@@goku..7 ''I'm not a one-man team, although there are times it may look that way. I consider myself to be a utility man, a guy who can play wherever the team needs a lift. Our team needed a change and I'm the leader of this ball club. I'm supposed to plug up any hole we have.''
Had one clueless LeBron fan say Jordan's 41 PPG in 93 finals was stat padding. The Bulls won by 8, 3, 6, 1 (ave. 4.5) and lost by 8 & 10. So he did what he had to do to get the wins
Both teams combined for the exact same number of points, too. Jordan's regular season average was 8 points less than his Finals average. If he averaged in the Finals what he did in the regular season, Phoenix wins that series in 5 games. Jordan absolutely carried them.
granting it was statpadding which it isn't but say it is, AT LEAST HE WON lebron statpadded his way to SIX FINALS LOSSES, 2 SWEEPS, A GENTLEMAN'S SWEEP AND A FAKED INJURY
@@wobbafett2464 we all know mj would have several finals losses if his finals competition was anywhere near the level of Lebron’s Golden state would’ve kicked his ass so bad he’d take even more retirement breaks😭💀
@@leultrainstinct406 we all know bronettes don't live in reality, shoulda woulda coulda won't help u lot but psychiatric help will 3-6-1 is the reality, hun.
If I could make a request for a future video: I would love to see your take of Artis Gilmore, one of the leagues forgotten players from the 70s. He was an 11 times allstar both in the ABA and NBA and got selected five times to an all defensive team. But what makes him so interesting is that he won the MVP in his rookie season. But not only that, he came into the league as 117th (!!!!!!!) overall draft pick in 1971.
@@Neurohrreed They don't overshadowed, they get ignored thanks to the narrative that states "Wilt dominated a bunch of short white guys". These guys would get the credit they deserve if young NBA fans weren't so stupid and disrespectful of the game.
The "how" he performed in every final series is indeed the most important thing about his legacy and what makes him the GOAT. Looking back it's easy to dismiss his opponents and get clues why the Bulls won by looking at the stats but that is not the whole story of championships. His opponents were super strong and many of the games were pretty close but MJ dominated these games mentally and skill wise in a way that i had never seen before in basically any sports genre. Very impressive!
@@ykg2393 Massive football fans here. You could also argue Messi 2009 and 2011 UCL finals as two of the greatest individual performances in football history.
I'm still impressed by his 98 performance. It may not be that great statistically but he was running on fumes covering Pip's offense and defense duties at 35 years of age. Super clutch performance too. That 91 finals, he played on an injured toe..people forgot about that. He even wore an open toe shoe in the first half of game 4 but decided to wear regular shoe in the 2nd half because of the lack of support on the shoe and ended up playing through pain. Fun fact in the 91 finals Game 3 vs LA: Pippen fouled out in Game 3 with 10 secs left, Bulls down 2. Without Pippen, Jordan nails the game tying shot, and causes the deflection on the next possession to force OT. Jordan leads the Bulls on a 14-4 run after Pippen fouled out and scored or set up 12 of their 14 pts. Without Pippen, Jordan shut down Magic to 0-0-0 on 0/2 FG and stole from Magic in the OT to take the 2-1 series lead. That was also the game where he landed on his toe and injured it.
Another fun fact about that 1991 Finals: Jordan lead the Bulls with 11.4 assists per game. To this day, that is still the Finals record for APG by any non PG. Matter of fact, it's the highest APG average for anyone not named Magic Johnson. But thanks to the narrative that says Jordan was a massive ball hog, people like to forget that little tidbit.
Great breakdown..98 and 91 are the tops for me..93 was unreal. But the stories behind 98, especially when you look at game 6, and how he basically scored 40%+ of their points in the series and every basket counted. 91, was just unreal..
@@aaronhutchinson885 he scored 55% of his team's total score. Imagine scoring 45 points in a sub 90 point grueling defensive game while playing defense and nailing the game winning shot as a 35 year old.. Jeff Hornacek outscored all the Bulls players not named MJ in that game 6. Kukoc was the only teammate of MJ on double figure with 15. He was trolling the league from 88-93. He's on another level on both sides of the court. He's efficient too.
@@aaronhutchinson885 exactly.. Rex Chapman pretty much summed it up. He said MJ did to them, as pros, what Rex did to regular high school player when he was a starter in the all American high school team. 😅 He was busting their asses like they're just JV players. Rex said MJ was the only player he knew that played on a higher level already but could level it up even more if you pissed him off. 😆
2:34 not only did he miss those freethrows, it was after scottie said "the mailman doesn't deliver on sunday". they played that game on a sunday and it was one of the coldest lines ive ever heard.
