Chicago Bulls: Ranking the 5 best Christmas Day games in team history
By Ian Levy
4. Chicago Bull vs. Orlando Magic, 1993
This game was one of the most competitive matchups the Bulls every played on Christmas and also featured a huge performance from Scottie Pippen. The Bulls came away with a 95-93 win with a strong finishing kick in the fourth quarter.
Pippen finished with 28 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals, shooting 12-of-23 from the field. B.J. Armstrong and Toni Kukoc each chipped in 17 points and, in a sign of the times, the Bulls came away with a win despite shooting just 2-of-10 from beyond the arc. All five Magic starters finished in double-figures, led by Nick Anderson with 24 points and a second-year Shaquille O'Neal with 20.
This was the Bulls first season without Michael Jordan, who was busy dabbling with baseball. It was also a preview of what would become a heated rivalry over the next few seasons. The Bulls would eventually be eliminated by the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and the Magic would bow out to the Pacers in the first-round, their first playoff appearance in franchise history.
The following season, the Magic would defeat the Bulls in the second-round (with a newly returned Jordan) and advance to the Finals, where they would lose to the Rockets. The season after that, with Jordan fully reintegrated, the Bulls would sweep the Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals and win the first title of their second three-peat.