In the 90s of the last century, Michael Jordan, the god of basketball, stood alone. In the six seasons from 1991 to 1998, Jordan won six championships, six FMVPs, six scoring titles, six All-Star First Team and six All-Defensive First Team appearances. In the prime of Jordan's years, none of them could compete with it in terms of strength or honor. In fact, in Jordan's six championship seasons, only the heavyweight title of regular season MVP has been lost twice. They were taken away by Charles Barkley in '93 and Karl Malone in '97, and these two were the strongest power forwards in the '90s, the most regrettable uncrowned kings in NBA history, and they went head-to-head for a lifetime.
Because of being in the same position, throughout the '90s, people were talking about Barkley and Malone, who was the best power forward of all time. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the Dream Team conducted the highest level of intra-team training in basketball history, and the two big forwards in the east and west regions went head-to-head and did not give in to each other. Whenever Barkley yells at Malone and hits the basket, Malone inevitably returns the favor with his iron elbow and mid-range. Barkley said: "Carl and I are both power forwards, and there is a certain comparability between us. I have to prove that I'm the best No. 4 in the world and that I'm better than him. Karl Malone said: "Ross Barkley is a great talent, but he thinks he's better than me, it's impossible. Christian Leitner, the only rookie on the Dream Team at the time to be drafted by the U.S. team when he first entered the NBA, recalled that team practice, Barkley broke through the baseline and completed a strong dunk on Malone, which made him feel like a god fight. And it is these two legendary power forwards who took away the two MVPs of the basketball gods in the 90s that belonged to Michael Jordan, which can be regarded as adding beautiful colors to their regrettable uncrowned careers.
In the summer of 1992, Barkley moved from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Phoenix Suns. From entering the NBA in 1985 to 1992, for 7 consecutive years, Barkley maintained an average of 20+ and 55% shooting per game, which was something only later O'Neal did. At the peak of Barkley's career, he was the most versatile power forward in NBA history with the highest combination of scoring stats and efficiency. But in his eight-year career in Philadelphia, Barkley, who played a personal all-time level, struggled to bring the 76ers to the championship stage because he didn't have enough helpers on his team. In eight years, Barkley's team missed the playoffs twice, was eliminated in the first round twice, and was eliminated by Jordan's Bulls in the semifinals twice. After fed up with the defeat and irreconcilable tensions with Philadelphia management, Barkley finally boarded a plane to Phoenix in the summer of '92, after playing the Barcelona Olympics.
The Suns have a good group of puzzle players, but they lack a quality superstar. Before 1992, the Suns' ace player was the lightning-fast Kevin Johnson. He has scored 20 points + 10 assists in three consecutive seasons, been selected as an All-Star three times, and even sat in the All-Star starting guard position. But Johnson's height of 1.86m is destined to be an absolute defensive disadvantage that he cannot change. Coupled with the team's No. 2 man, four-time All-Star Tom Chambers, aging and injury-ridden, the team has never been able to make it further in the regular season, and it will be even more difficult to break through the playoffs in the Western Conference. But in the 92-93 season, the arrival of Barkley at the peak of the season turned the Suns into a great team. He proved to be the perfect leader for that group of quality puzzle pieces, and he gave the Suns a domineering spirit that they had been missing for a long time.
In the '92-93 season, the Suns' lineup was like this, they had ace guard Kevin Johnson, but missed 32 games. They lacked height, with no one in the rotation taller than 2.08m. The most reliable inside linemen are 33-year-old Chambers and Oliver Miller, a big fat ball who is overweight. Barkley once said, "All you need to do is put a burger in the basket for Miller to dunk." In addition, the Suns have three forwards: Dan Marley, a lean and hard-working white shooter, Seballos, a slam dunk monster, Richard Dumas, a sturdy and explosive swingman, and Danny Ainge, a young man who is causing trouble everywhere. Barkley led such a group of people to play the league's No. 1 offensive efficiency and the league's No. 1 record with 62 wins and 20 losses. In the playoffs, he passed all the way, eliminating strong teams such as the Lakers, Spurs, and SuperSonics one after another, and entered the 1993 championship game.
