Lakers: Vlade Divac (2019) Magic Johnson (2002) James Worthy (2003) Bulls: Michael Jordan (2009) Scottie Pippen (2010) Coaches: Phil Jackson (2007) Tex Winter (2011) Officials: Dick Bavetta (2015) Hugh Evans (2022) Darell Garretson (2016)
Eastern Finals
Bulls defeated Pistons, 4–0
Western Finals
Lakers defeated Trail Blazers, 4–2
← 1990
NBA Finals
1992 →
The 1991 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1990–91 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. It was also the first NBA Finals broadcast by NBC after 17 years with CBS.
The Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls took on the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers for the title, with Chicago having home court advantage. It was Michael Jordan's first NBA Finals appearance, Magic Johnson's last, and the last NBA Finals for the Lakers until 2000. The Bulls would win the series, 4–1. Jordan averaged 31.2 points on 56% shooting, 11.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds, 2.8 steals and 1.4 blocks en route to his first NBA Finals MVP Award.[1]
The series was not the first time that the Bulls and Lakers faced off in the playoffs. Prior to 1991, they met for four postseason series (1968, 1971, 1972 and 1973), all Lakers victories. Chicago was a member of the Western Conference at the time and moved into the East in 1980. The 1991 Finals marked the first time the Bulls defeated the Lakers in a playoff series.
This series would mark the end of the Lakers Showtime era and the beginning of the Bulls' dynasty. After winning five championships in eight finals appearances in the 1980s, the Lakers would struggle for the rest of the 1990s before winning five championships between the 2000 and 2010 seasons.
The 1991 Lakers were led by Johnson, who was 31 and playing in what would be his last full season, as well as fellow All-Star teammate James Worthy; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had retired two seasons earlier. The Bulls, led by Jordan and small forward Scottie Pippen, would win five more championships after 1991 in a seven-year span, cementing their status as a dynasty. Jordan became only the fourth player in NBA history (after Joe Fulks, George Mikan, and Abdul-Jabbar) to capture the scoring title and a championship in the same season.
^Michael Jordan 1990–91 NBA Finals, basketball-reference.com, accessed April 26, 2009.
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