Michael Jordan 1995: 40 Points v Orlando Magic - Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 3 - MJ v Penny
Vložit
- čas přidán 29. 04. 2011
- Classic Jordan playoff performance - 40 points (31 in first half), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 big dunks and an unbelievable reverse layup.
- Sport
the time mj wore penny hardaways signature shoes XD
That reverse layup was something ELSE!
One of my favorite MJ games ever, even though they lost. He played like both young and old Jordan here, making spectacular aerial moves to the basket and he had his fadeaway jumper going.
If MJ hadn't retired in 93 he would've won 8 straight. The fact that even after 18 months of not playing basketball he was still able to drop 40 and move as well as he did is fucking insane. He left the game when he was still in his prime too. Usually a player's prime as measured by a combination of their athleticism and skills is from 27 to 31 years old. And MJ retired when was 30 and 31. He spent two fucking years of his prime away from the game. And he's still considered the GOAT. Goes to show how exceptional he really was.
Bilbo Swaggins nah he woulda got served by the guy drafted 2 slots ahead of him. He should be thankful for losing this series and thereby sparing himself his first Finals L.
FuShengAlex fax they don’t understand how bad of a matchup Hakeem was for the bulls. Phil jackson never double teams so Hakeem would’ve had his way with Bill Cartwright and Toni kukoc lmao. If Dennis Rodman and David Robinson couldn’t stop him bulls forsure couldn’t.
FuShengAlex Served? No. To even say that you know who would win is an overstatement. The 94 finals would’ve been the best one of the decade though. This coming from a huge Akeem fan who knows how much of a problem he presented defensively for Jordan inside. He’s the only player I’ve seen make him consistently alter his shots.
The Bulls were 34-31 when Mike came back, and they went 13-4 with him to finish 47-35.
Man, R.I.P Craig Sager
3:23 - Vintage Jordan. This was last time we saw elements of that 'explosive' Jordan...It was like a residue of the prime Jordan from the early 90's...
He did it once against I think the Hawks back in the 2nd Round of the 1997 Playoffs...but not with the same level of fury.
Rockin' the classic signature Penny's.
🔥
I remember that story. I saw the photo of MJ wearing those shoes and thought it was the coolest hommage I had ever seen in basketball. Penny was so proud of that fact that Jordan wore his shoe. It was the only time it ever happened in MJ's career.
@@KevinWei24 except he cut the penny logo off of it and it was only because he couldn't get black 11's until game 4 and had to wear black shoes lol you kids today don't understand the 90s NBA, Jordan wasn't paying homage he just hated the 10's and wanted to play in a good shoe because the NBA said he couldn't wear the concords (bulls wore black only sneakers in playoffs)
I could be wrong, but that still photo in the beginning is showing MJ wearing Penny's signature shoes the Nike Flight Ones. I'm sure of it as I owned a pair.
William Klauck yes exactly. It was the first and only time Jordan wore another players signature shoe
In the playoffs he shot pretty well for a player being out of the sport professionally for a year and a half.Truth be told,Post '93 M.J. had many off nights.But the crazy thing is that out of '95/'96/'97 and '98 Playoffs....Michael shot the highest FG% during '95 playoffs.
1995-48.4% 1996-45.9% 1997-45.6% 1998-46.2%
He became a different player than he was during the first 9 years of his career.
I still think M.J. played well in '95.......his team just got killed on the glass.
I still think the Bulls win the title this year had MJ played the full season. Even without a true PF.
You certainly don't know basketball. The Rockets would smoke them
I think they might have been able to passed the magic sor maybe meet them at the ecf but they would have lost to the rockets with no inside presence
He claimed he wasn't totally in basketball shape but he had more energy in his comeback than he did most of the 92-93 season.
He was far better in the 1993 playoffs and averaged 41 ppg in the finals.
You looking at it from YOUR POV. But by Jordan's standards, he was definitely NOT in basketball shape.
Mike had some penny's on😂😂😂😂trollin
Just found out he had a vintage mj performance in those pennys.
Jordan seemed more explosive in this series then the 96-98 version, that won 3 titles. He was better in 96-98, but he seemed more like the Jordan of old, in terms of his explosiveness in this series. 96-98', he had put on more muscle and had a bulkier look, but was still amazing and won those 3 championships.
