Background
Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were part of the 1984 NBA Draft class, with Jordan drafted 3rd by the Chicago Bulls, and Barkley picked 5th by the Philadelphia 76ers. While Jordan instantly catapulted to stardom by winning Rookie of the Year and eventually the MVP, Barkley played under the shadows of fellow all-stars Julius Erving and Moses Malone before coming into his own following the departures of the two. Both Barkley and Jordan would meet in the 1990 and 1991 NBA Playoffs, but Jordan's Bulls defeated Barkley's 76ers both times in five games, the latter of which where Jordan eventually won his first championship. They were ultimately selected to play for the Dream Team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics where they won the gold medal.
Frustrated by the constant losing and the desire to play for a contender, Barkley demanded a trade, which he got when he was traded to the Phoenix Suns for Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Lang. Moving to the then-brand new America West Arena from the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Suns would win 62 games in the 1992–93 season, a franchise record. Barkley's efforts won him the MVP award. The playoffs, however, were no cakewalk for the Suns, as they lost the first two games to the Los Angeles Lakers at home before winning three straight. In the second round the Suns defeated the San Antonio Spurs in six, and were again pushed to a decisive game by the Seattle SuperSonics before ultimately winning in the conference finals. For the Suns, it was their first NBA finals appearance since 1976 and second overall.
The Bulls won only 57 games that year, but started the playoffs hot by sweeping the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers in the first two rounds. However in the conference finals, they trailed 0-2 to the New York Knicks, who held the top seed in the Eastern Conference. But behind Jordan's hot scoring, including a 54-point Game 4, the Bulls evened the series, and then snapped the Knicks' 27-game winning streak at Madison Square Garden on a last second flurry of blocks against Knicks forward Charles Smith. The Bulls prevailed in six games to earn their third straight NBA finals appearance.
Read more about this topic: 1993 NBA Finals
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
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“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
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