"We didn't get to bed until 7:00 in the morning" - George Karl revealed the mistake he made that cost the Sonics an NBA title in '96
George Karl made history with the Seattle Supersonics when he led the team to a franchise record of 64-18 in the 1995-96 season. They made it to the Finals that year and faced the biggest challenge of their campaign - beating Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls .
That season, the Bulls also had their best run in franchise history, finishing with a 72-10 record. Coach Karl was well aware that the Bulls were favorites to win the chip once again, but deep down, he always believed Jordan wasn't invincible like most people thought.
The Bulls secured two consecutive wins right away.
Game 1 was a blowout, but the Sonics competed harder in Game 2. Karl knew they could steal Game 3, but he made a terrible mistake that eventually cost them a fighting chance against the mighty Bulls.
"I thought we were just flat and fatigued," Karl told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2016. "I made a mistake in traveling after the Friday night game. I flew home after the game. We didn't get to bed until 7:00 in the morning. And that was a mistake that bit us."
"We had to have a shootaround the next day to discuss what changes we wanted to make for the 12:00 p.m. game on Sunday," he recalled. "We never caught up to the time change. We were so flat and that was the only game that Michael really had a powerful game against us. Michael smelled blood and he went out and killed us."
It was too late for the Sonics
Down 3-0, the Sonics understood that they had nothing to lose. Despite being worn out, the team's star point guard, Gary Payton, refused to let the Bulls just sweep the blood, sweat and tears that they put in to reach the Finals.
Payton famously confronted Karl and demanded that he guard Jordan in Game 4. According to George, that narrative was "kind of spoiled," but he admitted that having The Glove on MJ worked out well.
The Sonics won the next two games. Payton didn't really stop Jordan, who still scored 23 points in Game 4 and 26 in Game 5. However, as GP said on more than one occasion, he made Mike work a little harder in those two games.
Unfortunately, it was too late for the Sonics. The Bulls won Game 6 and closed the series out to win their 4th NBA title.
"Now in Game 4 we just decided, well, let's quit trying to protect his [Payton's] energy or his battery or protect from foul trouble or a situation when your best player is going to be on the bench because of foul trouble," Karl reflected. "So we just made it a one-on-one matchup."
"It was probably better," he admitted. "I was probably wrong for being more cautious and thinking too much as a coach. I should have just said, 'make it a mano-a-mano' thing. It probably would have worked out better. But yeah, Michael Jordan didn't beat us in the series. The guy who beat us in the series was probably Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen as much as anybody."
The Sonics never got a second chance
Like any NBA team that had just lost in the Finals, the Sonics wanted to bounce back stronger. They were still a dominant team and still finished second in the West the following year. However, they lost to the Houston Rockets in a hard-fought seven-game series in the second round.
The Sonics decided to trade away All-Star power forward Shawn Kemp in a multi-team deal that saw them get Vin Baker in exchange. Despite the change in the team dynamic, the Sonics still finished second in the West in 1998, only to suffer another defeat in the semis.
Since then, the Sonics were never the same and they never got another shot at the title until the team moved to Oklahoma City in 2008.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jan 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
