1993 NBA playoffs
The 1993 NBA Playoffs were held from April 29 to June 20, 1993, featuring 16 teams. The Chicago Bulls won their third title, defeating the Phoenix Suns 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals. Michael Jordan was the Finals MVP for the third year in a row. The Suns earned their second Western Conference title and reached the Finals for the first time since 1976, but they could not beat the Bulls. John Paxson hit the decisive 3-pointer in Game 6 to seal Chicago’s championship.
After the season, Michael Jordan retired briefly following the death of his father.
This playoff year continued the Bulls–Knicks rivalry, with Chicago, the lower seed in the East, knocking off New York 4–2 in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Knicks had earlier defeated Indiana in the first round, a rivalry that would grow in the mid-1990s thanks to Reggie Miller’s heroics.
The Charlotte Hornets made their playoff debut, facing the Boston Celtics in the opening round. The Celtics were in a transitional period, with Kevin McHale retiring after the series and Robert Parish leaving as a free agent. In this era, Reggie Lewis’s collapse in Game 1 of the Celtics–Hornets series was followed by his death in July that year.
The Pistons did not make the playoffs for the first time since 1983.
In the Western Conference Finals, the Suns defeated the Seattle SuperSonics, with Game 7 notable for a record-high number of free throws by the Suns (64 attempts, 57 made).
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:45 (CET).