how the Bulls won the 1993 title over Phoenix

That was a great series, won by the Bulls in 6 games with a 99-98 victory at Phoenix.

Everyone remembers that it was John Paxson who hit the game-winning three-pointer in that one. But the video is different from how I remembered the scene. For some reason I remembered Jordan as passing to Paxson unselfishly.

Instead, you can see that it was Horace Grant down low (with his trademark white goggles) kicking the ball back out to Paxson. And Jordan actually looks pretty miffed during the timeout that he didn’t take the winning shot. No one was more competitive than Jordan, ever. [ADDENDUM: After watching that final play a half-dozen more times, I think I was being too hard on Jordan. He does throw his arms high in triumph after Paxson hits the shot. And in fact, I have a vague memory that Phil Jackson called that play deliberately and that Jordan went along with it. That may be why I had a false memory of Jordan himself throwing the pass, rather than Grant. It’s been almost 20 years, and we’ve all forgotten much of the day-to-day lore of those Jordan Bulls teams.]

What we didn’t know at the time was that Jordan’s father would be murdered in a carjacking two months later, and that Jordan himself would (temporarily) retire soon thereafter.