1993 Chicago Bulls

This team had less margin than the previous two. A summer of Olympic basketball left Jordan and Pippen worn down, and the Bulls slipped to 57-25 in the regular season. They still came out of the East, beating the Knicks in six after dropping the first two games in New York.

Phoenix had the league MVP in Barkley and home-court advantage. Jordan answered with the greatest scoring series in Finals history: 31, 42, 44, 55, 41, and 33, a 41.0 average no one has matched. He scored 30 or more in every game, joining Jerry West and Rick Barry as the only players to do that in a Finals.

Game 6 in Phoenix turned ugly for Chicago. The Bulls scored only nine points in the fourth quarter and trailed 98-96 in the final seconds. Jordan brought the ball up, fed Pippen, who drew the defense and kicked to Horace Grant, who found Paxson alone behind the line. Paxson made it, and Grant blocked Kevin Johnson at the buzzer.

It was the first three-peat in three decades. It was also, though no one knew it yet, Jordan's last game before his first retirement that fall.

The starting five was B.J. Armstrong, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, and Bill Cartwright. Phil Jackson coached the group with Toni Kukoc as the primary bench scorer.

This was title number 3 in a Chicago Bulls run that stretched across consecutive or near-consecutive seasons. Repeat winners carried continuity from one year to the next.

The full roster ran deeper than the headline names. Role players who mattered included John Paxson (hit the title-clinching three in Game 6).

The 1993 champion had to survive four playoff rounds in a 30-team league. Depth and matchups mattered as much as star power, especially on the road in the conference finals.

The Chicago Bulls share a lineage with other banners from 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1998. Compare those seasons on the franchise hub to see how the roster and style changed between title runs.

Looking back, the 1993 Bulls completed the first three-peat since the 1960s Celtics, beating Charles Barkley's 62-win Suns in six. Michael Jordan averaged 41.0 points across the Finals, still the record. The title-winner, though, came from John Paxson, whose three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left in Game 6 turned a one-point deficit into a 99-98 win.

For the full roster beyond the featured starters, see the table on this page. For other Chicago Bulls titles, use the franchise hub linked below.