1996 NBA Finals

1996 NBA Finals
Dates	June 5–16
MVP	Michael Jordan; (Chicago Bulls)
Hall of Famers	Bulls:; Michael Jordan (2009); Toni Kukoc (2021); Scottie Pippen (2010); Dennis Rodman (2011); SuperSonics:; Gary Payton (2013); Coaches:; Phil Jackson (2007); George Karl (2022); Tex Winter (2011); Officials:; Dick Bavetta (2015); Hugh Evans (2022)
Eastern finals	Bulls defeated Magic, 4–0
Western finals	SuperSonics defeated Jazz, 4–3

The 1996 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1995–96 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Seattle SuperSonics (64–18) played the Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls (72–10), with the Bulls holding home court advantage. The teams' 136 combined regular season wins shattered the previous record of 125, set in 1985 between the Los Angeles Lakers who won 62 games and the Boston Celtics who won 63 games in the past regular season. The series, the 50th NBA finals in league history, was played under a best-of-seven format. This was the first championship in the Chicago Bulls' second three-peat.^[1]

Chicago won the series 4 games to 2. Michael Jordan was named NBA Finals MVP, his fourth time winning the award.

Background

Chicago Bulls

The Bulls were coming off a season where they lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Orlando Magic. Heading into the upcoming season, Chicago was no longer the same team as they were in their most recent championship season of 1993, having lost key members of their first three-peat core in John Paxson who retired, while Bill Cartwright, Horace Grant, B. J. Armstrong, Stacey King, Will Perdue, and Scott Williams left via free agency.

In their place was a new core of players such as Luc Longley, Toni Kukoč, Steve Kerr, Ron Harper, Jud Buechler, Bill Wennington and Randy Brown. But perhaps their biggest addition to the team was Dennis Rodman, a nine-year veteran who had been a rebounding champion for four straight years, and whose controversial lifestyle has been well-documented.

The result of this ensemble was perhaps the greatest regular season of any team in NBA history at the time, as the Bulls won a record-high 72 games, which would be broken by the Golden State Warriors in the 2015–16 season. They continued to gain momentum in the playoffs, beginning with a sweep of the Miami Heat in the first round, followed by a five-game defeat of the New York Knicks in the second round. The conference finals was a rematch of the previous season's series with the Orlando Magic, but it was a no-contest, as the Bulls swept the Magic to gain entry into the Finals.

Seattle SuperSonics

The SuperSonics were led by Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, with George Karl as head coach. The team was considered a perennial title contender throughout the mid-1990s, but the closest they came to reaching the finals was in 1993, when they lost to the Phoenix Suns in seven games in the Western Conference Finals.

Two straight first-round exits followed, including the stunning 1994 loss to the eighth-seeded Denver Nuggets (the Sonics were the first seed in that playoffs). Motivated by a successive string of early playoff losses, Seattle finished the 1996 regular season with a franchise-record 64 wins.

Seattle began its playoff run with a four-game win over the Sacramento Kings, followed by a dominant sweep of the defending champion Houston Rockets, headed by a 33 point win in Game 1 where they held Hakeem Olajuwon to 5 points. They then beat the Utah Jazz in seven games in the western finals to advance to its first NBA championship round since 1979.

Road to the Finals

Seattle SuperSonics (Western Conference champion)

Chicago Bulls (Eastern Conference champion)

Western Conference v t e
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	GP
1	c-Seattle SuperSonics *	64	18	.780	–	82
2	y-San Antonio Spurs *	59	23	.720	5	82
3	x-Utah Jazz	55	27	.671	9	82
4	x-Los Angeles Lakers	53	29	.646	11	82
5	x-Houston Rockets	48	34	.585	16	82
6	x-Portland Trail Blazers	44	38	.537	20	82
7	x-Phoenix Suns	41	41	.500	23	82
8	x-Sacramento Kings	39	43	.476	25	82

9	Golden State Warriors	36	46	.439	28	82
10	Denver Nuggets	35	47	.427	29	82
11	Los Angeles Clippers	29	53	.354	35	82
12	Minnesota Timberwolves	26	56	.317	38	82
13	Dallas Mavericks	26	56	.317	38	82
14	Vancouver Grizzlies	15	67	.183	49	82

