Coming off the OT victory in Game 3, the Bulls looked to take control in this series. A win would put them up 3-1 in the series, and get them one win away from the first NBA title in franchise history. Sunday night at the Forum would be rocking.
The Lakers led after the first quarter by 1 point, but then the Bulls stepped on the gas. They outscored the Lakers by 17 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarter combined. The Lakers tried to comeback late, but it wouldn’t happen. A 97-82 victory was the result. The Bulls were one game away from history.
The knock on Jordan was always the fact that he had no titles. First, it was a team can’t win with one guy scoring some many points. Jordan was all offense and nothing else. Then Jordan worked on his defense, and won the Defensive Player of the Year award in 1988. So now, an official two way player, still… the critics said the Bulls couldn’t win with just Jordan. And they were right… the rest of the Bulls had to come together. They, and MJ, had to buy into Phil’s system. Game 4 of the 1991 NBA Finals was a perfect example.
Every starter scored in double digits. MJ led all scorers, of course, with 28 points, but then it was Pippen & Grant with 14 a piece, Cartwright with 12, and Paxson with 15. The Bulls leader in assists that game? Michael had 13 of them. Although he was the greatest player in the league, he needed to be able to trust his teammates. They needed to earn his trust. And they did, and he did. He started passing out of double & triple teams. He started finding the open man. That open man in this series happened to be John Paxson. Yes, forget about the current management struggles, back in the day, Paxson could hit a jumper.
A person with normal inelegance, who does not able to satisfy their samples viagra cialis http://appalachianmagazine.com/category/history/old-ways-memories/?filter_by=review_high partners, then they lack self respect. It also contains tablet viagra phenylethlamine which stimulates men for having sex. However, some individuals prefer applying more increased quantities.Testover C (Testosterone Cypionate) may be stacked with such steroids, as Deca Durabolin, Dianabol, levitra online usa etc. It soft tadalafil is tough to say that propecia side effects don’t happen to all because of those mixed reviews. On the other side, there were some Lakers who couldn’t. After his Game 1 winning shot, Sam Perkins had cooled off. In fact, he was living in the Arctic in Game 4. 1-15 was his stat line. Another guy who was simply throttled in this series was Byron Scott. I remember a joke during that series… from the Arsenio Hall show. In talking about Scott, Arsenio said he couldn’t buy a bucket a Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was true.. he was bad. And when he got hurt in this game, along with other Showtime runner James Worthy, the end appeared near for this Lakers team. With Scott and Worthy done for the series, and AC Green ineffective, it was only Magic that remained. Vlade was great in this series too, but Magic carried the torch for the Showtime Lakers… trying to do everything he could to stop the charging Bulls.
I liked listening to the postgame shows after every game… except Game 1. I always liked watching that stuff, still do, after a big win… but I will turn it off after a loss. So after each win, and Magic took the podium, each game he seemed more and more like he was coming to grips with it. He was coming to the realization that his era was over, and another was about to begin. Magic was all-time… a tad before my time, but just watching his highlights, reading about him, seeing the stats, and the titles… this guy was legendary. He had to see it coming. On the other side of this Magic-MJ match up, was the next legend in the making. He had to know. Magic was too smart.
The Lakers were officially not done yet, with Game 5 still to be played at the Forum, but we started to feel it. After taking control of the series, all the Bulls needed was one more win. If they didn’t get it in Game 5, we had 2 games back at the Stadium. This certainly felt like it was going to happen. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
The next time we revisit 1991, we will talk about that Game 5, and the happy result. The first 25 years of the Chicago Bulls franchise would lead to this point. It was time. It definitely was time.
MK
Bulls shot 53% from the field while limiting the lakers to 37%. Bulls only had 5 turnovers and with scoring across the board, they were now one game from their first NBA title. Again, only 8 combined 3point attempts, 1-3 Bulls and 0-5 la…what a difference from today’s games. Magic knew the end was near…one more valiant effort at home to see if they could force things back to Chicago, but he and we knew better. MJ and the Bulls were ready, and so were we!