son, Jordan returned to the Bulls. Despite his pres-
ence in 1995, the Orlando Magic defeated the Bulls
in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. For the sec-
ond straight year, however, the Rockets won the NBA
title, beating the Magic four games to none.
In the 1995-1996 season, Jordan’s first full season
since he came out of retirement, the Bulls achieved
the best regular-season record in NBA history at 72-
10 and continued their fantastic performance by
winning their fourth championship, defeating the
Seattle SuperSonics four games to two in the finals.
The Bulls won their fifth and sixth championship ti-
tles during the next two seasons, ending each with
a victory over the Utah Jazz four games to two. In
game six of the 1998 finals, Jordan made the game-
winning shot to seize the championship. He retired
after that season. At that time, Jordan was already
being proclaimed by several analysts as the greatest
basketball player in NBA history. During the 1990’s,
he won the scoring championship seven times and
the NBA regular-season Most Valuable Player Award
four times.
During the last season of the decade, a dispute be-
tween players and owners led to a lockout, which
lasted until February, 1999. Thus, this season was ap-
proximately half the length of a normal one. At its
end, the San Antonio Spurs, led by David Robinson
and Tim Duncan, won their first NBA championship
by defeating the Knicks four games to one. It was his-
torically significant, as the Spurs became the first
team from the former American Basketball Associa-
tion (ABA) to both play for and win an NBA champi-
onship.
The “Dream Team” Following the U.S. men’s bas-
ketball team’s loss to the Soviet Union in the 1988
Summer Olympics (only their second loss in the his-
tory of the Olympics), the United States fielded pro-
fessionals to play in the 1992 Olympics. Dubbed the
“Dream Team,” the U.S. team was composed almost
entirely of NBA players, including Jordan, Bird, and
Johnson. The United States easily won the gold
medal by defeating Croatia 117-85, having won eight
games by an average margin of forty-four points. In
doing so, the United States reestablished its domi-
nance in Olympic basketball and contributed to the
growth in international interest in the sport.
The United States put together another Olympic
basketball team with professional players in 1996.
Including Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and
Scottie Pippen, the United States won its second
consecutive Olympic gold medal in basketball with a
95-69 victory over Yugoslavia.College: Dominance of Traditional Powers Men’s
college basketball produced a substantial amount of
excitement in the 1990’s. After losing badly to the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), in the
championship game in 1990, Duke University be-
came the first team to win back-to-back national ti-
tles in 1991 and 1992 since the University of Califor-
nia, Los Angeles (UCLA), accomplished this feat in- Coached by Mike Krzyzewski, Duke’s path to
each championship included games that analysts
consider to be a couple of the greatest in the history
of college basketball. In the semifinals in the 1991
NCAA tournament, Duke played UNLV in a re-
match of the previous season’s championship game.
After winning the championship in 1990, UNLV had
many players return the following season and pro-
duced an undefeated record entering the 1991 semi-
finals. Though thought to be overmatched, Duke
upset UNLV 79-77 and advanced to the champion-
ship game. In the finals, Duke defeated the Univer-
sity of Kansas.
Entering the next season, Duke had its top play-
ers returning, such as Christian Laettner, Grant Hill,
and Bobby Hurley. Throughout the year, Duke was
considered one of the best teams in the country, and
earned one of the top four seeds in the NCAA tour-
nament in 1992. In the regional finals, Duke met the
University of Kentucky, a traditional college basket-
ball power. In what many analysts consider one of
the greatest college basketball games, Duke de-
feated Kentucky 104-103 in double-overtime. With
Duke trailing by one point and with 2.1 seconds
remaining, Hill threw an in-bounds pass three-
quarters the length of the court to Laettner, who
made a quick shot eighteen feet from the basket as
time expired, providing Duke with the victory. In the
semifinals, Duke defeated Indiana University. In the
championship game, Duke won easily against the
University of Michigan, producing consecutive
championships for a single college basketball team
for the first time in nineteen years.
In 1993, the University of North Carolina Tar
Heels, coached by the legendary Dean Smith, won
their first national championship in eleven years, as
they defeated Michigan 77-71. The University of Ar-
kansas won the national championship in 1994 with
The Nineties in America Basketball 91