1st seed in the West, 2nd best league record

Regular season

Eastern Conference
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	GP
1	z – Chicago Bulls	72	10	.878	–	82
2	y – Orlando Magic	60	22	.732	12.0	82
3	x – Indiana Pacers	52	30	.634	20.0	82
4	x – Cleveland Cavaliers	47	35	.573	25.0	82
5	x – New York Knicks	47	35	.573	25.0	82
6	x – Atlanta Hawks	46	36	.561	26.0	82
7	x – Detroit Pistons	46	36	.561	26.0	82
8	x – Miami Heat	42	40	.512	30.0	82

9	Charlotte Hornets	41	41	.500	31.0	82
10	Washington Bullets	39	43	.476	33.0	82
11	Boston Celtics	33	49	.402	39.0	82
12	New Jersey Nets	30	52	.366	42.0	82
13	Milwaukee Bucks	25	57	.305	47.0	82
14	Toronto Raptors	21	61	.256	51.0	82
15	Philadelphia 76ers	18	64	.220	54.0	82

1st seed in the East, best league record

Defeated the (8) Sacramento Kings, 3–1

First Round

Defeated the (8) Miami Heat, 3–0

Defeated the (5) Houston Rockets, 4–0

Conference Semifinals

Defeated the (5) New York Knicks, 4–1

Defeated the (3) Utah Jazz, 4–3

Conference Finals

Defeated the (2) Orlando Magic, 4–0

Regular season series

The teams split their two meetings, each game won by the home team:

November 26, 1995

Chicago Bulls 92, Seattle SuperSonics 97

KeyArena, Seattle, Washington

January 10, 1996

Seattle SuperSonics 87, Chicago Bulls 113

United Center, Chicago, Illinois

1996 NBA Finals rosters

Chicago Bulls

1995–96 Chicago Bulls roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Height	Weight	DOB	From
G	0	Brown, Randy	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1968–05–22	New Mexico State
G/F	30	Buechler, Jud	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1968–06–19	Arizona
F	35	Caffey, Jason	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	255 lb (116 kg)	1973–06–12	Alabama
C	53	Edwards, James	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	1955–11–22	Washington
F	54	Haley, Jack	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	1964–01–27	UCLA
G	9	Harper, Ron	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1964–01–20	Miami (OH)
G	23	Jordan, Michael	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	1963–02–17	North Carolina
G	25	Kerr, Steve	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1965–09–27	Arizona
F	7	Kukoc, Toni	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1968–09–18	Croatia
C	13	Longley, Luc	7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)	265 lb (120 kg)	1969–01–19	New Mexico
F	33	Pippen, Scottie	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	218 lb (99 kg)	1965–09–25	Central Arkansas
F	91	Rodman, Dennis	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1961–05–13	SE Oklahoma State
F	22	Salley, John	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	1964–05–16	Georgia Tech
F	8	Simpkins, Dickey	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	248 lb (112 kg)	1972–04–06	Providence
C	34	Wennington, Bill	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	1963–04–26	St. John's

Head coach

Phil Jackson

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(DP) Unsigned draft pick
(FA) Free agent
(S) Suspended
Injured

Seattle SuperSonics

1995–96 Seattle SuperSonics roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Height	Weight	DOB	From
G/F	2	Askew, Vincent	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	1966–02–28	Memphis
F/C	34	Brickowski, Frank	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	1959–08–14	Penn State
F	1	Ford, Sherell	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	1972–08–26	UIC
G	33	Hawkins, Hersey	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1966–09–29	Bradley
C	50	Johnson, Ervin	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	1967–12–21	New Orleans
F/C	40	Kemp, Shawn	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	1969–11–26	Trinity Valley CC
G/F	10	McMillan, Nate	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1964–08–03	NC State
G	20	Payton, Gary	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1968–07–23	Oregon State
F/C	14	Perkins, Sam	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	1961–06–14	North Carolina
F/C	55	Scheffler, Steve	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	250 lb (113 kg)	1967–09–03	Purdue
F/C	11	Schrempf, Detlef	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	214 lb (97 kg)	1963–01–21	Washington
G	3	Snow, Eric	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1973–04–04	Michigan State
G/F	25	Wingate, David	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1963–12–15	Georgetown

Head coach

George Karl

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(DP) Unsigned draft pick
(FA) Free agent
(S) Suspended
Injured

