Preface:
For fans of the post-90s and 00s, most of them have never witnessed the demeanor of the basketball god Jordan, and what they are fortunate to see should also be the Wizards period after the comeback in the twilight years. For the recognition of this recognized league first, that is, the word-of-mouth 10-time scoring champion, 2 consecutive triple championships and 6 FMVPs; 10 All-Time First Team, 9 Best First Defense, 5-time MVP, 3 steal kings and 1 DOPY and many other honors, as well as maintaining the regular season, playoff and career points per game, etc., this series of historical records first.
In fact, the reason why no one can shake his historical status, in addition to these honors and records, is more important is his unparalleled influence and dominance. He has not lost any of his 6 finals, and has never dragged the finals into a tie-break battle of life and death; During this period, the first champion of the Lakers is the second record in the West, and the opponents of the other five crowns are the first record in the West that season; And among these opponents, the lowest record is the Trail Blazers with 57 wins in '92, and the next four opponents can all reach more than 60 wins. It can be said that in the star-studded 90s, anyone had to bow down in front of Jordan.
However, even the dominance of the god of basketball against the sky cannot be forced to steal seven games in the playoffs; In fact, in his 13 seasons with the Bulls, he went through three tiebreakers, two of which were during the three-game championship. Let's take a look at Jordan's record and performance in these life and death games?
1. Time: 1990 Eastern Conference Finals
Final record: Bulls 3-4 Pistons
Before the start of the season, Jordan welcomed his mentor Phil Jackson, and under his classic triangular offensive system, Jordan played even better. At the same time, he also started another skill--- three-point shooting, you know, in the early days of his career, he can basically ignore three-pointers, in the previous five seasons a total of 287 shots, only 58 hits, the average shooting percentage is just 20%. In this season, he made 245 three-pointers, hitting a total of 92 three-pointers, and his shooting rate increased to 37.6%; He also set an opener record of 54 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists against the Cavaliers on November 3, 1989, and a career-high single-game scoring (69 points) and rebounds (18) against the Cavaliers on March 28, accompanied by all-around stats of 6 assists, 4 steals and 1 block.
At the end of the season, they finished second in the East with a 55-27 record, which is the second team record since the Bulls were founded, behind only 57 in 1972. After coming to the playoffs, facing the Bucks led by Elvin Robertson and the 76ers led by Barkerley, he lost only one game each and reached the Eastern Conference finals again after last season; However, this time the opponent is the Pistons, who are the first in the East to win 59 games.
In this round of the series, Jordan's performance in the first two games was relatively sluggish, scoring a total of 54 points and shooting less than 40%; On the other hand, Joe Dumas scored a total of 58 points on 60% shooting in these two games, and the Pistons also took the lead in winning two games at home. After that, Jordan, who returned to the home court, ushered in a big explosion, maintaining a shooting percentage of more than 50% in both games, and successfully pulled the score to 2-2 with 47+10+4 and 42+4+9+4 steals respectively; Later, in the battle of Tianwang Mountain, the Pistons again prevented Jordan's shooting percentage to 36.8%, successfully winning the game point. After the G6 game returned to the Bulls' home court, Jordan cut 29+10 with a 55% shooting percentage to drag the game into the tiebreaker.
In the tie-break battle, although Jordan once again shot 48.1% from the field and efficiently cut down 31 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists; But under the Pistons' tough defense, the other starters were all dumb, only Grant scored 10 points, and Pippen only scored 2 points and 4 rebounds; The team averaged just 31.1 percent from the field and was eliminated by the Pistons again 74-93 by a huge margin of 19 points, the only life-and-death battle Jordan lost in his career and the third consecutive season of being trampled under the feet of the Bad Boys. However, Jordan's overall performance in this round of the series is still quite powerful, averaging 32.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game, and shooting 46.7%.
2. Time: 1992 Eastern Conference semifinals
Final record: Bulls 4-3 Knicks
This is Jordan's way to defending his title after winning his first career title, and after setting a team record with 61 wins in the East last year, he also set a new team record in team history with a 67-15 record of 67-15. In contrast, the team's record and strength have improved, and the second owner Pippen has been able to contribute 21+7.7+7 data, and successfully promoted to the best second team and the best first defense; However, his road to defending the title has not been smooth, you must know that last year they lost to the 76 and Lakers in the entire playoffs, only in the Eastern Conference semifinals and the Finals, respectively, with a playoff record of 15-2.
During Jordan's first three-in-a-row championship, the hardest was the second crown in '92, and they lost 7 games in the entire playoffs; In terms of the number of games alone, it was the most used of the six crowns, and it took 22 games to successfully defend the title. Especially in the Eastern Conference semifinals, met the Knicks led by Ewing, due to the addition of new coach "God Operator" Pat Riley, the Knicks were directly promoted to one of the Eastern Powers; After Larry Bird and the Bad Boy Army, Jordan became another strong enemy in the East.
