The Bulls played the Suns on Monday night in the desert; it was going well for a long time, but at the end of the night, it was KD hitting the game winning shot to send the Bulls away with an L. That kind of sucked… it was certainly worse than some of my other Bulls memories in Phoenix. How about we start with 1993?
It was the third year of the first three peat, and the Suns had homecourt advantage in the Finals. Charles Barkley had also won the regular season MVP that year, which if you don’t know now you know, helped MJ zone in for this season finale. The Bulls came out and took the first 2 games in Phoenix like nothing. Coming back to Chicago for the next three, we all expected a party, if not after the 4th game, certainly after Game 5; there was no way we were going back to Phoenix. Well, as Barkley said after their Game 5 win in Chicago to force a 6th game in Phoenix, the party will have to be delayed; we had to wait until Game 6 to crown our three peat boys. Game 6 was one of the most memorable games in Bulls history IMO. Jordan scoring all the points in the 4th quarter before the Paxson shot as the Bulls tried to close the series out. The Horace Grant blocked shot of KJ to seal it. I remember it fondly.
Fast forward a “few years” and we were blessed with another great Phoenix memory. Actually, it happened 14 years ago to the day, when Derrick Rose threw down a thunderous dunk over Goran Dragic; of course, an assist to Stacey King for the memorable call. I also remember those Derrick Rose pre-knee injury days. I have to tell you, he was electric. He went to the hole with reckless abandon; he was so quick. Certainly this one qualifies as one of his best dunks ever, although I remember one in person at the UC. It was an alley-oop against the Pistons that appeared from our vantage point to be way out of Rose’s reach, but… not much was out of Derrick’s reach. He corralled it with one hand and threw it down; we screamed. One of the biggest what ifs in Chicago sports history is, what if Derrick Rose didn’t get hurt…
My intention going down memory lane was not to get you sad, but instead, to remind us of these cherished moments. It’s these moments that get me through the rough stretches for our team; thankfully we HAVE so many of these when it comes to the Bulls. We could have had another entry into the Phoenix memory banks if maybe Billy Donovan would have called a play for Coby White with 1.6 seconds left, but nooo…. let’s rely on a one footed running three point attempt from DD. Brutal, just brutal. Zach got his chances; sure, he blew it, but he had his shot. When will Coby get his? Billy may have no choice soon, as we approach the trade deadline. It will get worse before it gets better folks… Go Bulls.
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