MIvarsson99 He was still dunking, but it didn't seem to have that same explosiveness of even this series. Even though he put on a lot of muscle, it seemed he would still have some of that old explosive quality.
Jordan was still amazing, but it didn't seem he electrified the crowd the way this one did, after this series. Prime Jordan before 1996, was kind of like Maximus.
He bulked up in 1996-98. Still was dunking. But the 72-10 year he was more of a post up guy. the 1997,69-13 year he was more loose and confident and was dunking more. But he was older now so it wasnt the same 'jumpy' kind of dunks. But stll he had pretty dunks the second three-peat. He was 33-35 during those years. Cant blame him father time. So he became more efficient with his moves. 1991-93 jordan was the prime jordan. That guy was unstoppable.
mikem987 I think it was in this series he learned he's not 23 yrs. old no more, so he started pacing himself better and stepping on the gas in spurts 96 to 98. plus here he's trying to prove to himself and the world he was the man. once he believed he was, he no longer felt he had to prove it, he just went out and played.
You are totally wrong. He looked winded at the end of games. That's why the Bulls couldn't hold on to the leads at the end
3:26 as a trading card collector, that dunk that is about to happen was the 1995-96 Upper Deck Collector's Edition #45.
He had 1 more year for his athleticism, he just could of stayed in this condition to win a 96 ring, then go bulk up. He’s moves were still pure and reminisce pre-retirement days.
I love looking at Shaq during that MJ reverse layup. He suddenly looks back thinking "where did he go?"
r.i.p craig sager :(
I don't think he lost athleticism in a 6 month span from the playoffs to the start of the season. I think that the defense in this game at times called for him to do some of the more acrobatic moves he was known for. If you watch him during the 95-96 season, you will see that he was probably at the perfect blend of near peak athleticism and mastery of the game. He had a number of nifty athletic moves and dunks that year. When it comes to those last three years, 96 MJ is probably my favorite.
MJ number one!
@BIGBOSS1983100 That year was the best year of playoffs I can remember. Every single game was close...especially for the Rockets and Bulls.
@supratrd900 Yeah this is the one. He was fined in Game 1 and 2 of the series for wearing the concord 11s, and fined again in game 2 for changing his number back to 23. He kept his number as 23, but wore Air Flight 1s borrowed from Penny Hardaway in game 3, apparently because Nike hadnt made black Air Jordan 11s (Space Jams) yet.
Spot on.
He looked more like 1993 Jordan in Game 3 of this series.
Correct
To me more like 1991
And he cut off the heel tag, which had Penny's number 1 on it :)
Jordan wearing the Penny Hardaways shoes
In his return in 1995
MJ's performnce until the playoffs were like the JORDAN ROOKIE YEARS in 84-89. Were he cant pass the PISTONS led ISAIAH THOMAS back in the days. Still was very explosive and DOMINATING.
I think no athlete can surpass what MJ did here in his storied career.
RETIRED IN 94. then comeback at march 95 and not looked a bit RUSTY.
I think KOBE.LEBRON.KD and today's superstar will never ever gonna surpass that
#🐐🐐🐐🐐
@FushengAlex
"Ya boy lost fair n square in '95"
I never said otherwise. Only that he was clearly rusty.
Coming back with only 17 games to go in the reg season and then jumping right into playoff level basketball, when coming off a damn near 2 yr layoff, rust was bound to be an issue.
And it showed..
That's not an excuse...that's a fact.
"at par with his career playoff averages"
Which just goes to show U how great he truly was...
Jordan actually wore white high-top Converse All-Stars in high school and at UNC. :)
Goat
I'm a Jordan fan myself,but stans of his make me sick,by claiming MJ wasn't in shape in '95
1)He scored 55 points on the NYK(who were 1st in Defensive rating) during the regular season that year.
2)He averaged 31.5ppg/4.5ast/6.5rebs/2.3stls/1.4blks/FG%48.4% FT%81% 3PT%36.7% in the playoffs.
3)He averaged 31ppg/3.7ast/6.5rebs/2.5stls/1.8blks/FG%47.7% FT%79.6% 3PT%23.1% against Orlando that year in the East Semis.
Michael was okay,his team's inside defense wasn't.
Penny said himself he could tell jordan was rusty. Take it from the horse's mouth.
