Chicago Bulls: Ranking the 5 best Christmas Day games in team history

Thanks in large part to the magic of Michael Jordan, the Chicago Bulls have been a regular feature on the Christmas Day schedule. They've played 21 Christmas Day games over the years winning 13. Many of those wins fell before or after Jordan's era but their most interesting and notable all came while he was playing or while the team was navigating his brief baseball-related retirement.

Here are the five most dominating, compelling and fascinating Christmas Day games in Chicago Bulls history.

5. Chicago Bull vs. Boston Celtics, 1991

This was one of the Bulls' biggest-ever Christmas Day wins but it came with a relatively quiet effort from Michael Jordan. Chicago pounded Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Reggie Lewis and the Celtics 121-99, but Jordan contributed just 14 points on 14 shots from the field, adding 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks.

The Bulls' offense was carried by Scottie Pippen who put up 27 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals, shooting 9-of-18 from the field. They also got 18 points from B.J. Armstrong, 17 points and 12 rebounds from Horace Grant and 13 from Will Perdue. On the other side, the Celtics were led by youngsters with Rick Fox and Lewis scoring 21 and 20, respectively, and Bird limited to 8 points on 10 shots.

This game ended up as a showcase for the ascendent Bulls, who were on their way to the second title of their first Jordan-era three-pear, and a marker of the decline of the Celtics. This turned out to be Bird's final season and he played in just 45 games. Boston made the playoffs but lost in the second round to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and wouldn't advance out of the first-round of the playoffs again for a decade.