Chapter 31: Round 1 vs. the Cavs

THE EVOLUTION OF MICHAEL JORDAN INDEX

Last chapter: MVP and Defensive player of the year

The win over Boston in the last game of the regular season gave the Bulls some good momentum entering the playoff. Their first opponent was the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Despite being the favorites, the Bulls had only a 3-3 record against the Cavs in the regular season. Their last meeting was the 2nd to last game of the regular season where Michael Jordan only scored 26 points in a 107-103 loss. The series was by no means decided and Cleveland was not about to give up without a fight.

Cleveland knew that in order to have a chance at winning they had to somehow stop Jordan. The hall of fame coach and player Lenny Wilkens decided on a strategy where the guards would direct Jordan into Cleveland’s 3 big men Larry Nance, John Williams, and Brad Daugherty. Although it sounded good on paper, Jordan proved to be too quick for any directing by the Cleveland guards.

Here’s a recap of the round 1 series.

In game one Craig Ehlo was charged with defending Jordan because of an ankle injury to the more athletic Ron Harper. In response Jordan caught fire and scored 50 points in front of the hometown crowd. Cleveland had no answer to Jordan as he scored basket after basket in every conceivable fashion. There was a scary moment in game one when Jordan collapsed to the floor holding his right knee. Fortunately it was minor and Jordan returned to the game after a brief rest. The Bulls took the game easily, winning the game 104-93.

Here are the highlights from that game.

After being embarrassed in game one, Cleveland sent Ron Harper to guard Michael in game two. Harper had said after game one that Michael Jordan never scored 50 on him. Obviously he had not learned the lesson that many others would learn over the years, and that is to not challenge Michael Jordan because he will find a way to beat you.

Jordan, not fazed at all by the right knee injury in game 2, and went on to top his game one performance by dropping 55 points on Ron Harper.

Here are the highlights from that game

Cleveland showed more fight at home and managed to take games 3 and 4. Jordan scored 38 and 44 points respectively in those games.

Game 3 highlights

Game 4 highlights

Game 5 was back in Chicago and the Bull were looking to wrap up the series. Coach Doug Collins made a lineup change and gave Scottie Pippen his first start of the season over Brad Sellers. Pippen did not disappoint and scored 24 points, in addition to making 3 important steals to help Chicago seal the victory. Michael Jordan scored 39 points in the 107-101 Chicago victory.

Game 5 highlights

Michael Jordan and the Bulls finally got past the first round of the playoffs and now had to face the Detroit Pistons in the conference semifinals. Chicago and Detroit were bitter rivals in the regular season, and their animosity towards each other would only get stronger in the playoffs. The Bulls had a fight on their hands, but were they ready to step up to the challenge?

Next chapter: The Pistons and the “Jordan Rules”

THE EVOLUTION OF MICHAEL JORDAN INDEX

Chapter 29: A strong run to the playoffs

THE EVOLUTION OF MICHAEL JORDAN INDEX

Last chapter: All-star game MVP

Despite Michael Jordan averaging fewer points than the year before, the new Bulls had a 27-18 record coming out of the all-star break, and were on track to top their previous year’s total of 40 wins. Jordan had proved that the Bulls could win games without him having to shoulder the load every night, now he wanted to prove that the Bulls could finish the season strong before heading into the playoffs.

Jordan continued his scoring streak, and did not even once score under 20 points after the all-star break. He had 10 40+ point games, and one stretch of 7 games with 35 or more points. But contrary to what people thought, Chicago’s success was not built entirely on the offensive prowess of Michael Jordan. Much of their success had to be credited to the superb defensive efforts of the Bulls as a team. With a much improved defense, the new Bulls began to record victories against top NBA clubs like the Lakers and the Celtics.

Beating the Lakers and the Celtics was sweet. However, Jordan’s sweetest victories always came against his bitter rivals the Detroit Pistons.

