313: 133: It’s not just about honor, it’s about survival!
(Vote for monthly tickets!) 313: 133: It’s not just about honor, it’s about survival!
(Vote for monthly tickets!) The Chicago Bulls in April 1996 solidified their name in dazzling history.
On April 14, they defeated their opponents in Cleveland with a score of 98-72, tying the NBA record for the best single season with 69 wins.
Two days later, on April 16, the Bulls’ shooting was as cold as the temperature in Milwaukee, with Pippen and Jordan combining for 16 out of 46, Dumars hitting 2 out of 8, and Kukoc making 3 out of 8.
But relying on fierce defense, the Bulls decapitated the Bucks in the second half and still secured the victory despite their dismal shooting percentage.
This is the terrifying aspect of being first in both offense and defense; they could pick anything and easily kill you with it.
After the game, the Bulls’ players simply hugged each other calmly, but the significance of this victory was far from as tranquil as they appeared.
It was the 70th win of the regular season, an unprecedented record in NBA history!
Before this, no team had ever associated the number 70 with their total season wins.
Michael Jordan had done it; he was writing a legend.
For the last two games, the Bulls were already rotating players to rest.
Phil Jackson wasn’t about to pull excuses like Popovich would, saying Duncan got mad cow disease, Ginobili ate a spoiled sandwich, or Parker needed to be suspended internally for being too arrogant and to calm him down along with his groin strain; he simply let players rest openly.
Still, in those last two games, the Zen Master let the main squad play, just without letting any player exceed 33 minutes on the court.
Even so, the Bulls smoothly took down both Bullets and Pacers, finally locking their win total at 72!
A number destined to be legendary in the basketball world was thus born.
In the original history, this number was even greater than the later 73 wins, because 72 wins with a championship and 73 wins without one mean entirely different concepts.
Michael Jordan knew this truth well, so he wasn’t too excited after the game.
When interviewed by reporters, Jordan also uttered the slogan that the whole team agreed upon, “Without the championship, 72 equals zero.”
Michael Jordan still retained his hunger; he was desperate for a championship.
He was eager to prove he was still the top basketball player in the world.
It’s needless to say where Jordan’s hunger came from; throughout the season, only one team had beaten the Bulls twice, and only one team had a 2-2 record against the Bulls.
It was that same team that caused Jordan to lose face in the summer of 1995.
Elsewhere, the Orlando Magic defeated the Hornets in North Carolina, Jordan’s famous hometown, finishing the regular season with 68 wins.
While the world discussed the Bulls’ earth-shattering 72 wins, 68 wins was also a tremendous achievement, the third highest in history, only behind the Lakers’ 69 wins in ’72.
Considering Shaq played only 50 games and Horace Grant played only 63 games that season, it was quite an achievement for the Magic to reach that record.
Additionally, Roger had finally earned his first scoring title in his professional career.
After Shaq’s return, Roger’s scoring dropped slightly, but he still averaged 30.8 points, surpassing Michael Jordan’s 30.4 points and completely breaking his monopoly on the scoring title!
The Admiral’s scoring title was padded; besides, he won it when Jordan was playing baseball, so it really didn’t break Jordan’s hold on the title.
But Roger’s title was genuine!
However, Roger’s reaction was very similar to Jordan’s; Jordan wasn’t complacent about the 72 wins, and Roger wasn’t complacent about his scoring title either.
He told reporters, “Without the championship, even if I’m the scoring leader every year, even if I score 40,000 points in my career and become the all-time leading scorer, it means nothing.”
Roger’s statement was somewhat biased, because not every player who scores 40,000 points in his career gets to be a scoring leader every year.
In the West, the two top teams were the SuperSonics with 64 wins and the Spurs with 59 wins, which seemed quite lackluster compared to the top teams in the East.
So as soon as the season ended, the prevailing view in the media was: whoever comes out of the East will be the champion.
To most people, the Western teams were just filler.
This seemed rather magical to Roger, because in the era he was more familiar with, the NBA was mostly dominated by strong teams in the West.
Things like clinching the first seed with 50 wins, making the playoffs with 35 wins, and encountering only three All-First Team opponents in a dozen years of playoffs all happened in the East.
Currently, the Western teams were seen as the weaker group.
In the original history, throughout the ’90s, Western teams had only three championships.
In this history, the Rockets already lost one championship due to Roger’s arrival, so the situation in the West was even bleaker.
About the notion that “whoever comes out of the East will be the champion,” SuperSonics head coach George Karl was naturally quite dissatisfied:
“It’s a stupid conclusion proposed by foolish people; we’ve beaten the Magic and the Bulls during the regular season, though only once each, but that was due to the scheduling.
If we had faced the Magic and Bulls four times a season each, their records would have been much worse.
We’ll prove this in the Finals!”
Gary Payton felt the same way, “I can lock down Roger and Michael; I’m the only player who can handle these two guys!”
This might have been the most unified opinion between Roger and Jordan, because when the reporters relayed these comments, both Jordan and Roger had the same reaction; they threw their heads back and laughed.