I REALLLYY don’t understand Scottie Pippen. Like Ik he lost his son & that can fuck anyone up but, before that even happened.. he started acting like he didn’t have that smoking wife 🥵 & those badass moments throughout his life! Not just career. While MJ just had it all. I even go as far as to say he has the most savage dunk ever. You can’t just watch it once. Ik Jordan dunked on like 3 ppl before but,… the Knicks have made foolish moves time and time again to only solidify how savage that dunk was. He’s like the comrade in an engaging series that deflects - to the dark side - but his argument for doing so does NOT last very long nor carries the affordable weight for thorough supporters.. which ruins the series’ credibility It reminds me of the rap game. “They don’t want ya props, they want ya spot”
Thank you. People laugh at 6-0. “His teams were just better. I’m only 25, didn’t see it in person, but I’m a historian. There will never be a player as good as him in the regular season that actually always got better in the playoffs and finals. When he was going for the 3 peat, his body exhausted and teams battered, he raised his game anyways. He got timely baskets and not just in the 4th, he kept his teams in the game. He didn’t just do his job in the finals, when you think the other team has a chance to beat the bulls, Jordan just got better. Had winning above all always. He’s the greatest.
I'm right there with you. 25 year old historian of the game. People excuse the ignorance of us younger folks to age. But in reality, it's just lack of intelligence and a delusional disrespect of those paved the way and made the game what it is today.
I watched all them bro magic actually was better but I don’t get into debates it’s a case for Jordan lebron magic bird Duncan and Kobe bro trust me when I tell you the league wasn’t good after the 80’s until 2000 came around and Kobe was unbelievable bro Jordan got allot of friends in the media so don’t let the media fool you I bet you didn’t know the media says lebron can’t shoot but he actually has the most clutch shots in playoffs history on the Highest percentage while taking the most also has a higher 3 point percentage than Larry bird himself.337 to .321 so you gotta really watch film don’t take anyone’s words bro like I think AI was way better than Wade and Nash and Kidd both are better than cp3 to me it’s all about narrative with the media bro
@@countryrah Magic was not better at all lol. You could make a case for Magic if he were a great defender,but he was far from that. Lebron has the most buzzer beaters in playoff history,but not on better percentage. Jordan's clutch percentage in the playoffs is a lot better than Lebron's,mainly in the finals. Lebron has improved his shooting in this last season,but before that,his overall shooting from 3 feet away from the basket was awful,mainly his midrange shooting.
@@countryrah Let me get this straight. What metric did you pull that makes you think Magic was better than 35-11-5?? Were you on something when you typed this? LOL
@@countryrah And your numbers are wrong. MJ is 22/50 in the regular season on clutch shots. LBJ is 19/91🤣In the playoffs MJ is 9/18 while LBJ is 9/25 and in the finals, MJ is 3/7 while LBJ is 0/6... MJ was much better in the clutch
@@lucapompey-buslon6857-I know he was at least close if not on there too, which finals was that bro? Shaq did it with reb...i think his best finals was like 34 ppg & 15 rpg, 3 bpg. Not assists but still damn worthy of this list.
The '98 Finals was his best performance. The chips were down (way down), and he pulled off a masterpiece. Please don't let aggregate offensive stats woo you beyond appreciating what's really happening.
@@sonza68 The Bulls and Suns combined to score the exact se amount of points. The Suns' 2 victories came by 8 and 10 points, while the Bulls biggest margin of victory was 8. The Bulls needed every bit of Jordan's 41ppg to win that Finals.
I gotta watch that. The Suns are a team I started to root for in modern day but, they blew it twice! Giannis is a rather respectable player & is going down in history for that very reason but still.. there was no way Mavs won that series and they did. It’s just one of the more established west teams from the colors scheme to it’s former rosters & especially history
I appreciate MJ's 2nd 3peat more as I age. He was past his physical prime, injured, running on fumes and carrying a heavier load on both ends as Pip wasn't playing 100% and other Bulls were also either past their prime or playing hurt (usually both). Numbers aside, the 98 run imo is his most impressive considering all they had to go through and the heavy load he had to carry.
I like how every video about MJ adds further proof that any form of GOAT debate is completely pointless. There isn't a player like MJ, especially not in the current clown era. And it's extremely unlikely that we will ever see someone so utterly dominant.
