On March 24th, 1996, the expansion Toronto Raptors had a March Madness moment of their own when they upset the Chicago Bulls at home by a final score of 109-108. The Raptors improved to 18-49 on the season while the Bulls fell to 60-8. The Bulls would go on to win the NBA championship that season over the Seattle SuperSonics with a regular season record of 72-10.
Damon Stoudamire led the Raptors with 30 points, four rebounds, and 11 assists while Michael Jordan was the top performer for the Bulls with 36 points and nine rebounds. It was truly a March Madness level upset with the Raptors trailing 83-79 entering the 4th quarter before they outscored the Bulls 30-25 to win by one point.
With under 1:30 to go, the Bulls led 106-103 as Jordan continued to catch fire, hitting a huge turnaround jumper. The Raptors had the ball, hoping to answer. Stoudamire would knife his way to the basket and draw a foul. Stoudamire would go 1-2 at the foul line, but thanks to an offensive rebound by Doug Christie, the Raptors kept possession as Christie was fouled, sending him to the foul line. Christie would miss both foul shots, but the Raptors scooped up another offensive rebound as Stoudamire hustled to get the ball.
Stoudamire would get rejected inside by Jordan, but the Raptors were able to keep possession leading to a reset at the top of the key. This time the Raptors would score as Stoudamire penetrated and dished off to Oliver Miller for the slam, tying the game up at 106-106 with under 50 seconds to go. Jordan hit a huge jumper on the next possession to make it a 108-106 lead for the Bulls with 31.8 to go. The Raptors needed to answer once more.
Out of a time out, the Raptors quickly scored as Miller found Tracy Murray for an easy basket inside, tying it up 108-108 with 30.1 to go. The Bulls would not score on the next possession as Murray was able to block Jordan, leading to a rebound by Miller. Miller appeared to call for time with 21.3 to go, but it turned out Jordan fouled Miller, sending Miller to the foul line. Miller would go 1-2 at the foul line, making the first and missing the second free throw. That made it a 109-108 lead for the Raptors as the Bulls got the ball back thanks to a quick rebound by Scottie Pippen.
Coming out of a timeout, after Dancing in the Street by David Bowie and Mick Jagger finished playing, the Bulls were unable to score as Steve Kerr fired up a 3-pointer that did not fall. Jordan would get the rebound and bank in a shot from the corner, but time had expired. 109-108 the Raptors survived.
As you can imagine, the SkyDome went nuts. It truly felt like everyone in Toronto was dancing in the streets after the Raptors knocked off Air Jordan and the Bulls. During one of the ACC men's basketball media availability days, I asked Stoudamire, who was the head coach of Georgia Tech at the time, what he most remembers about that day.
"It's just, you know, it was a great memory," Stoudamire said. "You know, it was one of the standout things of my rookie season to beat the 72-win Bulls. I think that was one of the things that ignited my career and one of the highlights of playing in Toronto, but it was a great moment. More, you know, do I look back on it now? You know, it was just more so for the fans. I mean, we were, you know, we only won 21 games that year, but you would have you thought we won the world championship on that afternoon. And for those fans, that was like the biggest moment for them at that time. So it felt really good."
It's a universal truth across all sports that an underdog victory is often the sweetest of all victories and for the Raptors it certainly was just that. What makes it all the more sweet and memorable now is knowing what the Bulls would go on to accomplish. That 1996 Bulls team is widely regarded as the greatest team of all-time. To be one of the few teams that beat that team and to do it as an expansion team in front of your home fans? Man, not a lot of things outside of literally winning a championship can top that.
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