Series summary

Game	Date	Road team	Result	Home team
Game 1	June 5	Seattle SuperSonics	90–107 (0–1)	Chicago Bulls
Game 2	June 7	Seattle SuperSonics	88–92 (0–2)	Chicago Bulls
Game 3	June 9	Chicago Bulls	108–86 (3–0)	Seattle SuperSonics
Game 4	June 12	Chicago Bulls	86–107 (3–1)	Seattle SuperSonics
Game 5	June 14	Chicago Bulls	78–89 (3–2)	Seattle SuperSonics
Game 6	June 16	Seattle SuperSonics	75–87 (2–4)	Chicago Bulls

All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4).

Game 1

NBC

June 5
9:00 et

Recap at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 1996)

Seattle SuperSonics 90, Chicago Bulls 107
Scoring by quarter: 18–24, 30–29, 29–26, 13–28
Pts: Shawn Kemp 32 Rebs: Gary Payton 10 Asts: Gary Payton 6		Pts: Michael Jordan 28 Rebs: Dennis Rodman 13 Asts: Ron Harper 7
Chicago leads the series, 1–0

United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 24,544
Referees:

No. 43 Danny Crawford
No. 17 Joey Crawford
No. 15 Bennett Salvatore

Although Chicago was not playing well offensively, they were able to compensate with superb defense. Frustration set in for Seattle when Frank Brickowski was ejected after committing a flagrant foul against Dennis Rodman, then promptly getting charged with two consecutive technical fouls. Chicago was leading by only 2 at the end of the third quarter, but in the final quarter, shots by Toni Kukoč and 2 key steals by Ron Harper clinched the Bulls' Game 1 win. Shawn Kemp was a bright spot for Seattle, scoring 32 points, but ended up fouling out midway through the fourth quarter. Michael Jordan led the way for the Bulls with 28 points, while Scottie Pippen chipped in with 21 points. Seattle captain Nate McMillan ended up leaving the game due to a debilitating back injury in the 2nd quarter. Dennis Rodman pulled down 13 rebounds for the Bulls, while Toni Kukoč chipped in off the bench with 18 points.

Game 2

NBC

June 7
9:00 et

Recap at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 1996)

Seattle SuperSonics 88, Chicago Bulls 92
Scoring by quarter: 27–23, 18–23, 20–30, 23–16
Pts: Shawn Kemp 29 Rebs: Shawn Kemp 13 Asts: Payton, Schrempf 3 each		Pts: Michael Jordan 29 Rebs: Dennis Rodman 20 Asts: Michael Jordan 8
Chicago leads the series, 2–0

United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 24,544
Referees:

No. 42 Hue Hollins
No. 20 Jess Kersey
No. 4 Ed T. Rush

Game 2 started well for Seattle with a 27–23 first quarter lead. However, Seattle would once again lose the lead before halftime. Despite Shawn Kemp's 29 points and 13 rebounds, Chicago triumphed with a final score of 92 to 88. In the victory, Dennis Rodman tied an NBA Finals record with 11 offensive rebounds and made a clutch free throw near the end of the game to seal the Bulls victory. Michael Jordan once again led the Bulls with 29 points, while Shawn Kemp continued his strong play by scoring 29 points for Seattle.

Game 3

NBC

June 9
7:30 et

Recap at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 1996)

Chicago Bulls 108, Seattle SuperSonics 86
Scoring by quarter: 34–16, 28–22, 13–23, 33–25
Pts: Michael Jordan 36 Rebs: Dennis Rodman 10 Asts: Scottie Pippen 9		Pts: Detlef Schrempf 20 Rebs: Brickowski, Payton 7 each Asts: Gary Payton 9
Chicago leads the series, 3–0

KeyArena, Seattle, Washington
Attendance: 17,072
Referees:

No. 27 Dick Bavetta
No. 25 Hugh Evans
No. 29 Steve Javie

The Sonics, owners of a 44–5 home record (including playoffs),^[2] suffered a 22-point blow-out in their return to Seattle, giving the Bulls a seemingly insurmountable 3–0 series lead. Frustration would once again set in for the Sonics, as Frank Brickowski was ejected for committing a flagrant foul on Dennis Rodman. Michael Jordan led the way for the Bulls with 36 points.

