In1992,18,676ChicagoUnitedCenterfanswereluckyenoughtowitnessaclassicdecisivebattleonChristmasnightwhentheBulls,theoverlordoftheleague,tookontheirrivalnewyorkKnicks,whohadfoughtsevenbloodymatchesinthesemi-finalsoftheEasternConferencelastyear.
TheirondefenseadvocatedbyPatRileyhasalwaysbeenabigheadacheforphiljackson.UnlikethedirtyplayingstyleofDetroit's"badboys",proudnewyorkpeopleneverdisdaintowininawaycontrarytosportsethics.
Theyemphasizephysicalconfrontationalmostabnormallyandattachgreatimportancetopositioncompetition.Therotationandcoordinationbetweenthefivecanbecalledperfect,whichcangreatlyblocktheflowoftheballpathmostemphasizedbytheBulls'triangleoffenseandlimitJordan'sindividualsingles.
1992年，芝加哥联合中心的18676名球迷有幸在圣诞之夜目睹一场经典决战，由联盟霸主公牛队迎战上年东部半决赛中血战7场的对手纽约尼克斯队。
帕特·莱利所提倡的铁血防守历来令菲尔·杰克逊大感头痛，和过去底特律那群“坏孩子”的肮脏球风不同，骄傲的纽约人从来不屑采用有悖运动道德的方式获取胜利。
他们近乎变态地强调身体对抗，非常重视位置的争夺，五人之间的轮转换位和协防补位堪称完美，能极大限度地阻断公牛队三角进攻最强调的球路流动，并限制乔丹的个人单打。
