The Bulls beat the absolute brakes off the Magic in Game 1 of the ’96 Eastern Conference Finals 121-83. This team has largely cruised through the playoffs to this point, but their best basketball still lies ahead. Observations:
Not last year’s Bulls
The more I watch of this Bulls team, the more obvious it becomes how ahead of their time they were. The lineup of Ron Harper, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc and Dennis Rodman is so modern in its defensive versatility and devastating fastbreak ability — a pace-and-space, switch-everything death lineup before it was cool.