Game 4

NBC

June 12
9:00 et

Recap at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 1996)

Chicago Bulls 86, Seattle SuperSonics 107
Scoring by quarter: 21–25, 11–28, 31–31, 23–23
Pts: Michael Jordan 23 Rebs: Dennis Rodman 14 Asts: Scottie Pippen 8		Pts: Shawn Kemp 25 Rebs: Shawn Kemp 11 Asts: Gary Payton 11
Chicago leads the series, 3–1

KeyArena, Seattle, Washington
Attendance: 17,072
Referees:

No. 17 Joey Crawford
No. 13 Mike Mathis
No. 21 Bill Oakes

Seattle did not want to suffer the ignominy of a sweep. In an attempt to spark his team, Coach George Karl gave Jordan's defensive assignment to Gary Payton, a move which showed immediate results.^[3] Seattle succeeded with a 107–86 win over the Bulls, and Sonics fans taunted the Bulls players with homemade signs reading "Sweepless in Seattle".^[4] The Sonics were helped by the return of team captain Nate McMillan whose presence entering the game brought the KeyArena crowd to its feet.

Seattle's victory prevented the NBA Finals from being swept in two consecutive years (something which, as of 2024, has never occurred).^[5]

Game 5

NBC

June 14
9:00 et

Recap at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 1996)

Chicago Bulls 78, Seattle SuperSonics 89
Scoring by quarter: 18–18, 24–25, 18–19, 18–27
Pts: Michael Jordan 26 Rebs: Dennis Rodman 12 Asts: Scottie Pippen 5		Pts: Gary Payton 23 Rebs: Shawn Kemp 10 Asts: Gary Payton 6
Chicago leads the series, 3–2

KeyArena, Seattle, Washington
Attendance: 17,072
Referees:

No. 42 Hue Hollins
No. 20 Jess Kersey
No. 4 Ed T. Rush

Seattle would once again deny the Bulls the championship, stretching the series to six games. Payton had this to say: "We feel great. We knew we could play with this team. It just took too long. We should have come with this a little earlier."^[6] Shawn Kemp's performance in this game was considered by many to be his best in a Seattle uniform.

Game 6

NBC

June 16
7:30 pm

Recap at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 1996)

Seattle SuperSonics 75, Chicago Bulls 87
Scoring by quarter: 18–24, 20–21, 20–22, 17–20
Pts: Detlef Schrempf 23 Rebs: Shawn Kemp 14 Asts: Gary Payton 7		Pts: Michael Jordan 22 Rebs: Dennis Rodman 19 Asts: Michael Jordan 7
Chicago wins the NBA Finals, 4–2

United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 24,544
Referees:

No. 27 Dick Bavetta
No. 25 Hugh Evans
No. 29 Steve Javie

Chicago won the series four games to two on Father's Day, in what would be the last time the Sonics played a Finals game before relocating to Oklahoma City and being renamed the Thunder. The Bulls' victory was partly due to the stellar performance of power forward Dennis Rodman, who delivered a repeat of his Game 2 performance with 19 rebounds, tying his own NBA Finals record. Bulls star Michael Jordan finished the game with 22 points and collected his fourth Finals MVP.

As of 2024, no NBA team has ever overcome a 3-0 playoff series deficit, and only four teams have forced a Game 7 after dropping the first three contests: the New York Knicks (1951), Denver Nuggets (1994), Portland Trail Blazers (2003), and Boston Celtics (2023).^[7]^[8]

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Chicago Bulls

Chicago Bulls statistics
Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Randy Brown	6	0	8.2	.500	.500	.500	0.3	0.9	0.7	0.0	2.8
Jud Buechler	6	0	5.6	.222	.000	.000	0.0	0.2	0.7	0.0	0.7
Ron Harper	6	4	19.3	.375	.308	.917	2.3	1.7	0.7	0.3	6.5
Michael Jordan	6	6	42.0	.415	.316	.836	5.3	4.2	1.7	0.2	27.3
Steve Kerr	6	0	18.8	.303	.182	.857	0.9	0.8	0.2	0.0	5.0
Toni Kukoč	6	2	29.5	.423	.313	.800	4.8	3.5	0.8	0.3	13.0
Luc Longley	6	6	28.3	.574	.000	.727	3.8	2.2	0.6	1.8	11.7
Scottie Pippen	6	6	41.3	.343	.231	.708	8.2	5.3	2.3	1.3	15.7
Dennis Rodman	6	6	37.5	.486	.000	.579	14.7	2.5	0.8	0.2	7.5
John Salley	5	0	3.0	.000	.000	.000	0.2	0.4	0.0	0.0	0.0
Bill Wennington	6	0	7.0	.667	.000	.500	0.5	0.2	0.0	0.0	2.9

