As recognized as the "God of Basketball" in the NBA, Michael Jordan has achieved so many achievements in his career, the most notable of which is undoubtedly that he led the Bulls to three consecutive championships twice, and he maintained a 100% win rate in the Finals until his retirement. Before leading the team to win the championship for the first time, Jordan's strength seems to have been more and more ignored, in fact, he played the league's top three supergiants a long time ago, but at that time, due to the average Bulls lineup, they failed to enter the championship ranks.
There is no solution to individual performance in the regular season
In the first six seasons of Jordan's career, he not only won three scoring titles, but was also selected for the double team several times, including in the 1987-1988 season, Jordan undoubtedly played the most dominant performance in the early part of his career. This year, Jordan averaged 35 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game in the regular season, plus 3.2 steals and 1.6 blocks, and was also very efficient on the offensive end, shooting 53.5% from the field.
With Jordan's help, the Bulls are in fourth place in the East with a 50-32 record, which is also Jordan's first 50+ win season since entering the league. In addition to Jordan, the Bulls' highest scoring average that season was Vincent who scored 13 points per game, which shows how important Jordan is to the Bulls on the offensive end. Looking at the league, only Jordan averaged more than 35+ points per game, and he was also the only player who averaged 30+5+5 per game, Jordan ranked first in the league with 3.2 steals on the defensive end, and 1.6 blocks can also rank 15th in the league, and he is the only one in the top 15 who is a guard.
Jordan has 18 games in the regular season with individual points to 40+, including 4 times 50+, in the game against the Pistons, Jordan shot 21-of-27 from the field to a season-high 59 points, plus 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, and finally the Bulls narrowly beat the opponent by 2 points. In addition, Jordan also has a single game 50 + 5 + 9 + 5, 49 + 6 + 8, 49 + 13 + 2 + 2 and other very bright performances, it can be said that he already had the strength of the strongest combat power in the league at that time.
After the end of the regular season, Jordan also successfully won various honors, being elected MVP and DPOY for the first time in his career, and it was also the only time he won these two awards in a single season, as well as the best team, the best defensive team, the steal king, and the scoring king. The most important thing is that Jordan's MVP is also quite terrifying, he defeated Bird, who averaged 29.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game, and led the team to the first record in the East, and Magic, who averaged 19.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 11.9 assists per game to lead the team to the league's first record, the two brightest stars of the NBA in the 80s became Jordan's foil.
As for DPOY, Jordan beat Mark Eaton and Olajuwon with 69.8% of the votes to become the first guard in NBA history to win DPOY. This season, Mark Eaton is the league's block leader, he can average 3.7 blocks per game, and with his help, the Jazz can also rank fifth in the West. Olajuwon, as the top pick who entered the league in the same year as Jordan, although his limelight has been completely overshadowed by the latter at this time, he is also a very good player, averaging 22.8 points, 12.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 2.7 blocks per game.
In the first round, he fought five games with the Cavaliers, and Jordan came down
In the first round of the playoffs, they faced the Cavaliers, who finished the regular season with only 42 wins and 40 losses, but they also have players such as Doherty, Llarinands, Price, and Ron Harper on their roster. At the beginning of the series, Jordan was full of firepower, and when he didn't shoot a single three-point shot in the whole game, he shot 19 of 35 and 12 of 12 free throws to score 50 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, and finally the Bulls got off to a good start.
G2 Jordan, who is still playing at home, is still in hot form, he scored 50+ again in back-to-backs, 24-of-45 shooting, 7-of-7 free throws, 55 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, and only 1 turnover. With only two teammates scoring in double figures, Jordan single-handedly led the Bulls to another victory, and they had already got the match point.
However, after the next two games came to the home court of the Cavaliers, the latter suddenly broke out, G3 Cavaliers in addition to the starting 5 scored double-doubles, and Williams, who came off the bench, became a wonder soldier, he cut 20 points and 7 rebounds in a single game, and Jordan also scored a game-high 38 points, but unfortunately the Cavaliers continued to stay in the playoffs. The G4 Cavaliers still dominated the game, and the starting five scored 83 points again, of which Ron Harper got 30 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, while Jordan could only score 44 points.
In the case of being pulled two games in a row, the Bulls did not panic, and when the G5 decisive battle returned to the home court, all 9 Bulls scored on the court, and Jordan, as the leader, he also continued to play steadily, scoring 39 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. This rookie Pippen stepped up and became the X-factor, averaging 10 points per game in the series, he scored 24 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals to help the team advance in danger.
Jordan was undoubtedly the best player in this series, averaging 45.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 2.8 steals and 1.6 blocks per game in five games, and shooting 55.9% from the field.
In the semifinals, the Bulls and Pistons met again
In the second round, the Bulls once again played against the Pistons, who had just eliminated them the year before, and in the face of this "bad boy army", Jordan obviously played harder, but once he was restricted, the Bulls would not be able to win, so in the first game "only" with 29 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, the Bulls also lost to the opponent unexpectedly.
In order to avoid the team falling behind 0-2, Jordan scored 36 points and 11 rebounds very efficiently, and in addition to him, Vincent also stood up this time, scoring 31 points second only to Jordan, and the offense was also very efficient. With the help of these two players, the Bulls also got the only win of the series, and as a team with a relatively young core, they are not only inferior in terms of strength compared to an experienced team like the Pistons, but it is not particularly surprising that they lost in the end.
Jordan's personal data in the last three games were 24 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, 23 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals. 25 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals, the Pistons have been forcing him to either shoot difficult shots in the face of multiple people, or pass, and obviously the 24-year-old Jordan is still a little uncomfortable with this kind of defense, but it is this kind of loss that makes him better, especially the successive losses to the Pistons have helped polish Jordan's mentality of not giving up in the face of adversity, so he can become the "God of Basketball" in everyone's minds in the future.