Basketball in the 80s and 90s were trash. The further back you go the worst the league gets. Players couldn't go left, shoot, defend, dribble or pass. Sometimes these dudes struggled to make basic ass layups.
In the 1994 finals the winning team scored 90 or less three times and neither team cracked 100 points in any game. The Knicks averaged 87 points and the rockets averaged 86 while posting offensive ratings of 100 and 101. They barely lost in 7 games with their two best players shooting 36% and 36.4% from the field
The 1996 finals being played at a pace of 84
. The bulls won in 6 with 3 blowouts while posting an efg of .454
The 1997 and 1998 finals were some truly hideous basketball. The finals being played at a pace in the low 80’s
. Utah went down to the wire in game 6 of both series despite the jazz getting two total 20 point games out of the entire roster across each series. Finals game with neither team scoring 80 points. A professional basketball team scoring 54 points in a 48 minute game with a 24 second shot clock
. The series going 6 with 3-4 down to the wire finishes with one team’s 2nd and 3rd leading scorers averaging 10.8 and 9.7 points for the series. A team that wins it all taking 67 shots in a 48 minute game where they clinched it and one guy taking 35 of those shots with 1 assist
Then the east managed to get even worse for the next 5-6 years after that