• banner-image

Did You Think Michael Jordan Had It Easy? Think Again.

  Everyone knows how great a basketball player Michael Jordan was, but did you know about his 6 year struggle to win his first championship ring and become known as the best basketball player in NBA history.

 During Michael Jordan’s first season in the NBA, he was averaging 28.2 ppg on 51.5% shooting. He quickly became a fan favorite and got voted to be a starter on the All-Star game. Some of the veteran players such as Isiah Thomas didn’t like the thought that Michael Jordan was getting so much attention where they chose not to pass the ball to him during the game. He ended up getting the rookie of the year award regardless, but his team went to a 38-44 season record and lost in the first round of the playoffs four games to Milwaukee Bucks.

 In his second year, Michael Jordan got injured with a broken foot and missed 64 games. Surprisingly with a 30-52 record, the Bulls made the playoffs and Jordan recovered to come back to play, but lost against to one of the best teams in history, the Boston Celtics by being swept in the series.

 In his 1987-88 season, he got himself in the NBA history books by joining Wilt Chamberlain, to score 3,000 points in a season, averaging a league high 37.1 points on 48.2% shooting. He also got recognized for his defense by becoming the only player in history to record 200 steals and 100 blocks in a season. Through all that glory, he didn’t win an MVP award and got swept by the Boston Celtics once more.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isiah_Thomas

In his 4th year of his professional career, Michael Jordan won his first MVP award averaging 35.0 ppg on 53.5% shooting and was also named the Defensive Player of the Year of the 1987-88 season averaging 1.6 blocks and a league high 3.16 steals per game. Jordan help the Chicago Bulls win over .500 for a season record 50-32. This time they made it out of the first round of the playoffs by defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games. In their second round, they didn’t lose to the Celtics anymore, but they lost to the defensive and physical Detroit pistons led by Isiah Thomas known as the “Bad Boys”.  Bulls lost the series 4-1.

 The next year of the 1988-89 season, Jordan led the league in scoring averaging 32.5 ppg on 53.8% shooting from the field, along with 8 rpg and 8 assist per game. Jordan’s Bulls finished the season a 47-35 record. They beat Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals to face the Pistons again. The Pistons made sure Jordan didn’t get any easy looks on the basket by double or triple teaming him once he had the ball. The result of the series was Bulls lost in 6 games.

 In 1989-90, the Chicago Bulls were improving as a team and received a new coach named Phil Jackson.  This new turn gave the Bulls a 55-27 record. In the playoffs, they reached the Eastern Conference Final and guess who the Bulls faced? That’s right, the annoying, irritating, antagonizing Detroit Pistons. The series went all the way down to the wire, but the Chicago Bulls ended up losing to the Detroit Pistons for the third consecutive year.

 Jordan and his Bulls has gotten better every year but could never win a championship ring. Some players would have given up, but Michael Jordan was determined to win and didn’t let anything stop him from reaching his goal. In the 1990-91 season, Jordan won his second MVP award averaging 31.5 ppg on 53.9% shooting, 6.0 rpg, and 5.5 apg for the regular season. The Chicago Bulls finished the season in first place of their division. The entered the playoffs and defeated the New York Knicks and the Philidelphia 76ers. They once again faced their nemesis and rivals, the Detroit Pistons. In a surprising upset, the Bulls swept the Pistons. They went on to face the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals, defeated the Lakers, and Michael Jordan finally won his first championship ring. Jordan went on to win 5 more championship rings in the next 8 years and become the most recognized basketball player across the world.

, , , ,

Comments are closed.