Glad you mentioned 97 and Karl Malone winning mvp. One Stat nobody acknowledges is out of 6 rings. Jordan won not only 6 finals mvps but 4 mvps those years. The only 2 times he didn't was 93 when Barkley won and 97 with Malone. Jordan would have. Dominant performance against each guy those years. Incredible! Also 97 deserves to be higher. His 4 wins -game 1 buzzer beater 31 pts 8aast, game 2 38 pts 13 rebs 9assts, game 5 flu game 38 pts 7 rebs 5 assts 3 stls, game 6 game winning assist to Kerr 39 pts 11rebs
Majerle was a good defender, but his reputation as a good defender was built on defending far lesser players. I was a Bulls fan since the 1980s, and one of my recollections of the 1993 Finals was that it was *good* for Chicago when Majerle defended Jordan. Even Kevin Johnson at times seemed like a better choice to defend MJ because Majerle had no chance at staying in front of Mike, and KJ was only 6'1" and whom Jordan shot over easily!
@@messagekeenenivorywayansvo3011 That's... not hating. I just don't think Majerle's 2nd team all-defense in 1993 properly describes how well he could defend Jordan. One of the common themes of the NBC broadcast in that series was that whenever Jordan crossed over, Majerle couldn't stay in front of him. Between guys like Majerle, Richard Dumas, Danny Ainge, and KJ, Majerle was really no better than the others at defending MJ. I personally think his Suns series is his second best series. The video discounts what Jordan did against the Lakers, but the Suns were both soft in the perimeter and in the middle.
@@mrmacross go watch the MJ ultimate highlights real. No one in the damn could guard Jordan one on one. More specifically in his first 9 years because of his athleticism. He could be guarded more one on one as he aged. And lost sone of his explosiveness. So he developed a lethal and I mean lethal post up fade away. And could hit that shot all the way out to 18 feet. Lethal!
@@messagekeenenivorywayansvo3011 I watched Jordan throughout all of his title runs. Obviously nobody could guard Jordan one-on-one, but Phoenix was especially vulnerable because their best defender was not a good Jordan defender and they had nobody to plug up the middle. IMO, any awards Majerle won are just about not relevant to this discussion because his ability to lock down on other players had no application to Jordan.
If you think about it, MJ did everything that can be done in a basketball court. 1. Fierce penetrator, playing above the rim, posterizing everybody 2. 3p sniper with 40% 3. Mid range king 4. Post moves/fade aways 5. Point God with 11 assists against Magic 6. Triple double machine when playing the point guard spot 7. Arguably best perimeter defender ever Indeed he was just choosing what he wanted to excel at.
@@gingersupersaiyan he said that can be done. MJ chose not to excel at 3 pt shooting and based off of interviews, he didn't like what he did after proving a point in game 1 of the 92 finals. Imagine saying the competition was better because he didn't want to do it so just to prove his statement why not do it in game 1 and set an NBA finals record doing it. Such a boss statement but still an out of whack logic by MJ. Too scared to be a great 3 pt shooter 😆 That's why you won't hear that as a negative from real long range shooters. You can hear them saying MJ can shoot from deep if he wanted to. His career attempts beyond the arc is laughable yet Reggie and Ray Allen said MJ can shoot, I think even KD said that.
@@gingersupersaiyan MJ like many others didn't give a sh!t about the 3 and didn't care to improve on it. It wasn't valued nor needed to be a great player. Can't say the same about players today
@@gingersupersaiyan He's a career 33% 3pt shooter, but his first 4 years were atrocious. Under 20% all 4 years. Don't forget that college didn't use the 3 that much(if at all) while he was at UNC, so it was in the NBA where he started to use it. He didn't grow up with that as an option, so it's actually fairly impressive he even got to 33% for his career when you look at it in context.
Scottie pippen was shooting around 40% through the playoffs during the second three peat. One of the biggest carry jobs in NBA history for all three titles.
People still overlooked that esp hearing praises from MJ himself saying Pip was his MVP and even gave the car from the MVP awards in 97. Pip had a couple of playoff series where he was atrocious shooting bricks. MJ was 31-12 without Pip in the 2nd 3peat and 36-9 without Dennis. Pip shot 31% in game 2 of the 97 finals with 10-6-4. In The Flu game, Pip shot 29% from the field. 😆 And Dennis was fouled out within less than 24 mins. Lol Game 6 Pip shot 35%.🙃 Wtf moments and that bitter dude had the audacity to berate MJ even though he underperformed but shown as a warrior in 1 whole episode of The Last Dance... 😆
his back says he got carried, pip himself also said it in an interview, for ELEVEN seasons future also broke larsa's back. what a pathetic mindset for a HoF
Pretty much all correct. Personally I might have taken 97 over 91 and 98 over 92 but they are all very close. A lot of young people like to overrate his 91 performance based on the numbers but my opinion is that that finals and the entire season was probably his most "boring" championship season. He was equally great throughout the whole year but other than the narrative of finally defeating the Pistons and the showdown with Magic, none of his performances were EPIC. He hasn't even recorded a 50 point game this entire season. He was just steadily great throughout with some small outbursts of epicness in the finals like his game 2 13/13 caped by that switcheroo or the shot over Divac for the OT. But he never dominated any individual game as much as he did in other finals (excluding 1996). His 1997 averages are worse than in 91 but his brilliant play in all the 4 winning games was more spectacular than in 91. The game winner in game 1, near triple double in game 2, flu game in game 5 and his worst winning game was a 39 and 11 game 6 clincher were he made the key assist to Kerr. That was his worst performance in a winning game! 39 and 11! 1992 Jordan was much better than the 98 Jordan but I might give the edge to 98 just based on game 6 alone and the final shot. Nonetheless Jordan was fantastic in games 2 and 4 as well. In game 3 he didn't have to be great as it was a blowout. Then again 1992 had the amazing game 1 performance, game 5 was also spectacular and a lot of people praise the bench for game 6 for good reason but Jordan was the one who ultimately closed that game. 1993 is just on another level. He was great in winning games and great in losing games. His 55 point game is next to the 45 point game in 98 his best Finals performance.
