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.