The 1996–97 NBA season was the Bulls' 31st season in the National Basketball Association. The Bulls entered the season as defending NBA champions, having defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1996 NBA Finals in six games, winning their fourth NBA championship. During the off-season, the Bulls signed 43-year old free agent All-Star center Robert Parish, who won three championships with the Boston Celtics in the 1980s. Coming off of one of the greatest seasons in NBA history, the Bulls, on the backs of recording another first-place finish in their division and conference, repeated as NBA champions. The Bulls were led by Michael Jordan, perennial All-Star small forward Scottie Pippen, and rebound ace Dennis Rodman, with the former two (Jordan and Pippen) both being selected for the 1997 NBA All-Star Game, in which Jordan recorded the first triple-double in an All-Star Game (14 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists). Other notable players on the club's roster that year were clutch-specialist Croatian Toni Kukoč, and sharp-shooting point guard Steve Kerr. The Bulls got off to a fast start winning their first twelve games, while posting a 42–6 record before the All-Star break. During the final month of the regular season in early April, the team signed free agent Brian Williams, who previously played for the Los Angeles Clippers last season, and spent most of the 1996–97 season as a free agent. Williams played in the final nine games of the season as a backup center for the Bulls. Though, the Bulls look to make history against the New York Knicks in their final regular season game of the year, Pippen missed a game-winning 3 and they finished with a 69–13 record, just missing out on becoming the first team in NBA history to have back-to-back 70 wins seasons. The Bulls had the fourth best team defensive rating in the NBA. Jordan led the league in scoring once again, averaging 29.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game, while being named to the All-NBA First Team, and NBA All-Defensive First Team. In addition, Pippen averaged 20.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game, while Rodman led the league with 16.1 rebounds per game, but only played 55 games due to suspensions and injuries, such as serving an 11-game suspension for kicking a cameraman during a road game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on January 15, 1997, and a