Shawn Kemp takes another shot at Michael Jordan
History may have taught us that Michael Jordan’s NBA Finals resume is unassailable, due in large part to the fact that MJ’s Chicago Bulls were a perfect 6-0 when the Larry O’Brien Trophy was on the line. And while nobody can take that perfect 6-0 record away from Michael Jordan, we can simply point out the facts. While MJ was superhuman more often than not when the lights shined brightest, in one particular NBA Finals series, the man who was compared to God by Larry Bird in 1986 looked remarkably mortal.
In the 1996 NBA Finals, as the Chicago Bulls were zeroing in on completing what would go down as the most dominant season in NBA history, Michael Jordan was rather pedestrian by traditional MJ standards. Against the Seattle Supersonics, Jordan averaged 27.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists with 42/32/84 shooting splits. Now while most stars would look at a series-long stat line like this and remain content, for MJ, it was a departure compared to what we had grown accustomed to. This was the only NBA Finals series in which MJ scored under 31 points per game. It was his second-lowest scoring average in a postseason series ever, and the 42 percent from the field was his third-worst shooting percentage in the Playoffs.
So considering how well the Sonics defended Michael Jordan in comparison to other teams MJ and the Bulls faced in the NBA Finals, how did Chicago manage to hold off Seattle? Sonics power forward Shawn Kemp recently weighed in on All The Smoke podcast, giving the majority of the credit to former Bulls rival Dennis Rodman, who came to Chicago ahead of the 1995-96 season and proved his value immediately, helping to lead the Bulls to what was at the time a league-best 72-10 record and eventually, a fourth NBA Title.
Shawn Kemp said Dennis Rodman would wear lipstick and try to kiss Frank Brickowski's arm during the 1996 NBA Finals.
"Frank couldn't take it. The man in him couldn't allow it."
(Via @allthesmokeprod) pic.twitter.com/yz6UJxZuQt
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) June 25, 2024
While Dennis Rodman is well-known for his on-court mind games — and his peculiar off the court behavior, but that’s a conversation for another time — he produced at a high level throughout the 1996 NBA Finals. Rodman averaged 7.5 points and 14.7 rebounds per game for the Bulls in the 1996 Finals, and capped things off with a 9 point, 19 rebound, 5 assist and 3 steal performance in the closeout Game 6… a game which Michael Jordan went 5-for-19 from the field
The Chicago Bulls’ second three-peat
In Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan’s three seasons as teammates with the Bulls, Chicago went 203-43, by far the best mark in the league during that stretch, and one of the most dominant three-year runs in NBA history. After disposing of the top-seeded Seattle Supersonics in 1996, the Bulls would face Karl Malone, John Stockton and the Utah Jazz each of the next two seasons in the NBA Finals.
In those two Finals matchups with the Jazz, Rodman wasn’t nearly as productive as he was in 1996. Perhaps his WCW detour played a role in this, or perhaps age and time caught up with the hard-living Rodman. But his impact in the 1996 NBA Finals won’t be forgotten by Bulls fans, or Frank Brickowski, any time soon.
