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It was 25 years ago tonight when The Magic went to Chicago and took Game 6 from Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls to win the series and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

I still remember that 4th Quarter comeback and Horace Grant being hoisted on shoulders like it was yesterday.

It was a magical time for all of us and even know Michael Jordan was not 100 percent himself, The Magic were the only team to beat Jordan's Bulls in a Playoff Series within the period they had two three-peats in 8 years.

You do wonder that even if The Magic win an NBA Championship one day, that the times will ever be as good as that time in the 90's.

Here is to 25 years!

We will do it again, again and again!

Orlando as a city was better 25 years ago.

SHAQ32 wrote:Orlando as a city was better 25 years ago.

In what way? I was only a kid so I don't really remember the city itself all that much but I find Orlando today to be so much better than it was just 10 years ago. Granted that was right after the great recession but still.

By far my most memorable moment as a fan. I was there that night and it was amazing, even at a fairly young age.

I had this debate with a friend of mine.

What was the bigger reason why the mid 1990s Magic didn't end up winning a ring? Nick Anderson's inability to make one of four free throws in Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals or the 1994/1995 Major League Baseball strike?

Despite being an incredibly talented group, the mid 90s Magic were definitely a front running team. You look at every single playoff series of the Shaq/Penny era (94-95-96). If they won game 1, they won the series. If they lost game 1, they lost the series. 5-0 when winning Game 1 compared to 0-3 when losing Game 1. Had Anderson made just one of those FTs in Game 1, they would have won that game and I firmly believe they wouldn’t have mentally quit the rest of that series. Had they not lost Game 1, then they ultimately COULD have defeated the Rockets to win the ring in 1995. No guarantees they would have ended up winning the series, but history suggests they'd have had a much greater chance.

With one possible ring in the books, the Magic would have had that championship swagger and confidence moving forward to battle the Bulls again the following year. Would they have beaten the 96 Bulls? Probably not. That was an all-time 72 win team after all. But even if the Magic had still lost in 96, I genuinely don’t think Shaq would have left as a FA after that season for Los Angeles with a championship already under his belt.

So then you'd have Shaq locked in for the next 7 years going into his prime. We can't say with 100% certainty that the Magic would have become a full blown dynasty or anything because Jordan would have still been around (and the 1997 Bulls were still tremendously good) and we also still have to assume Penny would have gotten injured in 1998, but Penny was still awesome in 1997 and came back and was still very good in 1999.

Even with the Bulls existing, the Magic absolutely would have been a contender to win it all in 97 and 99 with Shaq going into his prime and Penny still good.

Now...

If the 1994 MLB strike doesn't happen, then Jordan very likely would have played baseball for the entire 1995 season. That doesn't change the outcome of the 1995 Finals, but it does stand to reason that Jordan would have either A. never come back to basketball at all or B. come back to basketball in late 1996 like he did in late 1995.

If Jordan comes back in late 1996 and lost to the Magic like he did in 1995, would the Magic have won it all in 96? Maybe! They smoked the Sonics by that year in the regular season by like 22 at home and only lost by 1 in Seattle. If the Magic would have won it all in 1996, they'd have retained Shaq. Then they’d have been the favorites again in 1997 for sure.

What do you guys think?