All HAIL THE GOAT
@jxn23
aj 11 is very nice but i also love the air fight 1s. i had a pair of white back then it was good looking and comfy.
😂 3:34 look on Penny's face says it all.
Jordan was still Jordan and they lost. I hate how people ignore that these games ever happened.
The Bulls should have won this series........
Hakeem vs MJ would have been amazing
Did it ever occur to you that Orlando won fair n square with Jordan posting his usual playoff numbers? That Orlando's interior domination and Grant's addition was the key point of them winning. Jordan after losing: "Horace Grant was the X factor and probably the MVP of this series". At least Mike wasn't a EXCUSE maker like you for FAILURE.
Fuck up.
Orlando did beat Chicago, but then the Bulls got Dennis Rodman, won 72 games, ran it back and destroyed the Magic the next time they met.
Yea Jordan said “we were a Horace grant away from winning the championship.” He balled out that series but it’s clear they didn’t have the interior presence that the magic did, which of course Rodman next year gave them.
@@chilling8987 Game 2 he had 29 points on 40 percent shooting, you call that Balling out game 4 he was even worse with 23 points on 31% shooting and had 4 turnovers was he balling out then? And game 6 was the worse 22 points on 22% shooting. He was obviously washed I know, but oh wait I’m not talking about the 95 semis I’m talking the 96 finals where MJ was in his prime and came off the best year of his career. But how did he have the lowest team shooting % of any winning finals team. See I can do this too with any finals. Jordan wasn’t washed or bad in that finals believe it or not 40 points is really impressive. Go look at the rebounding compared in the 96 finals and the 95 semis. That shit mattered why because perimeter players any perimeter player is gonna have a bad game also Jordan’s stats in 95 went up from the regular season into then playoffs and he was the best player in the playoffs that year in terms of play besides maybe Hakeem. But the Magic were just too dominate inside the paint and that’s ok basketball is a team effort and while MJ might not have been 100% he definitely wasn’t playing like a washed scrub like y’all wanna think.
@@APOCALYPSE_X-MEN go cry in a corner 2 RAW 4 MY STD 🤣
Wow, Jordan lost this game despite scoring 40! Rusty my ass, Orlando's frontcourt was too much for the Bulls to handle that year.
Keith Glass Horace Grant didn't play in the '96 series after Game 1.
Keith Glass Also in Games 1 and 3 in the '96 series Jordan wasn't much of a factor and the Bulls won those 2 games in blowouts. The '96 Bulls team was just overall better than the '95 one.
Keith Glass That was the entire Bulls team doing damage in Game 1. Orlando was done in that game the moment Shaq missed the first shot.
Keith Glass My point exactly. The '96 Bulls team was better than the '95 one.
Keith Glass In the '95 series, when the Bulls were missing shots they had no one to consistently get offensive rebounds, Rodman by himself outrebounded the Magic in Game 1, he was definitely the biggest difference maker. Ron Harper was a bench player in '95 w/ less minutes and the BJ Armstrong had to guard the much taller Penny. The '95 team was heavily reliant on Jordan and Pippen and those 2 couldn't beat the Orlando's starting 5 by themselves. It also helped the Bulls in '96 that Grant got taken out, making it easy for Rodman to guard Shaq.
Then again the remember the final possession of Game 4 when it was clearly a foul on MJ and no call was made? The Bulls got a break and were lucky to even make out of the 1st round that year.
Jordan wasnt too far away from where he used too be .And by the away 18 months not playing.
reading a bunch of comments in here. Jordans numbers was very good but the reason Jordan is the goat is how he closes games. Greatest closwr of all time. he was awful end of game 1 , and very bad end of of game 6 thats the series. that is the “ rust”. we never seen him blow a game like game 1 ever before or after.
He was trying so hard to Will them to a championship. But unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be especially after not playing for two year's. He was physically ready as we can see in this video but definitely wasn't mentally ready.
Don't believe that bullshit about MJ being 'rusty'. He knocked it off by the time the playoffs started. His low FG % was a function of four games...the 7 for 28 in his return, the 7 for 23 in the third game back against Orlando, a 5 for 19 against Philly in a back to back, and a 9 for 27 against Cleveland. Otherwise, he was a very respectable 45.8%. And all those games occurred in the first seven games. Then he shot 49/47/83 in the Charlotte series, including a 48 point outburst to swing the series in Gm 1 in Charlotte. And in the Orlando series, he shot 48% averaging 31/6.5/3.7 with 2.5 steals and 1.8 blocks a game. The Magic were just a better team.
