NBA legend Toni Kukoc and his wife Renata revealed that they cut short their wedding short so he could watch the Chicago Bulls play the Phoenix Suns in the 1993 NBA Finals.
“The night we’re getting married and everything, I said, ‘We guys can party till like 3 o’clock. And then there’s a game against Phoenix on TV. So, that’s when we’ll all go home…,” Kukoc recalled.
Kukoc watched the Bulls win the 1993 NBA Finals against the Suns to become the first team to secure a three-peat since Bill Russell’s Celtics in the 1960s.
Chicago scored 12 points in the fourth quarter of Game 6 but still managed to survive and beat Phoenix 99-98 on June 20, 1993.
The Bulls had an 87-79 lead after three quarters before a scoring slump—they didn’t score in the first 6:09 of the fourth quarter. They had three shot-clock violations in that span, and fans at American West Arena sparked the Suns’ defense, which helped get them back in the game.
Michael Jordan ended the scoreless drought with a free throw with 5:51 to play. Then he scored the next eight points. The Bulls had possession, trailing 98-96 with 14.1 seconds left, after Dan Majerle air-balled a shot.
Phoenix didn’t want to let Jordan beat them, but they forgot about John Paxson, and he hit the game-winning 3-point shot with 3.9 seconds to play. Horace Grant then blocked a Kevin Johnson shot! The Bulls won the game 99-98.
