Power ranking Michael Jordan’s Bulls teams
3. 1991-92 Chicago Bulls
- 67-15 record (.817)
- +10.4 point differential
- 115.5 offensive rating
- 104.5 defensive rating
- +11.0 net rating
- 15-7 playoff record (.682)
At the time, the 1991-92 Bulls tied for the fourth-highest win total in NBA history with 67 victories (they’re now tied for seventh). Their plus-10.4 differential also ranked fourth all-time (now 10th), Scottie Pippen became an All-Star and Horace Grant submitted his finest season in a Bulls uniform. With a ring already in Jordan and Co.’s bag, it seemed inevitable they would repeat.
However, despite being so dominant in the regular season and winning 10 more games than the next-best team, these Bulls weren’t quite as impressive in the postseason. Their 15-7 record resulted in the lowest postseason win percentage (.682) of any of MJ’s championship-winning teams, their league-best offense fell to league-average territory in the playoffs (eighth out of 16 teams) and by comparison, their path to the Larry O’Brien Trophy wasn’t exactly filled with world-beaters.
The Bulls swept a 38-win Miami Heat team in the first round, but allowed a Knicks squad that won 16 fewer contests take them to Game 7 in the second round. They beat two 57-win squads — the Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers — in the next two rounds, somewhat salvaging a less-than-convincing postseason run by at least downing the league’s second- and third-best teams.
From that second-round surprise to “The Shrug” itself, the Bulls’ regular-season dominance felt so inevitable that perhaps the Bulls even bought into it themselves. They almost got caught sleeping, but luckily for them, nothing could wake Michael Jordan up quite like a comparison to another NBA great. Apparently the “Clyde Drexler or MJ?” narratives did exactly that.