The 1990s were a glorious time to be a kid and a teenager. Everything seemed better in the 90s, from video games to music, movies and of course sports.
We had the coolest stuff and new technology. There was Super Nintendo and we even had the original PlayStation. In addition to video games, we had other exciting electronics, such as Tamagotchi pets.
Pogs took over our lives for a few years, and when that faded, it was Pokémon cards. Then the internet came along, and we kids couldn’t wait for our parents to get the phone to use it.
The beauty of the 90s is more than the stuff we had. We also played outside… and we did that a lot.
These memories are great. It’s always fun to dive into nostalgia, and as a sports fan, especially a basketball fan, the 90s had the most entertaining and memorable basketball yet.
In this article, I’m going to give you the top 10 reasons why the NBA was the best in the 90s and will always be the best NBA decade. Let’s kick off the list with something some kids probably never read, the newspaper.
10. Newspaper
Kids in the 90s couldn’t wait to read the newspaper. Yes, there were comics that kids loved to read, but for us NBA fans, we couldn’t wait to read the summaries of yesterday’s basketball games.
Yes, before the internet took over the world, we as 90s kids had to wait for the newspaper to find out what happened during the previous night’s games. Another important thing to read in the paper was the updated NBA standings. It was always good to read the newspaper to see how well your team was doing.
9. No Boys Allowed!
Today people talk about how physically the game was played in the 1990s. Was every game in the 90s a close line or a knockdown foul? No of course not. Some of us “old heads” like to exaggerate the physicality of our time to some degree, but there’s some truth to it.
Many hard mistakes today called blatant mistakes would actually be nothing more than a common mistake. In addition, if hand control is allowed, the defender could touch and control his opponent to a good extent.
Nowadays, if you are a defender and barely touch the attacking player, you will be called for a foul. The reason for this was that the NBA wanted games with higher scores, so they gave the attacking player advantages over the defense.
Plus, today the NBA is all about the three-point shot. Since it’s a lot more three-pointers, it means fewer players take the ball to the ring and there’s less chance of a hard foul.
Some fans don’t care that the game isn’t that physical. To them I’d say they’ve never seen the beauty of ’90s basketball.
8. Trading Cards
In the 1990s, the craze for basketball trading cards grew to incredible heights. Back in the day, kids only wanted to collect baseball cards, but in the 90s, everyone wanted basketball cards in hopes of grabbing their favorite player.
Kids collected cards in folders or containers and took them to their friends to show off or trade. Kids today don’t understand how much fun that really was.
7. Playoffs Rivalry
Yes, in the 90’s playoffs there were so many great rivalries where teams really hated each other’s guts. This was especially fun to watch in a playoff series.
We had the Chicago Bulls against the New York Knicks, the Chicago Bulls against the Detroit Pistons. When the New York Knicks played the Miami Heat, it always got intense. Don’t forget the short but entertaining rivalry of the Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic.
One of the best and my personal favorite rivalries was the one between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks… If you haven’t got it yet, the Knicks were the center of many rivalries from the 90s, and for good reason.
The Knicks “back in the day” weren’t this sad excuse of a team as you may know them as today. No, they were a solid team that would beat you physically.
In addition to their physical play, that Madison Square Garden crowd would get so intense and crazy that as a kid you wanted to jump into the old box TV and play for the road team.
Yes, hearing that rowdy crowd go quiet was arguably one of the best feelings you could have as a 90s NBA fan… unless you were a Knicks fan.
6. NBA Inside Stuff
In the 90s, children lived on Saturday mornings. Why? Because that’s when the best cartoons played. But that’s not all that’s played.
On Saturday, October 27, 1990, a new NBA program premiered on NBC. This program was called NBA Inside Stuff.
This show gave fans an inside look at the game. The host, former professional football player, Ahmad Rashad, is said to hang out with some of the biggest stars of the day and his charisma really made the show a hit.
In fact, Rashad’s charisma was so well received that he would eventually become a sideline reporter during NBA games. Now that’s the inside.
5. Illustrated Sports for Kids
In addition to our favorite NBA show to watch on Saturday mornings, we also had Sports Illustrated for Kids magazines.
Like the original Sports Illustrated magazine, the kids version was full of sports. But we had many more photos and fun stories to share our childhood with.
The articles were always so much fun, and the photos of your favorite stars were just waiting for you to cut them out and hang them on your bedroom wall. Yes, reading was fun for us 90s kids.
4. NBA JAM
Okay, I know kids are playing incredible and realistic basketball games these days. Still, they don’t compare to the original NBA Jam when it comes to quick fun.
There were the high-flying slam dunks. You set the players on fire, making them almost invincible, and the fact that there were no rules (other than goalkeeping) made the game fun for everyone.
Whether you played it in an arcade or on a home console, NBA Jam allowed us to become our favorite NBA players for a while, and that was okay. Boomshakalaka.
3. NBA on NBC
When NBC acquired the rights to broadcast NBA games from CBS in 1990, the games changed from simply being a game to watch to watching an almost theatrical performance.
Before the game started, the announcers would describe the match-up in a way that you felt like you were watching a movie trailer. If that didn’t make you stand up, that John Tesh theme music… would be so iconic.
2. The dream team
In 1988, the USSR United States basketball team lost at the Summer Olympics to win the bronze medal. This was not the goal of team USA.
Prior to the ’92 Olympics, FIBA rules stated that no professional player was allowed to play in the Olympics. FIBA would vote to change the rule and allow NBA players to participate in the ’92 games.
Boy, would they join in and dominate the games. Led by 11 NBA players and one college star, Team USA defeated their opponents by a margin of 43.8 points per game.
The Dream Team, as they were known, became the first American team to score more than 100 points in every game. Getting NBA stars to play in the Olympics has grown the game of basketball around the world and it is a major reason why we have so many talented foreign players in the game today.
1. Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls
In the 1990s, the Chicago Bulls ruled the NBA landscape. Their champion monster was led by the biggest star the game has ever seen… Michael Jordan.
The Chicago Bulls set the standard for excellence in basketball by winning six titles in the 1990s. If Michael Jordan hadn’t retired, the Bulls might have won eight titles.
The Bulls had a fun lineup of characters on the team, from Scottie Pippen to John Paxson, Steve Kerr and The Worm, Dennis Rodman.
But with all these studs on the team, Michael Jordan was the only one to fly higher than the race itself. You couldn’t escape the majesty and presence of MJ. He seemed to be everywhere.
Jordan appeared in every other commercial on TV, and his likeness was on cereal boxes and Gatorade bottles. There was also a movie called Space Jam starring Jordan and a certain crazy rabbit.
Michael Jordan became the hottest celebrity in the world and the Chicago Bulls were the hottest ticket on the market. When it came to the game, no one was more affectionate, and no player instilled such fear in the eyes of his opponent than Michael Jordan.
This is why many NBA fans have Jordan as their GOAT, and even if they don’t, they can’t help but argue their choice against him. I want to be like Mike and I bet you do too.
So, there you have it, 10 reasons why the NBA was so special in the 1990s. There are many other reasons, but these 10 can certainly take you on a nostalgic walk through memory.
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