Classic
Its crazy to think how that replay guy always explained what really happened , he really draw line the screen jusf like he is using smart phone MacBook🤔
If Dennis Rodman had been there for the entire 1994-1995 season,with MJ coming back in March like he did,the Bulls would've gone to the NBA Finals.Rodman's interior defensive rebounds were the key to the Bulls winning 3 championships from '96-'98.Before Rodman,there was Grant and Cartwright on the boards,ironically Grant got with Orlando,Shaq&Penny,when Chi&Orlando met in the '95 semis,the Bulls got destroyed on the boards by Grant&Shaq.Michael was great the whole series,his team just wasn't.
The lack of an inside presence hurt the Bulls and would've prevented them from winning the '95 title regardless if MJ played the whole season or didn't. The Charlotte series took a toll on the Bulls with Zo and LJ keeping the Hornets close with the Bulls.
If Jordan was going to play the whole season in 94-95, Horace Grant would have stayed in Chicago, and the Bulls keep that inside presence. As it was, Horace left for Orlando as, at the time, Michael was still retired.
Maybe but I still think the Rockets frontcourt with Thorpe and Herrera were the biggest matchup problem for the Bulls. What separated them from the Knicks which was the Bulls toughest matchup in the East was their frontcourt players had more athleticism and they a ton of perimeter threats. Although the Magic had a good frontcourt here it was mostly because of Grant and Shaq, Dennis Scott was a shooter that didn't have much athleticism and they didn't have anyone off the bench that could defend like Rockets did with Herrera. That's really what made the Rockets championship that year impressive was them losing half of their frontcourt depth with Thorpe/Herrera gone.
Everyone bought into the narrative that the difference between 1995 and 1996 was how "rusty" Jordan was, because of the year-and-a-half wasting his time with baseball. The real difference was adding Dennis Rodman (allowing Kukoc to become the NBA's top sixth man), and a few injuries on the Magic's side. Even if the Magic had been at full strength the Bulls were going to win it all (again, the addition of Rodman), but it should've been closer.
@jxn23 why wearing concord 11 illegal?..
dlawson688 ....i could care less how many titles they had compared to the Rockets. I'm glad you acknowledge MJ was in the league and losing when the Rockets won instead of upholding this myth he was still playing baseball. He has several 30-40 point games in 95 playoffs as usual and still lost.
It's obvious the Bulls cared, no wonder they went out and signed 3 ex Badboys that used to make them cry in the playoffs. I'm surprised they didn't ask Isiah to come from the broadcast booth too.
SMH.....He shot better a better FG% in '95 than he did in the year before he retired! I guess that's what happened when he didn't have Horace or Dennis chasing down in his bricks and he actually had to fetch 'em himself, lol.
in 95-96 dennis rodman averaged 5 points per game and played 64 games out of the 82 of the season...Yeah dennis rodman happened in 95-96...sure...
What kind of shoes are they? From mj ?
+RasXcellent1 why he play with that shit shoes his best shoes are from 91-98 my favorit are the 9ners
@supratrd900
yea ignorant fans would just go for one highlight and use it as the definition for everything, like iverson crossing jordan once in 97, for example. that's all they could remember.
Jordan had erratic shooting performances in games during the 1996-98 playoffs as well. It's bound to happen, you're gonna have your off days.
Jordan's rustiness and the layoff get overemphasized during the 1995 playoffs. They were weak at the 4 spot and that cost them dearly.
So much for the rust and struggling man they lost this series because of match up problems it should of been Pip of Hardaway; and Harper should of been starting to have much of the assignment on Hardaway; bulls should of gone big because B.J out there just made them out of sorts; same thing with Kukoc look out of sorts out there so they we're able to work out those kinks for the next three seasons with the addition of Rod-A-MAN. Oh yeah-poster time at the 5:16 mark.
+Too Blessed847
His game was indeed rusty upon his return. It was uncharacteristically up & down and erratic.
He'd have those 5-6 min stretches where he looked like himself, and then have 5-6 mins where he looked TOTALLY out of rhythm.