Seattle SuperSonics

Seattle SuperSonics statistics
Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Vincent Askew	4	0	15.5	.222	.200	1.000	2.5	0.5	0.5	0.0	1.8
Frank Brickowski	6	3	11.3	.222	.200	.000	2.0	0.5	0.2	0.2	0.8
Hersey Hawkins	6	6	38.3	.455	.273	.923	3.5	1.0	1.2	0.2	13.3
Ervin Johnson	3	3	6.7	.333	.000	.000	2.3	0.3	0.3	0.3	1.3
Shawn Kemp	6	6	40.3	.551	.000	.857	10.0	2.2	1.3	2.0	23.3
Nate McMillan	4	0	12.8	.429	.600	1.000	2.8	1.5	0.5	0.0	2.8
Gary Payton	6	6	45.7	.444	.333	.731	6.3	7.0	1.5	0.0	18.0
Sam Perkins	6	0	31.7	.377	.235	.810	4.7	2.0	0.5	0.0	11.2
Steve Scheffler	4	0	2.0	.000	.000	.000	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Detlef Schrempf	6	6	39.7	.443	.389	.875	5.0	2.5	0.5	0.2	16.3
Eric Snow	6	0	1.5	.000	.000	.000	0.3	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0
David Wingate	6	0	8.0	.500	.500	1.000	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.5

Broadcasting

The Finals was aired in the United States on NBC. Bob Costas hosted the pre-game, halftime and post-game show with analysts Julius Erving and Peter Vecsey. Games were called by Marv Albert, Matt Guokas and Bill Walton, while Ahmad Rashad and Hannah Storm served as sideline reporters.

The local NBC stations of the participants were WMAQ-TV (Chicago) and KING-TV (Seattle).

Aftermath

The 1996 NBA Finals would be the last Finals appearance of the Seattle SuperSonics. The Sonics would win the Pacific Division again in 1997 and 1998, but fell in the second round of the playoffs each time. The series was George Karl's only Finals appearance in his coaching career. In 2008, the Sonics franchise moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder. They would make the finals four years later after the move, losing to the Miami Heat in five games.

This was also the last time a Seattle-based team played for a major professional sports championship until Super Bowl XL in 2006, when the Seattle Seahawks lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Seahawks would go on to handily defeat the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014 and lose to the New England Patriots the following year in Super Bowl XLIX. In terms of overall sports leagues, the city would later enjoy six additional championships: the WNBA's Seattle Storm, a one-time SuperSonics sister team, won the 2004, the 2010, the 2018, and the 2020 WNBA Finals, and the MLS's Seattle Sounders FC won 2016 MLS Cup and 2019 MLS Cup.

Teams from Chicago and Seattle would meet three more times in postseason competition among the "Big Four" leagues. The only time Seattle won over Chicago was in the 2000 American League Division Series, when the Seattle Mariners swept the Chicago White Sox 3–0. Meanwhile, the Seahawks lost to the Chicago Bears in the divisional round of both the 2006 and 2010 NFL playoffs.

The Bulls came close to winning 70 games for the second straight year, instead settling for a 69-win campaign in 1997. They won their second straight title over the Utah Jazz in six games of the 1997 NBA Finals. In the off-season that preceded Scottie Pippen became the first person to win the NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year twice, playing for Team USA at the Atlanta Olympics.^[9] The Bulls would also defeat the Utah Jazz in six games in the 1998 NBA Finals.

The Bulls' combined 87 wins in the regular season and postseason would stand as an NBA record until the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, coached by former Bull Steve Kerr, broke it with 88 total wins (thanks to the first round using a best-of-7 format instead of the best-of-5 in 1996), including a 73-9 regular season mark. However, the Warriors lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals, failing to repeat as champions after beating the same Cavaliers in the previous Finals.