El Paso Scorpions 48-34 (2-4)

Minnesota Muskies 52-30 (4-2)

Score (click for boxscore)	Game MVP	Hi Points	Hi Rebounds	Hi Assists
1. Muskies 103, Scorpions 102	Robert Parish	41 Michael Jordan	16 Mark Eaton	9 J.Dumars/D.Ainge
2. Muskies 119, Scorpions 102	Charles Barkley	40 Michael Jordan	23 Charles Barkley	12 Michael Jordan
3. Muskies 102, Scorpions 95	Charles Barkley	42 Michael Jordan	17 Robert Parish	9 M.Jordan/D.Ainge
4. Scorpions 92, Muskies 83	Michael Jordan	30 Michael Jordan	14 Michael Jordan	8 Michael Jordan
5. Muskies 108, Scorpions 104	Danny Ainge	54 Michael Jordan	13 Michael Cage	12 Joe Dumars

Game 1 – The game starts off slowly as both teams have difficulty scoring early. The first quarter ends with Minnesota holding a 25-23 lead. Jordan has 8 for El Paso and Parish and Berry each have 6 for Minnesota. Minnesota played extremely aggressively in the first making 5 steals but also committing 7 fouls. El Paso had no fouls in the first quarter. The second quarter began with El Paso committing two quick fouls and EL Paso SF Williams picking up 4 fouls in the quarter. The half ended with Minnesota leading 56-54. The difference was Minnesota going 4-7 from the 3-point line in the 1st half. Jordan had 14 for El Paso and Barkley led Minnesota with 12 points. The third quarter started off well for El Paso and they took a 67-66 lead with 6:24 remaining in the quarter. Minnesota retook the lead 75-73 on a Berry 3-pointer and finished the quarter with a 80-76 lead. Jordan led El PAso with 27 points and Parish, Barkley, and Tarpley each had 14 for Minnesota. The fourth quarter proved to be extremely exciting. Jordan scored to give El Paso the lead 96-94 with 2:47 remaining. The game is tied 96 all with 2:17 left. Hodges hits a 3-pointer for Minnesota to give them a 99-96 lead with 2:01 left. Jordan scores to narrow it to 99-98 with 1:49 left. Parish scores to stretch Minnesota’s lead to 101-98 with 1:26 left. Salley scores for El Paso to make it 101-100 with 1:09 remaining. Parrish misses his shot but gets his own rebound and puts it in the hoop. Minnesota leads 103-100 with 49.1 seconds left. Jordan scores to make it 103-102 with 33.6 seconds left. Parish misses a shot and Williams collects the rebound for El Paso with 9.6 seconds left. The ball is knocked out of bounds but El Paso retains possession with 3.7 seconds left. El Paso gets the ball to Jordan – who misses the shot and Minnesota wins 103-102. Jordan finished with 41 points, 6 steals and 8 assists. Parish had 20 points and 10 rebounds while Tarpley had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the winners. The difference in the game was Minnesota pulling down more than double the offensive rebounds than El Paso and hitting a number of 3-pointers.

Game 2 – El Paso trails the series 1-0. In the first quarter, the teams are evenly matched. Minnesota ends the quarter up 26-24. Jordan leads El Paso with 8 points and Barkley leads Minnesota with 10. The second quarter sees the scoring pick up substantially and the half ends with Minnesota up 61-56. Jordan and Barkley each finish with 20 points. In the third quarter, El Paso takes the lead 69-68 with 7:36 remaining as Jordan hits the free throw awarded due to a technical foul on Barkley. The lead is short lived as Minnesota regains the lead 75-73 with 4:56 remaining in the quarter. Minnesota extends their lead to 90-80 by the end of the quarter. Minnesota is dominating in the offensive rebound category (16-9) and in 3-point shooting (5-10 vs 1-5). Jordan (30 points) and Barkley (29 points) continue to lead their teams. The referees take over in the 4th quarter, calling foul after foul on El Paso and putting three of their starters (Jordan, Williams, and Rambis) in foul trouble with 5 each. Minnesota runs away with the game and wins 119-102. El Paso ends up with 24 fouls as opposed to 14 for Minnesota. Jordan led El Paso with 40 points, 5 steals, 9 rebounds, and 12 assists. Barkley led the victors with 38 points and 23 rebounds.

Game 3 – Minnesota wins the second half. Barkley scores 23 with ZERO rebounds. Parish adds 20 and 17 rebounds. Ainge and Paxson each chip in 13. Jordan has another great game with a 42-9-8 line. Reggie Williams adds 15 and Joe D contributes 11.

Game 4 – Jordan puts up a 30-14-8 line, Dumars adds 17 and Reggie Williams with 14. Barkley fouls out in the 4th and plays only 31 minutes. Barkley leads Minnesota with 20-10 and Vandeweghe adds 16.

Game 5 – Trailing 3 games to 1, El Paso tries to stave off elimination. The first quarter ends with MIN holding a 26-23 lead. Hodges leads MIN with 7 points and Jordan, trying to single-handedly save the season, leads El Paso with 15 points. Jordan is 5-6 from the field while his teammates are 4-14. The difference so far has been Minnesota hitting 3 of 4 from 3-point range. The second quarter sees Minnesota extend their lead to 54-46 at the half. Dumars picks up his 4th foul for ELP with 7:47 left in the 2nd. Jordan ends the half with 28 points and Ainge and Parish each have 12 for MIN. MIN shoots .455 for the half but 6-8 from 3-point range. The third quarter sees Rambis (9:07 remaining) and Williams (5:37 remaining) picking up their 4th fouls. ELP now has 3 starters with 4 fouls. The quarter ends with MIN pulling away 84-70. Jordan has 38 points and Ainge has 20 for MIN. The fourth quarter starts off much like the first three. Rambis (11:29 remaining) and Williams (7:46) pick up their 5th fouls. El Paso fights hard and pulls within 7 with 3:30 left in the game. They pull within 5 with 2:47 remaining and within 3 with 2:29 left (101-98). C.G. Jones blocks a shot by Parish but Cage gets the offensive rebound and puts it in – 103-98. An Ainge 3-pointer puts MIN up 106-98 and it looks like the game is over. Jordan scores to make it a 106-100 game with 1:37 left. An offensive foul on Parish gives ELP the ball with 1:23 remaining. An exhausted Jordan has to be pulled from the game and it looks bleak for ELP. However, Williams scores to bring ELP to within 4 – 106-102 with 1:03 left. Ainge misses a 3-pointer but Barkley gets the offensive rebound and puts it in to give MIN a 108-102 lead with 48.8 seconds left. Cheeks overshoots an easy layup for ELP but Salley gets the rebound and misses another layup! ELP is finally able to get Jordan back in the game and he scores to make it 108-104 with 11.2 seconds left. ELP can’t foul and MIN runs out the clock to secure the victory and advance in the playoffs. Jordan finishes with 54 points on 21-28 from the field. The rest of ELP’s team shoots 23-59 from the floor. Ainge scores 27 for MIN and the difference in the game is MIN hitting 9-15 from 3-point range.