Chicago Bulls: 3 things we learned from night 3 of ‘The Last Dance’

3. John Paxson once did something right

In the 1993 NBA Finals, the Bulls got a huge stretch from Jordan in four of the six games. His two “off games” still saw him combine for 64 points in games one and six with game scores of around 25 each way.

In the middle four games in the 1993 NBA Finals, Jordan posted at least 41 points in each outing. That peaked with a series-high 55 points in Game 4, which still resulted in a close six-point win for the Bulls. The Suns were really starting to turn it on in the final three games of those finals, and the Bulls needed all hands on deck to close out this series in six games.

When it came down to it, Jordan was really heating up late in the fourth quarter in Game 6. But he still needed a bit of help to get the Bulls over the hump in the eventual one-point victory on the road. The ball would be dished out to then veteran John Paxson beyond the arc, and he would hit a key three-pointer to win the game by a single point.

Paxson got the Bulls over that hurdle in the 1993 NBA Finals in Game 6 by the final score of 99-98. He was the only non-Jordan Bulls player to hit a shot in the final 60 seconds.

It’s just so weird to think about the more positive days of Paxson amid all the Bulls front office changes happening at the moment. The GarPax tenure failed in the midst of the three years of the current Bulls rebuild. But there was a lot of good that Paxson did for the Bulls as a player back in the day.