During the Chicago Bulls‘ six title runs in the 1990s, they famously were never pushed to a Game 7 in the NBA Finals. However, three teams took them to the limit in the Eastern Conference playoffs. In 1990, the Detroit Pistons beat the Bulls in Game 7 of the Conference finals, their final playoff series defeat before winning three straight titles from 1991 to 1993. On the other hand, the New York Knicks had the chance to stop the Bulls’ dynastic run in 1992, as they pushed the Chicago side to a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. However, a blunder from head coach Pat Riley cost them the opportunity, according to former Knicks star Mark Jackson.
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On the latest episode of The Mark Jackson Show, the player-turned-commentator explained how Riley failed to motivate his troops ahead of Game 7 in Chicago. “As great as Pat Riley is at motivating his team and giving speeches, pushing buttons, the one time I thought he fell short, for the lack of a better term, was in Game 7 in Chicago. He went to tell a story, a great story. But Game 7 in Chicago against the great Bulls team, we didn’t need a story,” Jackson told his son Bluu, during the podcast.
‘We were a veteran team. We just needed to say, ‘You know what time it is. Bring it in.’ He gave us a speech, and we started the game and didn’t have the energy we needed,” he added.
The Knicks had a meltdown in Game 7, putting forth their worst offensive and defensive performance of the series. They had trailed by only five points at halftime. But a disastrous third quarter, where the Bulls outscored them 23-13, sealed their fate. They were a no-show in the fourth quarter and eventually lost 110-81. The 29-point hammering was the Knicks’ joint-biggest loss of the season.
New York had the chance to shut the door on the Bulls’ dynastic run and potentially win their first NBA title in 19 years. In hindsight, the 1991-92 Knicks could’ve altered NBA history. But they are only remembered now as another one of the Bulls’ playoff victims during their first three-peat.
Mark Jackson confirms famous Pat Riley story involving Michael Jordan
In author Chris Herring’s book ‘Blood in the Garden,’ he claimed that before Game 6 of the 1992 Eastern Conference semi-finals between the Knicks and the Bulls, Riley showed the team a 10-minute montage of Michael Jordan and his teammates dominating them in the first round of their 1991 playoff series. The legendary head coach allegedly replayed Jordan’s vicious dunk on Knicks superstar Patrick Ewing multiple times, much to his players’ frustration.
On The Mark Jackson Show, Bluu asked his father if the story was true. Jackson confirmed the story and said,
“We didn’t have to watch it. It was a motivational tool. Is it true that in 1992 Pat Riley showed a clip of Michael Jordan dunking on us? Yes, it’s true… 1992, going into Game 6 at Madison Square Garden, we needed to win the game. And he showed us the clip to remind us that if we wanted to win, this is the guy that could stop us and you have to be willing to put him on his rear end.”
Riley’s tactic worked. The Knicks’ physical defense held Jordan to 21 points on 9-of-25 shooting and helped their team win the game 100-86 to push the series to a Game 7 in Chicago. Lighting didn’t strike twice, as Jordan dropped 42 points in Game 7 to eliminate the Knicks before leading the Bulls to their second straight NBA title.
