This Date in NBA Finals History: Michael Jordan’s 42 Points Allows Bulls to Take 2-0 Lead on Phoenix Suns in 1993

Photo credit: Andrew D. Bernstein, NBAE, Getty Images

The 1993 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns included both the game’s best player and its regular season Most Valuable Player. After two consecutive regular season MVP awards, Michael Jordan was dethroned from the Most Valuable mountaintop. 

Charles Barkley, the league’s resident paint bulldog who had the rare ability to take the ball the length of the floor for a dunk while also being able to obliterate you in the post and play with his back to the basket - a circumstance that included getting worked on by a patented spin move toward the baseline -  averaged 25.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 5.1 assists in 1992-93, and prevented MJ from an MVP 3-peat. Jordan averaged 32.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.8 steals on 49.5% shooting. 32.6 and 2.8 led the NBA. No slouch. 

The Bulls, winners of 57 games, defeated the New York Knicks in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Jordan scored 54 in Game 4 and averaged 32.2 points for the series. 7.0 assists, 6.2 rebounds, 2.5 steals. The Suns, winners of a league best 62 games, defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in seven games in the Western Conference Finals. Barkley scored 44 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in Game 5. In Game 7 he posted 44 points and 24 rebounds in what he to this day calls the best game of his career. 

On June 9, 1993, the Bulls bested the Suns 100-92 in Game 1. Jordan 14-for-28, 31 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals. Barkley 9-for-25, 21 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists. Both were just getting warm. 

On this date 32 years ago, Game 2’s historic output by both - 42 points apiece from Jordan and Barkley - in a 111-108 Bulls’ win from America West Arena marked the first time in NBA Finals history that opposing players each scored 40 or more points in a Finals game, per the NBA. Jordan was J’ing, swooping. Barkley was too much for whomever in the paint, whether you were Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, or Scott Williams. Dunking, hitting face-up jump shots, earning free-throw attempts. If you were defending Barkley on the block, you were in trouble. Strong and quick. A rare player. 

The Bulls led by as many as 14 points in the game and with 1:33 to go in the fourth quarter took a 106-98 lead on a Jordan jumper over Dan Majerle - a series of jab steps by Jordan to keep Majerle off balance before the pull-up. 

It was then 34-year-old veteran guard Danny Ainge, who provided the Suns with an unlikely explosion off the bench (20 points on 8-for-14 in 29 minutes), who kept the Suns in the game. 

With over one minute remaining, Jordan missed a left side jump shot over Majerle that was rebounded by Tom Chambers. Prior to the miss, Jordan was 5-for-7 in the quarter. Chambers passed to Ainge, who sprinted past Pippen on the right side for a finish off the glass. Five consecutive points for Ainge - one of his prior hits was a jump shot over Pippen. 58.8 seconds remaining and the Bulls leading 106-103. 

Pippen missed on a right side jumper. Another rebound for Chambers. Up the floor, Kevin Johnson was fouled by BJ Armstrong. Off the inbound, Ainge elevated for a jump shot and was met by Pippen who blocked it. Pippen made his pair of free-throws after being fouled. After an Ainge inside score, Jordan made his pair after he was fouled. 110-105 Bulls. 

In the 111-108 final, Jordan was 18-for-36 from the field, 4-of-5 from the line and made both of his 3-point attempts. 12 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 steals. Barkley shot 16-for-26 and made 10-of-12 from the line. 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.

The Bulls’ 2-0 series lead happened by 11 total points - a 100-92 win in Game 1 and Game 2’s three-point margin.

In a triple overtime Game 3, the Suns prevailed 129-121 - Barkley posted 24 points, 19 rebounds, and 4 assists in 53 minutes. Jordan played 57 minutes, and made 19 of his 43 shots for 44 points with 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 2 steals. The eight-point win for the Suns snapped an eight game Chicago Stadium winning streak for the Bulls. 

Jordan responded in Game 4 with a 54-point outburst as the Bulls won 111-105 and overcame Barkley’s 32 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. The Suns took Game 5 at Chicago Stadium 108-98 behind 24-6-6 from Barkley and 25 apiece from Kevin Johnson and the talented 24-year-old Richard Dumas. The Bulls closed the series out back in Phoenix in Game 6, John Paxson’s cash out via an aware Horace Grant look providing the championship winner in the 99-98 win. 33 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists for Jordan on 13-for-26 from the field, 3-of-5 from downtown and 4-of-6 from the line. Barkley was 7-for-18 from the field and 7-of-10 from the line for 21 points, 17 rebounds, and 4 assists. 

The ‘93 Finals performance from Jordan - 41.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 1.7 steals on 50.8% shooting - is regarded as his finest Finals’ series. His lowest single game point total of the series was 31 points in Game 1. Barkley led in rebounding in three of the six games, topping out at 19 in Game 3. The ‘93 MVP averaged 27.3 points, 13.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.2 steals on 47.6% shooting in the series.

Jordan’s 3-peat of course would be followed by another 3-peat from 1996-98 after a year and a half hiatus. Barkley never got back to the Finals - back-to-back Western Conference Semifinal losses in 1994 and 1995 preceded a first round exit in 1996. After the 1995-96 season, at age 33, Barkley was traded to the Houston Rockets. In his first season in Houston, the team lost in six to the Utah Jazz in the Conference Finals. 

Two careers of two of the greatest to ever play. One, depending on your preference, is the best to ever play. The other is regarded as a top power forward in the history of the sport. 

On this date in 1993, both gave us a game to remember.