He wasn't fully himself. You saw glimpses of it during the Charlotte series prior this.
It just got even more exposed vs ORL, because they were a better team than Charlotte.
+blackadam06 Given how the Magic was swarming at him and Shaq was challenging his shots that explains why he looked out of rhythm at times. Every team that had a dominant Center played him like that but his teammates usually were able to carry him when he needed the help, in this series the rest of the team wasn't hitting their shots down the stretch.
Charlotte wasn't a bad team either, they won 50 games and had a huge following that year, they win that series if it wasn't for MJ shredding them in OT the first game.
blackadam06 SMH......Blackie will you ever stop posting such nonsense under the illusion you're "educating" the masses?
Mike didn't even play as good as this Orlando series in 93 BEFORE he retired and was in his prime vs NY where he was lucky Pippen shot over %50 for the series to bail his %40 shooting behind out.
Poor Mikey. Couldn't get away with shooting 3-18 and his team still being able to win in 93 chiefly because he had more talent than Ewing did. Orlando wasn't having that lol.
FuShengAlex Tbh Charles Smith was the only reason the Bulls got by the Knicks, someone like Robert Horry would dunk that!
Chris M don't nobody wanna admit this Orlando team was talented enough on paper to beat Chicago in 95 even if MJ played the season. He was barely beating an inferior Ewing/NY before he quit.
Instead it's more about what Mike did or didn't do than what Orlando did right.
Jordan trying do too much after coming back from hiatus he looked like Jordan of the early 80's out there and couldn't play that well and put trust in his teammates still an awesome performance though
You don't know basketball *AT ALL*. Reasons for not beating the Magic is simple: 1. MJ's conditioning. 2. Lack of Bulls team chemistry (normal for when you add a key player out of the blue to the roster). 3. BJ v. Penny size mismatch. 4. Give credit to the Magic. *And most of all 5. Lack of a decent PF.* Clueless CZcams commenters. Unreal. It's like me going to a quantum physics video and commenting like I know shit. Watch the video and enjoy or don't... but keep your uneducated comments away. There's no difference between how much he was doing here and how much he did in 96, 97, and 98 when they won the chip. Go back to sea-world, Jeremy.
"But he came back hungry in 95-96. 30ppg 6rpg 5apg on 50% FG, pretty much his career averages, at the age of 33.And we all know what happened that year" - Yeah Dennis Rodman happened.
Jordan had better stats here than in the next season, but he was just not 100% in the game.Orlando was just a better team as a block. In this game he was 17-30 from the field 56% . can you call that bad performance?. of course that end was terrible but I always think, why nobody shouted Anderson was that close. playin 17 regular season games and then playoffs.. you have to be a bit out even for MJ
@FuShengAlex
"You must be referring to the same team MJ STRUGGLED against"
He did struggle with them that year. They were that good.
Not to mention the wrist on his shooting hand was BADLY injured in the series B4 that one too.
"which was the same team Reggie TORCHED in the same '93 playoffs?"
Unlike MJ, he wasn't playing with an injury on his shooting hand either.
wow in that picture in the beginning Jordan wasn't wearing Jordans
He shot 47.5% FG in the '93 playoffs (which included some Kobe like shooting vs. NY!) vs. 48.4% FG by my math he shot equally as good or better as before he was retired. His playoff numbers in '95 are quite CONSISTENT with his CAREER postseason averages across the board,showing your myth that he wasn't "the same" to be nonsensical babble of someone saving face for Chicagos SHORTCOMINGS in the '95 playoffs.
Hardy har har....that just means that the Centers Hakeem is compared to are much greater than the SG's Jordan are compared to.
02:30
5 : 16 I have seen this before
on paper this orlando team handed Jordan his only series loss during the Bulls 90's run, but only on paper...
@FuShengAlex
"I guess that's what happened when he didn't have Horace or Dennis chasing down in his bricks"
He shot 48.0 FG% overall in the playoffs in '93 (his last season w/ Grant), and shot 46.0% overall in all 3 playoffs with Rodman.
