NBA FINALS : Bulls Rally to Get Three Feat : Game 6: Paxson’s three-pointer, Grant’s blocked shot cap 99-98 victory over Suns for third consecutive title. Jordan is named MVP.

Somewhere along the way, as they were chasing the ghosts of Mikan’s Minneapolis Lakers and the Celtics of Auerbach and Russell, the Chicago Bulls were forced to deal with the Phoenix Suns, in no mood to become a quick footnote in history.

They had dogged the Bulls through five games before Sunday afternoon, and then deep into the fourth quarter of this one. A Wednesday showdown to decide pro basketball’s best of 1992-93 was looking likely. Then it ended quickly, with speed that hushed another capacity crowd at America West Arena West, with plays that win championships and earn reputations.

A three-pointer by John Paxson with 3.9 seconds left when the Bulls could have gone for the tie and taken their chances in overtime, knowing there was Game 7 as a backstop. A last-second block by Horace Grant on Kevin Johnson’s shot to give the Suns the victory.

The Bulls had the game, 99-98, and, finally, the three-peat. They won the series, 4-2, and a place in history, becoming only the third team to earn three consecutive NBA titles and the first since the Celtics won eight in a row from 1959-66.

The greatest run this generation has seen culminated in fitting fashion, for this has been a season of struggles for the Bulls amid the pressures, the season that opened with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen tired from the Olympic summer and the distraction of Jordan’s publicized gambling. Maybe, center Bill Cartwright suggested afterward, that made this one better than the other two.

There was little doubt it was for Michael Jordan, though not because of how it compared to beating the Lakers in 1991 or the Trail Blazers in ’92. Because of what it will mean in the future when the greatest players ever are discussed.

“Magic, Bird, Isiah, they never did this,” Jordan said. “So it meant a lot for me to do this, yes.”

Jordan had 33 points in Game 6 and an average of 41 for the series, breaking the record of 40.8 by Rick Barry in 1967 and joining Magic Johnson as the only three-time finals MVP.

Most valuable? In the fourth quarter, Jordan had nine points. The other Bulls had three, on Paxson’s basket.

But that got it done, even as the Bulls, winning the title on the road for the second time, lurched down the stretch. They went scoreless for the opening 6:09 of the fourth quarter and without a field goal the first 6:40, getting the first of three 24-second violations of the period along the way. That allowed Phoenix, behind by 10 points with 2 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter, to catch up.

The Suns had a 98-94 lead with 2:23 left after the Bulls got two 24-second calls in three possessions. They still had the same four-point margin, and the ball, with 1:04 showing and seemed to be in control as the Chicago offense continued to labor.

With about 50 seconds left and the shot clock down to four, it was left to Frank Johnson, who had 16 previous shots all series, to shoot from the right side. He missed. Jordan took the rebound and charged down court untouched for the layup. An assist to Pippen for holding Dan Majerle’s arm across the lane.

The score 98-96. The Suns got a chance to re-establish command with about 20 seconds to go when Majerle got free about 13 feet out along the right baseline. But his shot went 12 feet.

The Bulls got the rebound and called a timeout with 14.4 seconds left. The crowd was so loud Coach Phil Jackson had to take his players away from the bench and then practically tell them the play ear-to-ear.

He didn’t tell them to try for a three-pointer and victory. He didn’t tell them not to, either.

The play developed quickly, with the ball going in to Jordan in the backcourt and being passed ahead to Pippen at the top of the key. Pippen turned and dribbled to about the free-throw line, then found Horace Grant a few feet out on the left side. Grant, who had missed all nine of his shots over two games, passed back out to Paxson.

“You’re not thinking, you’re reacting,” said Paxson, also a hero in the previous two finals. “I caught the ball and shot, just like I have been all my life.”

Said Sun Coach Paul Westphal: “It seemed like it took forever. I had to smile to myself. I’m thinking we worked all year and we’re at the mercy of the ball. If it comes down in the net, we’re in big trouble. If it doesn’t, we’re in Game 7.”

They were in trouble. Behind, 99-98, with 3.9 seconds left, the Suns called their last full timeout. Before they could get the ball in play, the Bulls called a 20-second timeout. Finally, Johnson, standing along the left sideline at about midcourt, threw the ball to Oliver Miller a few feet above the top of the key.

Miller gave it back to Johnson, who drove down the right side. As he got to the line and readied for a running jumper, as it appeared he was past Grant, the Bulls’ power forward made up for his offensive slump by reaching out and knocking the ball away shortly before the buzzer sounded.

“No statement,” Johnson said. “We just lost the ballgame. . . . We lost three games on our home court. We didn’t deserve to win the world championship.”

The Bulls broke into celebration as the crowd watched in disbelief. They carried it into the cramped visitors’ locker room, spilling into the hallways. Champagne was poured. Cigars were lit.

The Bulls were already being asked about their next championship opponent.

They dodged those inquiries, preferring to savor this moment for at least a little while.

Jordan, for one, has his own idea of what’s next:

“Vacation.”

NBA Note

Magic Johnson did not work Sunday’s NBC telecast because he was in Michigan attending his brother’s wedding.