However, at the start of the season, Kevin Johnson and Barkley did not get along. The gentlemanly defender didn't like Barkley's aggressive attitude, and Barkley often lectured his team-mates in the team, yelling at them. Until one time, Johnson, who couldn't bear it, and Barkley had a face-to-face fight. But I didn't expect Barkley to say: "I just want to make you angry, and it's my purpose to make you tough." "Ross Barkley has infused that team with an indomitable spirit and soul. His performance and approach are also the side of a great leader, even the same way that great Jordan and Kobe inspired their teammates. This convinced Kevin Johnson and willingly followed his lead. And Barkley himself in the 92-93 season played the peak season of his career, averaging 25 per game6 points 122 rebounds 51 assist, 16 steals, plus 552% hit rate, such an extremely comprehensive data. This is the only time in Barkley's career that he has averaged 25+10+5 per game, averaging 5One assist is the most of his career. He can score, grab rebounds, connect teammates, and hit shots, and he is a rare all-rounder among interior players in that era. Outside of the stats, Barkley has made a qualitative leap forward for the Suns' overall offense and defense. This chubby, who claims to be 98 meters tall and may actually be only 1.96 meters, has the strongest ass in NBA history, and has achieved the achievement of "the shortest rebounding king" in history. He was a natural fighter, the Demon King of the World, who once beat Bill Lambir, the most vicious of the Bad Boys. Because of his presence, the Phoenix Suns' game can become hot enough to burn your eyeballs at any time.
The league's No. 1 record, strong personal data, and strong personality traits all of this ultimately helped Barkley win the regular season MVP in '93 and break Jordan's dream of three consecutive MVPs. Although Jordan said in the later "The Last Dance" documentary: The MVP of '93 should be awarded to him, Barkley did not agree. He believes that the MVP should be the best player on the best team in the regular season. In Barkley's mind, the Phoenix Suns he led that year were the best team in the league.
In 1993, the Bulls, who had won three consecutive championships, seemed to be a little tired. He finished the regular season with a 57-25 record, the second-best record in the East. In the two years before that, they won 61 wins in the East and 67 wins in the league. In the 92-93 season, Jordan played in 78 games for the Bulls, averaging 326 points 67 rebounds and 55 assists 28 steals and shooting 495%。On the offensive end, Jordan averaged better points and rebounds per game than last year, and increased aggressiveness on the defensive end, averaging 28 steals won the league's steal king. Jordan didn't lose to Barkley in terms of personal data, but the Bulls' record dragged them down. Jordan and Barkley were the two strongest men in '93, but the Suns won five more games than the Bulls. Barkley took the Suns from last year's fourth place in the Western Conference to the top of the league, while the tired Bulls didn't move forward. Therefore, in the MVP selection list, Barkley completely surpassed Jordan in both the first vote rate and the total number of votes. In fact, in the final voting results of that year's MVP, Jordan was only in third place, ahead of him was the Rockets Olajuwon. Big Dreams averaged 26 per game1 point, 13 rebounds, 3The data of 5 assists helped the Rockets get 55 wins, the second record in the Western Conference.
It can be said that Barkley in '93 defeated Olajuwon and Jordan to win the regular season MVP, and these two won all 8 championships and 8 FMVPs between 91 and 98. Therefore, Barkley's '93 regular season MVP trophy can be said to be extremely heavy and gold-heavy, so he dared to say arrogantly: "I'm the strongest on Earth, and as for Jordan, he's an alien." At the same time, that year, Barkley also ended the discussion about who was the all-time number one forward, Barkley and Malone. At least in the '92-93 season, Barkley's prowess at the No. 1 forward position was firmly in the spotlight for a few years. Compared with Barkley's 1993 MVP, Karl Malone's 97 MVP has caused a lot of controversy.
In the 96-97 season, the Utah Twins led the team to the top of the Western Conference for the first time. For many years, they have been hovering in the top four in the West, but they have never been able to reach the top. In the playoffs, the Jazz often fall on the door of the Finals because of the lack of adequate bench support. In the 1992 Jazz Western Conference finals 6 losses to the Trail Blazers, 1994 Western Conference finals 5 losses to the Rockets, 1996 Western Conference finals, in the opponent SuperSonics once took a big 3:1 lead, the tenacious Jazz dragged the game into the tiebreaker. But poor free throws cost them a beating, and the SuperSonics narrowly beat 90-86 at home to advance to the championship game. Karl Malone always repeats a similar fate, he can play good statistics, but the Jazz can't touch the floor of the Finals. For Jazz fans who have tasted failure, '93 is a consolation. At the All-Star event held in Salt Lake City this year, Malone had 20 points and 18 rebounds, Stockton contributed 15 assists, and the two elders shared the MVP of the All-Star Game. But in addition, before 1997, Ma Long, in addition to being selected to the best team many times, has not won any heavyweight honors. He didn't make it to the championship game, didn't have an MVP, and even in the scoring title race, Karl Malone was second on the season scoring list five times, and lost to Jordan five times. Until the end of the 90s, when the group of superstars who entered the league at the same time as Jordan were rushing to the twilight of their careers, Malone was like taking some panacea and rejuvenated the second spring of his career.