So your point is NOT well taken....try again
.484% is higher than .475%. A) "1 of the GREATEST defensive teams in history", You must be referring to the same team MJ STRUGGLED against which was the same team Reggie TORCHED in the same '93 playoffs? B) Oh yeah his "shooting wrist" excuse, funny it didn't stop him from putting up 41ppg in the Finals that year. And yeah his playoff numbers are quite CONSISTENT across the board with his CAREER postseason averages, which renders your myth that he was totally different in '95 to be a lie.
michael didnt wanna wear the Air Jordan 10 anymore so he put on the Air Jordan XI concords eventhough they were not in production yet, then he got fined by the NBA cuase they were white while the rest of the Bulls had black, so he wore the Nikes he has on the vid, then he wore and all black Air Jordan XI with a concord Jumpman and a #45 on the back-
why didnt he just wear his old shoes from before? like the 10's or the 8 and so on
Jordan played better than penny in penny's own shoe! No Mars it's not the shoes.
the whole bulls team had black sneakers. the sneaks michael were wearing were white, jordan was fined $5000
@dlawson688: "I guess from a basketball standpoint, it looks like the Rockets teams got us by until Mike came back"
The Rockets "got by" even when Mike was there as this video shows. Ask DRob or Shaq who broke down in tears after losing the '95 Finals if they didn't respect Houston. MJ could thank the Rockets for showing him how to oust Orlando. It's not their fault MJ and Pippen choked away Game 6 at home to Orlando when out west they overcame a 3-1 series deficit.
@FuShengAlex No matter how we cut it, Houston won that year. But lets not forget, they never won again. And couldn't make it back to play the Bulls. And lost to the Bulls in the regular season in 1995-96. I bet the Bulls don't even care that Houston won those two rings because they won 3 after that and had the best records in NBA history for 2 straight years. So good for Houston, but lets not pretend they were some dominate great team like the Bulls were.
@FuShengAlex I guess from a basketball standpoint, it looks like the Rockets teams got us by until Mike came back. besides Dennis, the other bad boys were old and slow and couldn't even contribute, edwards, salley... they were roster fillers. The top 10 players on the Bulls included one Piston and a bunch of onproven players Kerr, Buchler, Wennington, Long. Hell Old Robert Parrish was even on that team. Fact is, Houston will never get respect because they didn't face the Bulls in the Finals.
Jordan 2 funny just playing wit Deez mofos 😂 🐐
@FuShengAlex
"You lied, by claiming he'd never had that level of inconsistency prior to his retirement"
And he didn't..
MJ's overall playoff FG%s per season:
1984-85: (44%) -- 1985-86: (51%) -- 1986-87: (42%)
1987-88: (53%) -- 1988-89: (51%) -- 1989-90: (51%)
1990-91: (52%) -- 1991-92: (50%) -- 1992-93: (48%)
Aside from his 1st yr and '87, he was NEVER as erratic with his shooting as he was in '95.
That's a fact! Not my opinion...
I agree with you to an extent actually man. I watched a lot of the '95-'96 games, and didn't see many moves like the ones he pulled off here. He did seem to lose something (maybe due to the extra muscle he put on, which he subsequently lost before '96-'97) but it may have been more a choice to play a more cerebral game, pick his spots and not exert so much energy. He did have some nice dunks (a double pump 2 hander at Utah and the big reverse at Miami spring to mind) but he was clearly different
Anybody who is proposing an argument for the use of steroids in sports just need to watch these old games,, dudes are lean, today's athletes seem straight out of a freaking Marvel comic book
@FuShengAlex
"He shot better a better FG% in '95 than he did in the year before he retired!"
Did it ever occur to U that '95 was a SMALLER test sample of playoff games for his playoff avg, than an entire playoff season would be (like in yrs past)?
SMH..nice try though
@FuShengAlex what was the rockets record from 93 through '96 against the sonics? i'll help you. 3-13! lmao. yet MJ and the Bulls dismissed them rather easily in '96. yeah, the rockets two titles mean pretty much nothing. somebody had to win while Jordan was away. and the rockets took advantage. Hakeem is still no better than david robinson.
It's actually incredible how much athleticism MJ lost from the 95 playoffs going into the 1995-96 season. Here he was pulling all his old tricks, huge dunks, acrobatic layups, picking up where he left off in 93. In 96 he was much slower, and his dunks were nothing special. I always try to debunk the myth that Jordan was not at his best in the 95 playoffs. MJ got his numbers in 95, and he was in much better physical shape.
