Latest Episode Of The Last Dance Highlights Bulls-Knicks Rivalry & Gives Perspective On Yankees History

Watching the latest installment of “The Last Dance” brought back memories of anyone of a certain age when they showed the highlights of the Knicks-Bulls rivalry.

The rivalry saw the Bulls win four times in the postseason over the Knicks from 1989 to 1993 and then again in 1996 when the 72-win Bulls needed five games to beat the Knicks. The 1989 win in the second round was mostly glossed over since the focus of the documentary at that point was on Chicago’s rivalry with Detroit when it was the Pistons standing in Michael Jordan’s win.

Eventually the Bulls got past the Pistons in 1991 and that came weeks after they routed the Knicks but for anyone who remembers the rivalry 1992 and 1993 were the peak years with the Bulls winning in seven in 1992 and six games the following years en route to their second and third championship.

To offer a perspective of how long ago the peak of the Knicks-Bulls rivalry was is a glance into a side of Yankee history people of a certain age group may not remember or even be aware off.

Game One was played May 23, 1993 and that night the Yankees played in Boston in one of those Sunday night games. At that time the Yankees were 24-19, but two nights later when John Starks’ famous dunk capped off the Game 2 win, the Yankees were 1-0 winners over the Baltimore Orioles in a game attended by 15,062 and decided on a Pat Kelly homer off Jaime Moyer.

The series did not reconvene until May 29 when the Bulls rolled to a 20-point win at Chicago Stadium. That day, 25,106 fans watched the Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox when Jim Abbott took a no-hitter into the eighth before Bo Jackson broke it up and when this game ended the Yankees were 27-22.

Two days later was Memorial Day and the Yankees won again this time over Cleveland, the same city Jordan knocked off twice with series-ending shots, including one on May 17, 1993. The Knicks wound up failing to take a three games to one lead when Jordan scored 54 points.

Then came the crusher for the Knicks on June 2, 1993. B.J. Armstrong hit the clutch three with 76 seconds left but the moment anyone remembers was Charles Smith being blocked four times at the rim in the final seconds and Chicago moving to the verge of advancing to the NBA finals with a 97-94 win.

Smith’s infamous series of blocked layups probably occurred around 11:30 PM Eastern since the conference finals started shortly after 9:00 PM. That would have given the 14,374 fans plenty of time to return from the Bronx after watching the Yankees roll to an 8-2 win over Cleveland in 2:34 when Jimmy Key won his sixth game and Mike Humphreys hit the only homer of his career.

The series ended two nights later and perhaps some fans were flipping over to MSG Network of WPIX during commercials to watch the Yankees take a 5-3 loss in Texas. By the time the Yankees finished off a game that took 2:26, the Knicks were on their way to an eight-point loss and their 60-win season coming to a crashing halt.

That ended winter sports for 1992-93 in New York and turned the focus to baseball, mostly the Yankees since the Mets were well on their way to a 103-loss season filled with numerous embarrassing incidents.

When the Knicks saw their season ended by Jordan again, the Yankees were 30-24 and on their way to a pennant race. By the time the Knicks reconvened for training camp in the fall of 1993 and an eventual trip to the NBA finals the Yankees saw their bid fall short when they lost the AL East by seven games by eventual champion Toronto.

It was the Yankees’ first winning season since 1988, something that is hard to believe but the perspective in how long ago it was they were bad is evidenced by the 1993 series between the Bulls and Knicks.

In the previous four seasons as the Bulls dethroned the Pistons and the Knicks tried to keep pace, the Yankees won 74 games, 67, 71 and 76. On the day the 1993 season ended for the Knicks, the Yankees were merely three years removed from losing 30 of their first 48 games but by 1993 George Steinbrenner’s suspension was over, Buck Showalter was on the way to restoring respectability to the Yankees while Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera were working their way through the minors to join Bernie Williams, who was starting to establish himself in 1993.

Since then the Yankees have not had a losing season, even finishing with winning records from 2013 to 2016 when their transition years still resulted in win totals of 85, 84, 87 and 84. Had this season started on time, the Yankees probably would be on their way to another winning season.

Since then the Yankees have played three postseason series that took place in June. They won the conference finals over Indiana in 1999, lost to the Spurs in the 1999 NBA finals and then lost to the Pacers in the 2000 conference finals.

Then they traded Patrick Ewing, Jeff Van Gundy resigned and a string of losing seasons started, resulting in a net total of 30 postseason games since while the Yankees have raised their championship total from 22 to 27.

The “Last Dance” brings back memories of when baseball did not start in New York in terms of attention until the Knicks were eliminated and recently that means April, at least under normal circumstances. The time that has elapsed since the peak years of the rivalry also offers a perspective of a time when the Yankees were not always the well-oiled machine of wins they have become for most of the past two decades.