2-0 to the Los Angeles Lakers, before rallying to defeat them in five games. In the second round the Suns defeated the San Antonio Spurs in six games, and were again pushed to a decisive game seven by the Seattle SuperSonics before ultimately winning the conference finals. For the Suns, it was their first NBA finals appearance since 1976 and second overall. Road to the Finals Regular season series Both teams split the two meetings, each won by the road team: Team rosters Chicago Bulls Phoenix Suns Series summary Game 1 Phoenix displayed an introduction animation in the vein of Chicago's well-known intro animation, set to the same song, before the game, which was remarked upon by the commentators. Before the game, a moment of silence was observed in memory of New Jersey Nets guard Dražen Petrović, who had been killed in a car accident two days earlier. The Bulls led the game from start to finish, and were able to quell several rallies from the Suns throughout. Game 2 Both teams were locked in battle throughout the first half until Chicago took over in the 2nd quarter, shooting with a higher shooting percentage. In the second half, the Suns began to pressure the Bulls, but ran into trouble when Kevin Johnson fouled out, and Charles Barkley suffered an elbow injury. Late in the 4th quarter with time running out, it came down to a battle of determination. Scottie Pippen blocked Danny Ainge's 3-point attempt to seal the win and Phoenix became the first team to lose their home-court advantage twice in the first two games of the NBA Finals (the Orlando Magic did this two years later). Game 3 The Phoenix Suns won Game 3 in triple overtime, 129–121. Suns Head Coach Paul Westphal became the only person to appear in two triple-overtime finals games: the first was the classic 1976 Game 5 contest against Boston as a player. His Suns also became the only team to appear in two triple-overtime finals games, the first of which they lost 126–128. Westphal made a surprising move that paid off, helping to get Kevin Johnson back on track after Johnson had two terrible performances in Games 1 and 2, by having him guard Michael Jordan. KJ played much better all-around basketball for the rest of the Finals. Suns: Kevin Johnson 25, Dan Majerle 28, Charles Barkley 24, Mark West 11, Richard