Michael Jordan completed his first three-peat with a win over the Phoenix Suns, beating the 1993 NBA MVP Charles Barkley after taking things personally (according to himself).
That was the closest that Chuck was to win an NBA title during his career, and he still can’t get over that series. Talking with SportsCenter, the former player-turned-analyst spoke about the 2021 Phoenix Suns and their chances to win the NBA championship.
Barkley recalled how hard it was for his Suns to beat the Chicago Bulls in 1993 in a series that included a triple-overtime (3:05).
“Oh, it takes a lot of breaks,” Barkey explained. “Because in triple-overtime, there’s one or two plays or just one player that can go one way or another… There was so many back and forth in those games, it was stressful. Obviously, we won, but it was stressful. Because we lose that game, we’re going to get swept more than likely.”
Furthermore, the big man was asked if he ever talked with Michael Jordan about that game. Charles revealed that he has nightmares about it, stating that he doesn’t want to talk about those Finals ever again.
“I never want to talk about that series ever again. Ever!” Barkley emphasized. “I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes thinking about what could I have done differently.”
The Suns lost that series 4-2, winning Game 3 and 5 with scores of 129-121 and 108-98, respectively. We saw Michael Jordan going off on the Arizonian team, dropping 246 points on his rivals over 6 games. Jordan scored 44 points in that iconic Game 3 before taking things to the next level with 55 points in Game 4.
- Game 1: Chicago Bulls 100-92 Phoenix Suns
- Game 2: Chicago Bulls 111-108 Phoenix Suns
- Game 3: Chicago Bulls 129-121 Phoenix Suns
- Game 4: Phoenix Suns 105-111 Chicago Bulls
- Game 5: Phoenix Suns 108-98 Chicago Bulls
- Game 6: Chicago Bulls 99-98 Phoenix Suns
Chuck couldn’t keep up with His Airness and only scored 17 points in the series-clinching game where MJ dropped 33. We’ll never know what would have happened if Barkley did something different, and that’s something he has to live with.
