NBA Champions ·
1991 Chicago Bulls
Chicago won its first championship in 1991, going 61-21 and beating the Lakers in five games. Michael Jordan won the regular-season MVP and the Finals MVP, but the Bulls got there only after sweeping the Detroit Pistons, who had eliminated them three years running. Jordan lost Game 1 of the Finals at home, then never lost another game in the series.
The breakthrough came once Chicago solved Detroit. Phil Jackson's Bulls won 61 games behind the league's top offense, then swept the two-time champion Pistons in the conference finals, a series that ended with the Detroit players walking off the floor before the clock hit zero.
Jordan averaged 31.5 points and won his second MVP, but the season was also Scottie Pippen's arrival as a star and Horace Grant's emergence as a defender and rebounder. John Paxson spaced the floor from the point, and the triangle offense gave the role players defined jobs.
In the Finals the Lakers stole Game 1 in Chicago on a late Sam Perkins three. The Bulls answered by winning four in a row, three of them in Los Angeles. Paxson scored 20 in the Game 5 clincher, knocking down open jumper after open jumper as the Lakers collapsed on Jordan.
The image that lasted was Jordan in the locker room afterward, crying while holding the trophy. After seven years and three straight playoff losses to Detroit, he finally had the title that had defined his career to that point.
Championship roster
Featured in Ring Holders Club
| Player | Role | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| John Paxson | PG | 72 |
| Michael Jordan | SG | 99 |
| Scottie Pippen | SF | 90 |
| Horace Grant | PF | 80 |
| Bill Cartwright | C | 74 |
| B.J. Armstrong | 6th man | 76 |
| Phil Jackson | Coach | 93 |
Ratings are year-specific curated estimates for Ring Holders Club, not official NBA stats.
Rest of the roster
| Player | Pos |
|---|---|
| Stacey King | F/C |
| Will Perdue | C |
| Cliff Levingston | F |
| Craig Hodges | G |
| Dennis Hopson | F |
| Scott Williams | F/C |