In the 96-97 season, the 34-year-old Malone maintained the Iron Man record of 82 full attendance, and he averaged 27 minutes per game while playing only 36 minutes per game4 points 99 rebounds 45 assists and 55% shooting. Malone's points per game average is the highest in his career since 1991, his shooting percentage is the highest since 1992, and his assists are career highs. This year, Barkley, who is the same age as Malone, only played in 53 games, averaging only 192 points, the lowest since the rookie year. The 34-year-old Olajuwon also dropped by 4 points per game from the previous year's average and set a career low in rebounds, and the following season, Olajuwon missed a lot of games due to injury and walked down. By the end of the 20th century, it seemed that only Karl Malone and Michael Jordan, two super physical monsters, were still at peak efficiency and condition. In the 1997 scoring list, Jordan was first, Malone was second, and the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz were first in the East and West Divisions. Therefore, the competition for MVP naturally unfolded between the two.
In the 95-96 season, Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to an epic record of 72-10. That record held the position of the best regular season record in NBA history until the Golden State Warriors won 73 wins in the later small-ball era. In the 96-97 season, Dennis Rodman, one of the Bulls' iron triangles, only played in 55 games for various reasons, but Jordan still led the Bulls to a 69-13 record that was the second-best in regular season history. Although Karl Malone led the Jazz to a team-best 64 wins, first in the West. But the Bulls still won five more games than the Jazz, and the five-win lead is huge. And in terms of personal data this season, Jordan averaged 29 per game6 points 59 rebounds 43 assists 1The comprehensive data of 7 steals is not inferior to Malone who has rejuvenated his second spring, and even higher than Malone in terms of high-level data-victory contribution value. In the 96-97 season, when Jordan's personal data was not inferior and the team's record was significantly ahead, the reporter still awarded the regular season MVP to Karl Malone that season. The reason is that the Bulls are a step backwards from last season's all-time best record, and Jordan himself averaged 30 per game compared to last season4 points slipped 08 points, so compared to himself last season, Jordan and the Bulls are down, while Malone helped the Jazz win the best record in team history.
In the eyes of the outside world, the reason for the reporter is obviously the aesthetic fatigue of Michael Jordan, who has won 4 regular season MVPs before this, as well as a whole bunch of championships and FMVPs and scoring titles, and all the honors have been soft. And Malone has been suppressed by Jordan and has passed by many awards. Therefore, if Jordan wants to win the MVP again, he will have to keep pushing his limits, and the Bulls will need to keep breaking historical records to meet their standards. Such a selection criterion also provoked huge controversy, and even at the end of the regular season in '97, the league conducted an anonymous vote on the ownership of MVP for that season. The voters do not include ** journalists, there are coaches, players and general managers, all of whom are industry insiders. In the end, Jordan beat Malone by 14 votes. The great Karl Malone did deserve a regular-season MVP, but the reporter screwed him up, and even Mallon's mother said, "Thank you Jordan for giving the MVP to my son." This is undoubtedly a slap in the face of the reporter.
Barkley and Karl Malone stole Jordan's regular season MVP, but both lost to Jordan in the finals that year they won the MVP. Jordan in the finals, whether in terms of individual performance or leading the team, is the only one in history, which makes it difficult for Malone and Barkley to match. In the 1993 championship game, Jordan was 508% shooting, averaging 41 points per game5 rebounds and 6With an exaggerated statistic of 3 assists, he led the Chicago Bulls to defeat the Phoenix Suns and complete the feat of three consecutive championships. Barkley said after that year's championship game: "I said I was the best basketball player in the world, but if I had to lose to somebody, MJ was the only guy I was willing to lose.