The 1996 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1995–96 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Seattle SuperSonics (64–18) played the Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls (72–10), with the Bulls holding home court advantage. The teams' 136 combined regular season wins shattered the previous record of 125, set in 1985 between the Los Angeles Lakers who won 62 games and the Boston Celtics who won 63 games in the past regular season. The series, the 50th NBA finals in league history, was played under a best-of-seven format. This was the first championship in the Chicago Bulls' second three-peat.[1]

1996 NBA Finals

Team Coach Wins

Chicago Bulls Phil Jackson 4

Seattle SuperSonics George Karl 2

Dates

June 5–16

MVP

Michael Jordan

(Chicago Bulls)

Hall of Famers

Bulls:

Michael Jordan (2009)

Scottie Pippen (2010)

Dennis Rodman (2011)

Toni Kukoc (2021)

SuperSonics:

Gary Payton (2013)

Coaches:

Phil Jackson (2007)

Tex Winter (2011)

George Karl (2022)

Officials:

Dick Bavetta (2015)

Hugh Evans (2022)

Eastern Finals

Bulls defeated Magic, 4–0

Western Finals

SuperSonics defeated Jazz, 4–3

← 1995 NBA Finals 1997 →

Chicago won the series 4 games to 2. Michael Jordan was named NBA Finals MVP, his fourth time winning the award.

Game 2

Edit

NBC

June 7

9:00 et

Recap at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 1996)

Seattle SuperSonics 88, Chicago Bulls 92

Scoring by quarter: 27–23, 18–23, 20–30, 23–16

Pts: Shawn Kemp 29

Rebs: Shawn Kemp 13

Asts: Payton, Schrempf 3 each Pts: Michael Jordan 29

Rebs: Dennis Rodman 20

Asts: Michael Jordan 8

Chicago leads the series, 2–0

United Center, Chicago, Illinois

Attendance: 24,544

Referees:

No. 42 Hue Hollins

No. 20 Jess Kersey

No. 4 Ed T. Rush

Game 2 started well for Seattle with a 27–23 first quarter lead. However, Seattle would once again lose the lead before halftime. Despite Shawn Kemp's 29 points and 13 rebounds, Chicago triumphed with a final score of 92 to 88. In the victory, Dennis Rodman tied an NBA Finals record with 11 offensive rebounds and made a clutch free throw near the end of the game to seal the Bulls victory. Michael Jordan once again led the Bulls with 29 points, while Shawn Kemp continued his strong play by scoring 29 points for Seattle.