The Chicago Bulls were undoubtedly the team of the 1990s and established themselves as one of the greatest teams in NBA history. Through that decade, they won six NBA championships, split by two three-peats, led by the iconic duo of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
What's more impressive about their title wins is that they never lost in the NBA Finals, going 6-for-6 in their quest for the crown when they made the championship round.
However, there actually came a time when the seemingly invincible Jordan-led Bulls failed to capture the crown on their way to the Finals and lost a series. That came in the second round of the 1995 playoffs. After getting past the Charlotte Hornets, Chicago faced off against the No. 1 seed Orlando Magic, led by their own dynamic duo in Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway.
The Magic took Game 1 in Orlando. The series opener, which happened 25 years ago, turned out to be Michael Jordan's most memorable collapse in the playoffs. The Bulls had a one-point lead with around 15 seconds remaining and had the opportunity to ice the game.
Jordan had the ball and raced past Nick Anderson. Uncharacteristically, though, His Airness, presumably thinking a foul was coming, took his eyes away from the ball and his defender. Anderson sneaked from behind him and tapped the ball away, forcing a turnover. This led to a Magic fastbreak that ended with a Horace Grant slam to give Orlando the lead.
Still, with six seconds left, the Bulls had an opportunity to win the game. The ball once again found its way to Jordan. In another uncharacteristic move, Jordan passed up on a shot that he has knocked down a thousand times over the course of his career and kicked it out to a cutting Pippen. However, Pippen didn't expect the pass as the ball grazed his hands and sailed out of bounds, leading to a costly turnover.
After the game, Anderson infamously said, “No. 45 doesn't explode like No. 23 used to. No. 45 is not No. 23. I couldn't have done that to No. 23.”
Sparked by Anderson's comments, Jordan, who wore the No. 45 since returning from his first retirement, switched back to his old No. 23. And he turned in a vintage MJ performance in a classic Bulls Game 2 win with 38 points. More importantly, the Bulls snatched home-court advantage.
However, Chicago ended up giving it back to Orlando as they squandered Game 3 on their home floor by nine points, 110-101, despite Jordan's 40-point effort and Pippen's 25-point night. The Magic utilized a team effort as all five starters scored in double-figures, led by O'Neal's 28 points.
The Bulls bounced back in Game 4 to even the series with a 106-97 victory. However, Chicago lost Games 5 and 6 as Orlando advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.
For the series, Jordan was pretty much still Jordan, numbers-wise. He still averaged 31.0 points, while shooting nearly 48 percent from the field. Pippen did his part with all-around averages of 19.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists. However, those were simply not enough to take down an up-and-coming Magic squad. Five Orlando players averaged at least 14.8 points through the series, with Shaq leading the way with averages of 24.3 points and 13.2 rebounds.
The Magic eventually went to the NBA Finals, but got swept by the eventual back-to-back champions, Houston Rockets.
Meanwhile, the Bulls, especially Jordan, went into a summer of soul searching. His Airness used the devastating series loss as fuel for the following season. In turn, Chicago, with a key addition in Dennis Rodman, ran through the entire league and won a then record-setting 72 games and lost only 10 times. The Bulls wound up reclaiming the throne in 1996, and did it two more times in the next two years.
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