In one of Jordan’s finest performances of the year, he scored 59 points against Pistons. He was hot all night and shot 22 for 27, but the Pistons managed to keep the game close. The score was tied at 110 and Isiah Thomas had a shot for the win, but he was blocked by Jordan, who was then fouled and made both free throws, giving the Bulls the win with a score of 112-110.

Jordan’s highlights from the game.

You can watch the full game here.

It was clear to everyone now that Jordan was the foundation of the Bulls and the best basketball player in the league. To lock up Jordan, Bulls managing partner Reinsdorf, who normally does not renegotiate contracts, renegotiated Jordan’s rookie year contract ($6.3 million over 7 years) to a record 8 year $25 million deal. It was announced on April 8th, 5 days after the 59 point show against the Pistons.

As icing on the cake, Jordan finished off the 1987-88 regular season with a 115-108 victory over the Boston Celtics. Jordan scored 46 points in that game.

Here are the highlights from that game.

The Bulls compiled a 50-32 record that season, and entered the playoffs as the favorites over the Cleveland Cavaliers, and with home court advantage. Up till this point Jordan and the Bulls had not won a playoff series, but all of that was about to change.

Next chapter: Round 1 vs. the Cavs

THE EVOLUTION OF MICHAEL JORDAN INDEX

Chapter 28: 1988 All-star game MVP

THE EVOLUTION OF MICHAEL JORDAN INDEX

Last chapter: Dominique Wilkins vs. Michael Jordan, the slam dunk showdown

The 38th annual NBA all-star game was hosted by Chicago. And for Michael Jordan, playing in front of his hometown fans was the perfect stage for the Air Jordan show to take off.

Michael Jordan started off the 1988 all-star week with a bang by defending his slam dunk championship against Dominique Wilkins AKA “The Human Highlight Reel”. The two high flying dunkers put on a spectacular show and gave the Chicago fans perhaps the greatest slam dunk contest in history, with Jordan winning it on his last dunk, the now famous foul line double clutch dunk. However, winning the slam dunk contest wasn’t enough for Jordan, he had something else to prove in front of his Chicago fans.

Michael Jordan’s all-star game performances up to this point have been less than spectacular. In 1985 during his rookie season, despite being voted to the starting lineup, Jordan played a total of 22 minutes and scored only 7 points. There were rumors that the other all-stars, led by Isiah Thomas, decided to “freeze” Jordan out of the game by not passing him the ball. Isiah denied the rumors and Jordan made no comments about it, but the controversy would survive.

Jordan was voted into the 86 all-star game  but could not participate due to a broken foot. The 87 all-star game in Seattle was another disappointment where Jordan only managed 11 points on 5-12 shooting in 28 minutes. The fans did not see the Air Jordan they had all paid to see, and so in 1988, Michael Jordan would put on a show in Chicago stadium.

preparing the rockets

The Eastern all-stars had a starting lineup of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, Moses Malone, and Dominique Wilkins. They faced off against the Western all-stars Magic Johnson, Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Alex English, and Fat Lever. The Western all-stars had a very balanced attack, with 8 players scoring 10 or more points. The Eastern all-stars however, relied on their 2 slam dunk finalists for the bulk of their scoring. Jordan and Wilkins scored 40 and 29 respectively, combining for half of the total points for their team.

Here’s a great video of the all-star game

Here are the Jordan highlights from the game.

Here are the best 10 plays from that game.

You can watch the entire game here.

Jordan scored 16 points in the final 5:51 of the game to seal the victory for the East. He also recorded 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, and 4 blocks, a typical all around performance for Jordan. The Eastern all-stars won the game with a final score of 138-133. More importantly, Jordan’s 40 point performance was the second highest all-star scoring total of all time behind Wilt Chamberlain, and it earned Jordan his first all-star game MVP trophy.

Although winning the MVP trophy was a great accomplishment, Jordan had other more important matters on his mind. His goal for the season was to improve on last year’s performance in the playoffs, and the Bulls had a long way to go before that would happen.

Next chapter: A strong run to the playoffs

THE EVOLUTION OF MICHAEL JORDAN INDEX