In this year's playoffs, Jordan faced the eighth heat in the East in the first round, but he averaged 45 points, 9.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 3 steals and 1 block per game, and directly swept 3-0 to advance. However, as soon as the second round came up, he was hit head-on, and the Knicks took a 94-89 lead in the first game and lost home court advantage; Fortunately, they then won 2 consecutive games and successfully regained home advantage; After coming to G4, the Knicks took full advantage of their strong interior advantage, grabbing a total of 52 rebounds on the team, a full 19 more than the Bulls, and the two teams tied again 2-2 after the game to return to the same running line.
After Jordan led the Bulls to a 96-88 lead, the G6 Knicks directly defended Jordan to only 9-of-25 shooting, scoring only 21 points, and defeating the Bulls 100-86 to drag the series into the tie-break. After coming to the life and death battle, Jordan exploded 42 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks, and constantly hit the basket to create damage; As a result, Ewing and Wilkins each carried 5 fouls, while Starks directly committed 6 fouls on his back. It was under his control that Pippen also managed to get a triple-double of 17+11+11, and they finally defeated the Knicks 110-81. In this series, Jordan also averaged 31.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists, as well as 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocks.
3. Time: 1998 Eastern Conference Finals
Final record: Bulls 4-3 Pacers
Jordan's second triple championship was completed by him and Pippen + Rodman + Harper + Longley, and the five-man team is also known as the strongest team in NBA history. Prior to this, they had finished the league's No. 72 and 69 first-of-the-row records for two consecutive years and easily completed two consecutive championships. They again went on a 62-20 record in '97-98, tied for first place in the league with the Jazz, and eventually defeated the Utah Twins 4-2 again in the Finals to complete their second three-game winning streak.
However, Jordan did not win this season, they played 21 playoff games to successfully win the championship, although they used one less than in '92, but it was the toughest of Jordan's six crowns. There are two reasons, one is the team's own problems, the main squad is aging, Jordan is 35 years old, Rodman is 37 years old, Harper is 34 years old, Pippen and Cole are 33 years old, and only Longley is in the golden age of 28 years old; In addition, Pippen was also affected by injuries and directly missed the previous 35 regular season games, coupled with the turmoil of the Zen master leaving the team, the team was panicked.
Another point is a strong opponent, in addition to the Jazz, who have reached the Finals two years in a row, the Eastern Pacers are also one of the roadblockers. They met Jordan in the division finals with a second-place record in the East, and the two sides played inextricably, with the Bulls relying on home-court advantage in the first two games, winning only six points in both games despite taking a 2-0 lead; The Pacers, who returned to home in the third game, won the G3 game with a narrow margin of 2 points under Miller; In the final 2.9 seconds of Game 4, the Bulls led by a point, and then Miller pushed Jordan away, hit a three-pointer on the ball and successfully completed the kill, chasing the score to 2-2.
In Game 5, King Mountain returned to the Bulls' home court, Jordan Pippon Kukoch combined to contribute 68 points, the Bulls beat the Pacers 106-87 to take a 3-2 lead, and the sixth game returned to the Pacers' home court, although Reggie Miller was defended to score only 8 points on 2-of-13 shooting, but the outburst of Schmitz and Davis allowed the Pacers to win Game 6 92-89, draw 3-3, and the two sides returned to the same running line.
After entering the seven-stealing life and death battle, the two sides launched an extreme hand-to-hand battle, and the intensity of defense in this game was not inferior to the 10-year Hukai battle. The two sides played until the final 2 minutes, and the Bulls led by only 2 points, until the end they were only 5 points apart, and the Bulls successfully advanced to the Finals 88-83.
Throughout the game, the two teams committed 63 fouls, with a total of six players committing five fouls. The Bulls' starting lineup is also Kukoc's 7-of-11 shooting, shooting 63.6%; Jordan shot 9 of 25 from the field, shooting only 36%, and the remaining three did not exceed 30%; The team average shooting percentage is only 38.2%, but they have a total of 50 rebounds, which is a full 18 more than the Pacers; In particular, the Bulls have 22 in the frontcourt rebounds, and the Pacers have only 4. In this series, Jordan averaged 31.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.
87-88 season first round: Bulls 3-2 Cavaliers
Averages: 45.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.8 steals and 1.6 blocks
Shooting average: 55.9% of 17 on 30.4 shots
88-89 season first round: Bulls 3-2 Cavaliers
Averages: 39.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 3 steals and 0.4 blocks
Shooting average: 51.8% of 14.2 shooting, 27.4 from the field
In terms of five life and death battles, Jordan also has a 4-1 record, averaging 36.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game, all higher than his entire career playoff average. It seems that after being forced into a critical moment of life and death, Jordan's performance is more stable and tough.