O
n March 24, 1996, a record-setting crowd of 36,131, the largest ever for a basketball game in Canada, packed the SkyDome on a Sunday afternoon to watch the Toronto Raptors take on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
With Raptors power forward Sharone Wright on the injured list with back spasms, the spot start went to Carlos Rogers, who opened the scoring with a thunderous one-handed dunk. Jordan drew “Oohs” and “Ahhs” from the home crowd a minute later as he responded with an up-and-under layup at the basket to get the visitors on the board. The Raptors pushed the pace and opened up an early seven-point lead. Just as it looked like they would run away with the first quarter, Michael Jordan hit a patented fadeaway jumper to stop the run.
On the next trip up the floor, he drove to the basket and missed a layup. A familiar face was in the paint to grab the offensive rebound and clean up the possession with a put-back. It was John Salley, who’d signed with Chicago in early March after the Raptors waived him. With Dennis Rodman serving a six-game suspension after head-butting referee Ted Bernhardt, and Luc Longley sitting out with knee tendinitis, the Bulls had patched together a frontline of Salley, Dickey Simpkins, and Bill Wennington, a Montreal native who had been taken 16th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in 1985. After hitting another midrange jumper, Jordan was already at nine points. He smiled at Raptors shooting guard Alvin Robertson. The two were Team USA teammates at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where they won a gold medal together. The two had become friends but remained rivals on the court.
The Raptors had gone toe-to-toe with the Bulls in their previous three matchups. Chicago had barely escaped with a 92–89 win in a January visit to the SkyDome, exhaling at the buzzer when Oliver Miller’s game-tying three-point attempt went wide. The Raptors had a seven-point lead at halftime, but Jordan scored 38 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, to narrowly avoid an upset. In this fourth and final meeting, Toronto was once again pushing the best team in the league. After the end of a back-and-forth first quarter, the Raptors held a 28–23 lead. Back-to-back threes from Steve Kerr tied the game a few minutes into the second quarter. Another fadeaway jumper from Jordan over Robertson gave Chicago the lead. On the next possession, Jordan drove toward the basket and drew contact with Robertson, who picked up his third personal foul. As Jordan hit both free throws to put the Bulls ahead by four, Robertson headed to the bench. Midway through the second quarter, it was Doug Christie’s turn to be Jordan’s primary defender.
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