1992 NBA ChampionshipSeries – Bulls and Trail Blazers

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The Portland Trail Blazers 57-25 returned to the championship series after a two year absence led by coach Rick Adelman and executive Bucky Buckwalter to face the world champion Chicago Bulls coached by Phil Jackson and who had as their executive Jerry Krause.

The Trail Blazers wereled by Clyde Drexler 25.0 points per game, 6.7 assistsper game, 6.6 rebounds per game, Terry Porter 18.1 ppg, 5.8 apg, Jerome Kersey 12.6 ppg, 8,2 rpg, Buck Williams 11.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, Kevin Duckworth 10.7 ppg and

Clifford Robinson 12.4 ppg.

Chicago was led by Micheal Jordan 30.1 ppg, 6.1 apg, 6.4 rpg, Scottie Pippen 21.0 ppg, 7.7 apg, 7.0 rpg and Horace Grant 14.2 ppg, 10.0 rpg.

The two teams featured two of the league’s premier guards in Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler.

The Bulls offense centered around Micheal Jordan and Scottie Pippen while the Trail Blazers had six players average in double figures. Portland had as a reserve former Celtic Danny Ainge and Chicago had Dayton native John Paxson as a starting guard.

The series opened in Chicago Stadium in Chicago with the Bulls in control with a 122-89 victory led by Jordan with 39 points and 11 assists and Scottie Pippen with 24 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds. Portland was pacedby Clyde Drexler with 16 points and Chicago leads the series 1-0.

Portland responded with six players in double figures in game two still in Chicago for a 115-104 win to even the series at one game each. Clyde Drexler led them with 26 points, Terry Porter had 24, Buck Williams’shad 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Danny Ainge came off the bench to add 17 points.

For the Bulls Jordan had 39 points and 10 assists and Scottie Pippen added 16 points and 10 assists while Horace Grant had 12 rebounds.

Game three switched to the MemorialColiseum in Portland where the Trail Blazers made only 35.9% of their field goals and the Bulls win 94-84 to take a two games to one lead in the series.

Jordan led Chicago with 26 points while Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant each contributed 18 points each. Clyde Drexler led Portland with 32 points but the nearest scorer to him was Danny Ainge with 12 while Jerome Kersey had 12 rebounds.

In game four still in Portland the Trail Blazers outrebounded the Bulls 45-33 to even the series with a 93-88 win behind Kersey and Drexler with 21 points each, Cliff Robinson had 17 points off the bench and Kevin Duckworth had 11 rebounds.

For the Bulls Jordan led with 32 points and Scottie Pippen had 17 while Horace Grant had 10 rebounds.

In Game five in Portland Micheal Jordan put on one of those performances which only he was capable of. The Bulls took an early first quarter lead 39-26 and behind Jordan’s 14 of 23 in field goal attempts and 16 of 19 from the foul line for 46 points the Trail Blazers could not catch up and the Bulls win 119-106 to go up 3 games to 2 in the series.

Scottie Pippen added 24 points and 11 rebounds for Chicago and Clyde Drexler led Portland with 30 points and 10 rebounds.

The teams moved to Chicago for game six and the Trail Blazers built a 79-65 lead after three quarters but the Bulls strategy was to stay close to a team and then let Jordan take over the game in the fourth quarter and that is what happened in that game,

As according to youtube Jordan scored 12 of his 33 points in the final six minutes of the game and the Bulls win the game 97-93 and their second consecutive NBA title.

Jordan got his second finals MVP award and the Bulls returned the next year to defend their title while Portland has not been back to the NBA finals.

Clyde Drexler would return to the finals and win an NBA title with Hakeem Olajuwon and Houston in 1995.

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By Ron Griffitts

Contributing Columnist

Ron Griffitts a contributing columnist for the Daily Advocate

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