u/bobby_barbados

Came across this on FB.

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I don't remember the Cobra Tank Smasher.

the wild ride ended. Since late April I've been in the time capsule rewatching our SuperSonics thunderous run through the Western Conference.

Even though I knew the result, I found the Kings stealing game 2 in Seattle eerily similar to the 1994 collapse.

Watching us dismantle Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and the two-time defending champion Rockets in a four-game sweep was ecstacy. Kemp outplayed Houston’s frontline, while GP neutralized their perimeter passing lanes, ending their hopes of a three-peat.

In the Western Conference Finals we jumped out to a commanding 3–1 lead and of course Utah battled back to force a nerve-wracking Game 7 at Key.

My biggest takeaway was our legendary display of crowd trolling with the "countdown". 17,000 fans screaming a synchronized countdown the second the referee handed Malone the ball. In game 7, Malone struggled heavily from the stripe, shooting just 6-of-12 (50%) for the game.

Full disclosure, I didn't re-watch today's game. What stood out to me in Game 6 ,was the fourth quarter. Sonics looking absolutely gassed, their body language heavy, and their offense completely stalling.

Ultimately, the hill was too steep to climb, and our historic run ended with a Game 6 defeat in Chicago.

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( Being so upset, a 20 year old me couldn't even finish placing the Supersonics score on Game 6 )

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TL;DR 1996 SuperSonics playoff recap, omitting Game 6 of the Finals

Picked this up from the second Sunday festival in Williamsburg. Vendor had a few other, this one spoke to me.

During the 1s quarter, both teams came out tight, resulting in a low-scoring, defensive grind early on. Bulls struggled to find any rhythm offensively outside of Jordan, while we relied heavily on Shawn Kemp working the paint.

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2nd quarter, thanks to the bench and Detlef we separated ourselves . Gary's s full-court pressure started taking a physical toll on Chicago's guards, forcing turnovers that fueled the fast break. Jordan kept the Bulls within striking distance, but Chicago's supporting cast was ice-cold.

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The 3rd quarter is where the game was won. We blew it open with a 28-19 third quarter. Payton and Kemp executed the pick-and-roll beautifully, and Frank Brickowski brought some enforcer energy off the bench The defense completely locked down the perimeter, leaving Scottie Pippen and Jordan to force tough, contested isolation plays.

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Chicago made a predictable, championship-level push during the 4th quarter, driven by Jordan and Pippen. They managed to trim the deficit to less than 10 points, but every time Chicago got close, Kemp or Payton made a winning play. Kemp came up with huge second-chance buckets, and Payton hit clutch free throws down the stretch to seal it.

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Dennis Rodman grabbed an absurd 20 rebounds in the game, but with zero points from him and almost nothing from the rest of the bench, Chicago simply ran out of firepower.

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Final Score: SuperSonics 89, Bulls 78

This game George Karl finally put Gary Payton on Michael Jordan defensively. After letting Jordan average over 31 points a game through the first three matchups, Payton completely threw MJ off his rhythm, finishing with 23, off of 6-19 shooting.

​Looking at the box score details, Seattle completely dominated the efficiency battle:

​Seattle SuperSonics: Shot 56.2% from the field and 52.9% from 3 point line (9-for-17).

​Chicago Bulls: Held to just 40.0% shooting overall and hit only 25% of their three-pointers (6-for-24).

​Seattle SuperSonics

​Shawn Kemp: 25 points and 11 rebounds 12-of-17 (70.6%) shooting.

​Gary Payton: 21 points and 11 assists.

​Hersey Hawkins: 18 points on 9 field goal attempts.

​Nate McMillan: Only played 14 minutes, but hit two huge threes off the bench.

​Chicago Bulls

​Michael Jordan: Scored 23 points, 6-of-19 (31.6%) , 11-for-1 from the free throw line

​Scottie Pippen: 4-of-17 (23.5%)and 1-for-8 from the 3 point line, finishing with 9 points.

​Dennis Rodman: 14 rebounds 8 of them offensive.

​Toni Kukoč: 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, off the bench

Dennis Rodman continued to get under the skin of our big men. He agitated Frank Brickowski into an ejection for the second time in the series, completely disrupting our frontcourt rhythm.

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Detlef Schrempf led the way for the struggling Sonics with 20 points off 7-of-15 shooting.

Bring Back our Sonics

Our Supersonics vs Bulls.

Shawn Kemp led all scorers with 32 points, followed by Michael Jordan with 28 points. Secondly Scottie Pippen and Gary Payton had 21.