MICHAEL JORDAN said he was so flooded with Father's Day emotion, he needed his Chicago Bulls team mates to pull him through. They did, capping what he called a "blessed" season with their fourth NBA championship in six years.

Jordan haunted by memories of his murdered father James Jordan, cored a hard earned, 22 points as he Bulls posted an 87-75 victory over the Seattle Supersonics on Sunday to win the NBA Finals four games to two.

"This is probably the hardest time or me to play the game of basketball," Jordan said of Father's Day. "I had a lot of things on my heart, on my mind."

He added: "I'm just happy that the team kind of pulled me through it because it was a tough time for me."

Scottie Pippen added 17 points and Dennis Rodman pulled down 19 rebounds for the Bulls, both coming, strong in the fourth quarter.

Jordan, who finished with nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals, tallied only two points in the final period. He shot just 5-of-19 for the game against the tough Seattle defence.

Jordan became the first man to win the NBA Finals Most Valuable - Player award four times (1991-93, 1996) and just the second to add it to MVP's for the regular season and the All Star Game in a single season.

The New York Knicks' Willis Reed achieved a triple MVP in 1970.

It was Jordan's fourth title in his last four full seasons, following a bitter personal failure in the playoffs last year after he returned late in the season from minor league baseball.

The Bulls won the best of seven series after taking the first two games at home and the first in Seattle, dropping the next two, and securing victory on their return to Chicago, where during a record 72-10 regular season; they set an NBA record for consecutive home wins at 44.

The Bulls built a 17 point lead in the third quarter and equalled it in the fourth after a close first half.

In the final quarter, Rodman grabbed seven of his 19 rebounds, Pippen scored eight of his 17 points and Toni Kukoc six of his 10 for the Bulls.

Pippen finished with eight rebounds, a game high four steals - and five assists. Australian Luc Longley had 12 points and eight rebounds and guard Ron Harper, whose presence had been in question due to knee problems, scored 10 points in 38 minutes. He will undergo surgery today.

German Detlef Schrempf had a game high 23 points for the Sonics, followed by Gary Payton's 19 and 18 - for Shawn Kemp.

Kemp pulled down 14 rebounds, had three steals, and three assists. Payton had four rebounds seven assists and two steals.

"The whole thing was energy," said Karl. "For us to win here, we had to pick up our ability to play the game a little better. We just couldn't get the rhythm to the offensive end of the court.