Great recollection of a great game! As a Knicks fan I was sad that they lost. But, I was happy to see the Bulls get the 3preat none-the-less. One nagging question I still have from that last game of the finals is -
Why the heck was Frank Johnson playing crunch-time for the Suns in their last game of the season? He was the back-up point guard and arguably their 9th man. That team was so stacked. I'm surprised he even got in that game let alone played the last 3 minutes of it.
Hi Joshua! Thank you for reading and for responding! It's a great question on Frank Johnson. I don't have an answer. They subbed him in late, and he only played 6 minutes in Game 6, the fewest of the Suns. It wasn't for his three-point shooting; he hadn't shot a 3 all series (and didn't) and was 2-15 in 1993, regular season and playoffs combined. He wasn't really a defensive specialist. But he was a guard, and the Bulls were going small, and Richard Dumas was not playing well, and with Ceballos injured, that left Frank Johnson.
I don't see anything in the reporting as to why Westphal went with Johnson. He was a vet though, so maybe Westphal wanted veteran leadership / savvy right at that end-of-game situation. You're absolutely right: it's odd.
I'm really enjoying your blog(s). I learned about you from Johnny Smith's "Jump Man" book. I actually have gone further down the MJ-Era hole, where I just finished Sam Smith's "Second Coming" & am currently reading the Jim Patton book on MJ's brief baseball career called "Rookie".
I think your answer actually makes a ton of sense. I forgot that Ceballos was injured, and I barely recollect how Dumas was not up to snuff in that series. It's almost hard to calibrate that era, given how the way basketball is being played has changed so much.
If that Suns team were playing today Kevin Johnson would absolutely have a 3 point shot. And Tom Chambers probably would have been their starting Center.
And interestingly the Bulls line-up I suppose was a foreshadowing of this era, where you had 2 little guards on the court and you had MJ and Pippen being the wings, and you just stuck Horace at the 5 spot.
Hang Time by Bob Greene, which my friends and I at the time poo-poo'd as the "unserious" MJ book compared to Jordan Rules. In reality, Greene untapped a different side of MJ. It's more confessional, and it's fantastic. More here, along with Transition Game and Jordan Rules:
Dumas was great earlier in the series but he was having a bad Game 6. Still doesn't explain why Frank Johnson was the guy instead of Chambers. FJ and KJ had some spacing problems in the final minutes of Game 6, and I have to imagine that's more on FJ considering he was just getting his rhythm.
You're 100% on KJ and Chambers. And yes, I think the entire Bulls run foreshadowed much of today's era. Check out the PDF I shared above. Shows comparison between '96 Bulls and '16 Warriors. Thanks again!
I need to find my copy of "Blood on the Horns". I actually ordered it as the "Last Dance Documentary" was going live at the height of the pandemic.
Roland Lazenby is a good writer and a good dude. I enjoyed his MJ and Kobe books. And I think I read some of his earlier work on the Shaq/Kobe/Phil Lakers years (that was a while ago, though).
Yes, Isaacson's and Bob Greene's books look good too. Johnny Smith referenced them quite a bit throughout his book.
I forgot how much other literature is out there on the MJ Bulls. Like why was Sam Smith's "Second Coming" such a sleeper? After having read it, I know it wasn't quite as good as his original "The Jordan Rules", but it was still the sequel to an epic book.
(Makes me think Falk made sure the Chicago Tribune kind of buried that book so as to not piss Jordan off again).
Thanks for the additional links. I have quite a bit of catching up to do on what you published, as I just recently found out about you.
PS - Are you familiar with Peter Richmond's book on Phil Jackson "Lord of the Rings"? I'm not going to hype it up, but as a Phil Jackson fan, I'm now glad I read it (even if it took me over 10 years to appreciate this :P)
Of everything we mentioned, the only two that really made an impact were "Jordan Rules" and "Hang Time." "Playing For Keeps" by David Halberstam is one of my favorite sports books, and even that feels under-discussed. Roland's biography made an impact but I don't feel like any other single Bulls book of his did on that level. Difference b/t books you and I love and ones that became part of the national conversation, or even the local conversation.
"Second Coming" didn't really hit because it didn't have that singular hook of "Jordan Rules," and same can be said for Bob Greene's follow-up "Rebound." "Michael & Me" was one of those impact books where more people talked about it than read it. And then outside of MJ, "Bad As I Wanna Be" had a cultural impact. Phil's books did well, I think, though I have not read "Lord of the Rings." As Rick Telander wrote in his excellent, but also relatively under-read, "In the Year of the Bull":
“There were so many books out about Jordan that I stopped trying to collect them.”
Great recollection of a great game! As a Knicks fan I was sad that they lost. But, I was happy to see the Bulls get the 3preat none-the-less. One nagging question I still have from that last game of the finals is -
Why the heck was Frank Johnson playing crunch-time for the Suns in their last game of the season? He was the back-up point guard and arguably their 9th man. That team was so stacked. I'm surprised he even got in that game let alone played the last 3 minutes of it.
The team's 3 most important players without question were
1- Charles Barkley, 2 - Dan Majerle, 3- Kevin Johnson
Then you had your key role players on the perimeter (4-6)
Danny Ainge, Richard Dumas, Cedrick Ceballos
Then you had your key big men (7-9)
Oliver Miller, Tom Chambers, Mark West
Then your (true) back up PG.