3:25 *0*~
2:00 That shit was wet!
@ToguroMakaveliPrince
He WASN'T where he needed to be that yr,
There's a difference, hell a BIG DIFFERENCE, between being "in shape", and being in "playing shape".
And he was NOT in playing shape in '95!
Proof of this can be seen in his erratic shooting/play in the last 17 games of that season and in those playoffs.
There was a level of inconsistency and erratic play in his game that was NEVER there prior to that season.
Consistency had ALWAYS been the benchmark of his career.
It defined it!
C'mon guys, Jordan was rusty. Yeah Orlando had a better team but MJ also wasnt himself. Yeah he had great performances but if youve seen the games there were a lot of blown layups and shots around the rim that he'd miss which he normally makes. MJ was the best finisher in the game and it was shocking to see him miss a lot of éasy' layups and shots.
Orlando was swarming at him while Shaq was also challenging his shots. He struggled playing the Knicks too because of their ferocious defense and even threw up some airballs against them but his teammates showed up to help him out when he needed it, Kukoc and Pippen struggled most of the series. Orlando killed them the perimeter compared to the following year where they couldn't hit the side of a barn when the Bulls figured out how to guard them.
zeebuggy Yeah it must've been shocking to see Horace Grant celebrating in Chicago......wearing a Orlando Magic uniform!!
Rusty is a cop out, if the bulls won it this year it would have counted, so them losing counted, Jordan choked in his prime here.
Edwardo Cartier
I been saying the Bulls would've won this series if it wasn't for Horace Grant in Games 3 and 5 MJ was dominant in the 1st half with the inexperienced Magic feeling the postseason pressure before Grant started heating up and installed confidence in the rest of the team.
@jxn23 why did they fine him; sneakers had to be black in the playoffs?
Wanna hear a joke? Some Jocker praised Blackie the King of CZcams basketball talk.....lmaooo. As Bugs Bunny used to say when I was a kid: "What a maroon".
"There was a level of inconsistency and erratic play in his game that was NEVER there prior to that season." Were these not your words as a COP OUT for MJ and the Bulls coming up short in '95 Blackie? Stop telling fibs, I showed you where MJ struggled B4 he quit.
@FuShengAlex
SMH....yeah...ok
All of what mentioned by you was rendered irrelevant compared to what he brought to them in the playoffs that year.
rusty???? he was scoring 30 plus a game!
@FuShengAlex The bulls played a lot different and better defense than the Rockets. Simple put, they locked down the players on the Magic and let Penny and Shaq score 30 each doesn't matter. Houston had a superior center than Shaq at the time so they took Orlando's number one option away. Respect Houston yes. But feared them like everyone did the Bulls? NO. Rockets shouldn't have made it to finals in second year. Forgot the SUNS and Sonics were better teams that chocked in playoffs that year.
Plus he's stamina wasnt NBA ready. You could see it late in games he looks gassed. Legs look shaky. Just observe.
zeebuggy Yeah he saw defeat coming.
Poor Mike realized he was facing a much better HOF Center than Ewing that actually has a real superstar guard and not some ex CBA grocery bagger he could toy with.
nyc rebel is that you?
mt883 ....too bad Jordan choked vs. Nick Anderson. Fortunately for the Bulls future HOFer Dennis Rodman arrived the following year.
Y'all see jordan wearing them pennys!!!that's bad luck to him cus he lost that yr ..
No he was just desperate during the 95 playoffs, he knew that the team had no rebounding, was weak defensively, he had to do everything.
The 96 team for the most part, MJ could have just coasted and scored 15 points a game and they still would have won.
Scored 40 and still lost
@FuShengAlex no, it's worse that the sonics got beat and hakeem didn't get to face ervin johnson and his daddy the supersonics. the rockets titles are so fabricated. no MJ AND no Sonics. lol.
mt883 ...yeah no MJ because he got owned by Orlando. He could thank Hakeem and the Rockets for showing him how to beat Orlando. Who needed another year of MJ changing jerseys and sneakers thinking that could overcome not having Rodman?
More like MJ didn't want it. "We have no answer for that big guy". 1993 quote. He was never a problem for us, he suffered more losing than winning vs. Dream....kinda like being at the blackjack table,LOL.