How a slim 7 foot Shaquille O’Neal stopped Michael Jordan’s possible ‘4-peat’

The Chicago Bulls without Michael Jordan is just another trophyless team, the billionaire man was sort of an undefeatable juggernaut in the 90s who made their legacy.

Jordan and his Chicago Bulls were a force to reckon with since the start of the 90s taking over the league from the hands of the legends like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Isiah Thomas for good.

They won three straight championships between 1991 and ’93 defeating Magic’s Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Charles Barkley‘s Suns in those three Finals. There was no beating the Bulls at that time, not in the Playoffs for certain.

But then in 1993 the 3x MVP suddenly retired after reportedly growing “bored” of the game and pursued professional Baseball for almost a year and a half. After coming to realise basketball was what, he was meant to play, he made a comeback in 1995 during the Playoffs.

That would be the first and only time a Jordan-led Bulls would be beaten in the Playoffs from ’91-98.

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Only Shaq’s Orlando Magic were able to defeat the Michael Jordan led Bulls of the 90s

There were a lot of teams in the East that tried grabbing the opportunity of Jordan’s absence to make it to the Finals and win the championship but failed in front of Hakeem Olajuwon‘s Rockets in both the 1994 and ’95 Finals.

Although Jordan had come back during the ’95 Playoffs and defeated Charlotte Hornets in the first round to show that he has still got it, he and the Bulls lost the next round to a third-year 23-year-old Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway’s Orlando Magic.

Shaq and Penny’s team made it all the way to Finals but lost it against The Dream and his Rockets. The next three years will again be ruled by the MJ-led Bulls. They would three-peat again from 1996 to 1998 and Jordan would win 2 more MVPs and 3 more Finals MVPs before the Bulls would break it up for good.

So, only that Magic team has the privilege of saying they defeated Mike’s Bulls between 1991-98. Hadn’t they done that, the Bulls might have 4-peated and Jordan could have 7 rings? Just maybe.

Also read: StatMuse reveals NBA players with most career playoffs points as teenagers