Frank Johnson
Frank Johnson actually might have been the team's 10th man, playing the most important minutes of that Season for that team.
I don't get it!
Hi Joshua! Thank you for reading and for responding! It's a great question on Frank Johnson. I don't have an answer. They subbed him in late, and he only played 6 minutes in Game 6, the fewest of the Suns. It wasn't for his three-point shooting; he hadn't shot a 3 all series (and didn't) and was 2-15 in 1993, regular season and playoffs combined. He wasn't really a defensive specialist. But he was a guard, and the Bulls were going small, and Richard Dumas was not playing well, and with Ceballos injured, that left Frank Johnson.
I don't see anything in the reporting as to why Westphal went with Johnson. He was a vet though, so maybe Westphal wanted veteran leadership / savvy right at that end-of-game situation. You're absolutely right: it's odd.
Thank you so much, man!
I'm really enjoying your blog(s). I learned about you from Johnny Smith's "Jump Man" book. I actually have gone further down the MJ-Era hole, where I just finished Sam Smith's "Second Coming" & am currently reading the Jim Patton book on MJ's brief baseball career called "Rookie".
I think your answer actually makes a ton of sense. I forgot that Ceballos was injured, and I barely recollect how Dumas was not up to snuff in that series. It's almost hard to calibrate that era, given how the way basketball is being played has changed so much.
If that Suns team were playing today Kevin Johnson would absolutely have a 3 point shot. And Tom Chambers probably would have been their starting Center.
And interestingly the Bulls line-up I suppose was a foreshadowing of this era, where you had 2 little guards on the court and you had MJ and Pippen being the wings, and you just stuck Horace at the 5 spot.
Awesome stuff! Three books to get on your radar if they're not already:
Blood on the Horns by Roland Lazenby, which in my view is more of what The Last Dance should have been. Discussed here:
https://readjack.substack.com/p/were-talking-about-practice-why-dennis
Transition Game by Melissa Isaacson, a true slept-on gem. I have it a lot in my '96 Bulls book:
readjack.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/how-the-goat-was-built-by-jack-m-silverstein2.pdf
Hang Time by Bob Greene, which my friends and I at the time poo-poo'd as the "unserious" MJ book compared to Jordan Rules. In reality, Greene untapped a different side of MJ. It's more confessional, and it's fantastic. More here, along with Transition Game and Jordan Rules:
https://readjack.substack.com/p/win-a-classic-bulls-book-during-game
Dumas was great earlier in the series but he was having a bad Game 6. Still doesn't explain why Frank Johnson was the guy instead of Chambers. FJ and KJ had some spacing problems in the final minutes of Game 6, and I have to imagine that's more on FJ considering he was just getting his rhythm.
You're 100% on KJ and Chambers. And yes, I think the entire Bulls run foreshadowed much of today's era. Check out the PDF I shared above. Shows comparison between '96 Bulls and '16 Warriors. Thanks again!
Jack
I need to find my copy of "Blood on the Horns". I actually ordered it as the "Last Dance Documentary" was going live at the height of the pandemic.
Roland Lazenby is a good writer and a good dude. I enjoyed his MJ and Kobe books. And I think I read some of his earlier work on the Shaq/Kobe/Phil Lakers years (that was a while ago, though).
Yes, Isaacson's and Bob Greene's books look good too. Johnny Smith referenced them quite a bit throughout his book.
I forgot how much other literature is out there on the MJ Bulls. Like why was Sam Smith's "Second Coming" such a sleeper? After having read it, I know it wasn't quite as good as his original "The Jordan Rules", but it was still the sequel to an epic book.
(Makes me think Falk made sure the Chicago Tribune kind of buried that book so as to not piss Jordan off again).
I actually plugged your "Substack" on my review of Johnny Smiths "Jump Man", here. https://joshoffthepress.substack.com/p/part-ii-jumpman-book-review
Thanks for the additional links. I have quite a bit of catching up to do on what you published, as I just recently found out about you.
PS - Are you familiar with Peter Richmond's book on Phil Jackson "Lord of the Rings"? I'm not going to hype it up, but as a Phil Jackson fan, I'm now glad I read it (even if it took me over 10 years to appreciate this :P)
https://joshoffthepress.substack.com/p/personal-review-of-peter-richmonds-biography-on-phil-jackson-lord-of-the-rings-originally-published-02092014-nba-talk
Of everything we mentioned, the only two that really made an impact were "Jordan Rules" and "Hang Time." "Playing For Keeps" by David Halberstam is one of my favorite sports books, and even that feels under-discussed. Roland's biography made an impact but I don't feel like any other single Bulls book of his did on that level. Difference b/t books you and I love and ones that became part of the national conversation, or even the local conversation.
"Second Coming" didn't really hit because it didn't have that singular hook of "Jordan Rules," and same can be said for Bob Greene's follow-up "Rebound." "Michael & Me" was one of those impact books where more people talked about it than read it. And then outside of MJ, "Bad As I Wanna Be" had a cultural impact. Phil's books did well, I think, though I have not read "Lord of the Rings." As Rick Telander wrote in his excellent, but also relatively under-read, "In the Year of the Bull":
“There were so many books out about Jordan that I stopped trying to collect them.”