Was there ANY point during any of the Bulls' 6 Finals series where..

You thought/said to yourself, "IDK if they can pull this one off"? Or where the media said that?

Nope. As my great grandpa observed during game 6 in their 1997 final series vs the Jazz: "He who has Michael Jordan wins the ball game."

Goat.

1991 Lakers were favorites to win. Was too young to remember, though.

1998 Jazz were also favorites. After they won game 1 there were some serious doubters. I believed, doe.

:bowdown: YAHWEH

During the finals? No. The Lakers were considered favorites going into the Finals in 91' (odd since the Lakers were in the Finals via upsetting the favored Blazers and Chicago had the better record and steamrolled through the East, including a sweep of the Pistons in the ECF) and Utah in 98'. In the Finals, though, they were never seriously at risk like they were in the 92' ECSF, 93' ECF and 98' ECF.

[QUOTE=Roundball_Rock]During the finals? No. The Lakers were considered favorites going into the Finals in 91' (odd since the Lakers were in the Finals via upsetting the favored Blazers and Chicago had the better record and steamrolled through the East, including a sweep of the Pistons in the ECF) and Utah in 98'. In the Finals, though, they were never seriously at risk like they were in the 92' ECSF, 93' ECF and 98' ECF.[/QUOTE]

This. In the Finals, no. But over the course of those respective seasons, hell yes.

'98 Jazz. I wasn't sure if they could pull that one out. It looked fairly dire by game 6.

Lakers were finished after game 3, probably really even after that game 2 monster run punctuated by the famous right to left hand layup.

[QUOTE=Soundwave]'98 Jazz. I wasn't sure if they could pull that one out. It looked fairly dire by game 6.

Lakers were finished after game 3, probably really even after that game 2 monster run punctuated by the famous right to left hand layup.[/QUOTE]
? The Bulls were up 3-2 going into game 6... they had two more chances to win the title.

[QUOTE=kshutts1]? The Bulls were up 3-2 going into game 6... they had two more chances to win the title.[/QUOTE]

Both games in Utah, with Utah up in game 6 late and Scottie Pippen barely able to play.

The finals no, but the road to the finals were pretty scary esp Indy in 98 :mad:

perhaps the first championship. at that point, MJ had a lot of doubters.

but after the 3peat, no one doubted the Bulls with MJ in the finals.

I had doubts during the 1991 postseason, because it was the first one. Going into the Detroit series and especially after game 1 of the Finals against the Lakers. And then late in game 3 when it looked like L.A. would go up 2-1.

1993 vs. Knicks when they were down 2-0 without HCA.

I actually didn't see the game 7 against Indiana 1998 when it happened, but I'm sure I would have doubts during the game that they would win. They were even behind by 3 midway in the 4th quarter.

In the finals against Utah, it looked like they had it after game 3, winning 96-54. But in game 6? Pippen's back was greatly diminishing his play, Rodman really didn't play all that well throughout the postseason, Jordan looking exhausted and ice cold in the 2nd half (he missed 13 of 17 shots before the final 40 seconds)...there was definitely doubts there. Utah had HCA, it's always tough to win a game 7 on the road.

Chicago got some breaks during that game too. That obviously blown shot clock call on Howard Eisley which took away 3 pts from Utah, the shot that Ron Harper got credit for where it looked like he was a fraction too late on the shot clock. Utah was up 2 with a minute left and had the ball, Stockton got open and took a 3 and it was just a little short. If he makes that shot, it's hard to see them coming back from 5 within a minute.

98 road was hard.


Indy series was as tough as they come. Ref letting Reggie to push off Mike, that was a touch pill to swallow.


And when you lose Game 1 in the Finals, its always tough. Sure we tied it up and destroyed them in Game 3 but not being able to close at home was concerning at the time. They had momentum for the next two games. And like some posters have said, Scottie wasn't fully healthy, Rodman was struggling, and we were losing late in the game and Stockton made a HUGE shot with less than a minute to go in Game 6.

[QUOTE=I<3NBA]perhaps the first championship. at that point, MJ had a lot of doubters.
[B]
but after the 3peat, no one doubted the Bulls with MJ in the finals.[/B][/QUOTE]

A lot of people in fact did. In 98' the Jazz were favorites. It was a very logical position to take. They had dismantled the Lakers in a 4-0 sweep in the WCF. Keep in mind this was when the Lakers had four all-stars (Kobe was voted in but he was already a productive player by this point). Unfortunately for them, only Shaq showed up for the WCF. Meanwhile, the Bulls had barely escaped a 7 game ECF against the Pacers. Given that the 97' Finals was so competitive and the Bulls had declined while the Jazz remained stable it was expected by most that the Jazz would win. The reason they didn't was largely because the Jazz's #1 offense was held in check, including the legendary Game 3 where Utah was held to 54 points. No one could have predicted that type of defensive dominance entering the series.

In 91' the Bulls were unproven, which created some doubts, but they had their best postseason run that year (15-2). Only 96' comes close (15-3 after the Bulls started to slack off in the Finals after going up 3-0). People always mention the 92' team as the best team of the first three-peat--and arguably the best Bulls team ever. Yes, they did go 67-15 but in the playoffs they lost 3 games in the ECSF and 2 games each in the ECF and Finals--and were headed to a Game 7 in the Finals before a legendary fourth quarter comeback with Pippen and four reserve players (they were down 17 with 13 minutes to go and 15 heading into the final quarter). If that didn't happen--and how often does a bench plus one starter erase that kind of 4th quarter lead in a playoff game--there was going to be a Game 7.

Dem 93 Knicks.