change, with the Bulls and Lakers securing dynasties and the Magic wondering what could have been if Shaq had stayed.