People also forgot how Pip underperformed where MJ had to carry his offensive and defensive load. He shot below 40% on multiple games esp in 97. I agree with the 98 game 6 performance. Scoring 55% of his team's points on fumes.. That was bonkers. Malone's 31-11-7 on 58% shooting showed how tired Dennis was. Kukoc was the only one in double figures with 15 and the rest of the team were outscored by Hornacek.
@@LelekPLN What made '91 special was how he proved all the naysayers wrong. Back then the game was oriented around the big man. As great as Jordan was, very few people thought the Bulls could win titles with a SG as the centerpiece. Yet they did, and it forever changed the league.
@4:44 aht, aht Jonny. Jordan was also dealing with injuries in that 91 finals (toe injury if I remember correctly). Furthermore, Worthy and Scott played up to four games in this series and while I won't dispute that both players were dealing with injuries, Divac and Perkins also performance well in that series (I believe Worthy despite injuries still put up decent numbers as well). Honestly, them being healthy wouldn't have made a difference.
Noteworthy was MJ's defense on Vlade and Worthy on multiple occasions. Heck even during the Pip switch in game 2 MJ guarded Worthy more effectively than Pip. I guess because he knew Worthy's game more. It was the closing seconds of game 3 OT when he injured his toe. Pip was fouled out in end of 4th quarter of that game. It was MJ's show in OT locking down Magic to 0-0-0 in 2 attemps 😆 He played in game 4 with that injured toe. He even wore an open-toe shoe to ease the pain but went back to regular shoe in the second half. The open toe lacked support. He played through the pain. Lol
Hey Johnny great video as always as a young fan I especially enjoy your videos about retired legends and respecting. Have you ever thought about making a list of your opinion on top 10 NCAA careers for NBA players. I don’t keep up with college sports but seeing Kareem Elvin Hayes Oscar or even Bill Russell stats impresses me so I wonder where you have there collegiate careers ranked
@@luisrodriguez-mb7cc yes you right I couldn’t include everyone cause I didn’t want my comment to be too long but Pistol Pete is up there Also Bill Walton come to mind. Other greats are David Thompson Tim Duncan and of course Bird Magic and Jordan
Great video as always! Would love to see something like most underrated players through the decades. Like a top 5 per decade. It’d be a lot of work, but you’re good at this stuff. Or unsung heroes of different finals. That would be cool.
Crazy thing about the 93 Finals, was he shot less than 70% from the FT line, way down from his 84% career avg and he still avg 41. It could have been easily 43 to 45 PPG. Ranking wise for me..98, 91, 93, 92, 97, 96..
Man against Magic averaged double digits assist, against Drexler shot 3 efficiently and against Barkley rebounded more than 8 a game. Now that's competitiveness.
Could you make a video ranking LeBron's finals performances? Not just the FMVPs, but all of them. Not enough people know that despite losing 6 he was clearly the best player in most
Crazy thing is if you ranked top 5 winners of finals mvp, regular season mvp, scoring title and defensive player of the year award...mj's name would actually be in every category.
Funny thing is he was cruising in his 92 finals and all throughout the season. No too noteworthy games outside of his game 1 finals performance. He was efficient and excellent the whole regular season and the whole of playoffs.
I can probably guess them without watching. 1. 98 2. 93 3. 91 4. 97 5. 92 6. 96 97 and 92 can be switched, numbers were more impressive in 92, but he faced more adversity in 97. Plus it had the iconic flu game and another game winner. I was completely wrong lmao. Put too much emphasis on the significance.
It's interesting how his best teams (96 and 97) were his least strong Finals performances. Also, it's a show of his greatness that those performances would be considered amazing by any other player.
91 is slept on.. 32 points and 11 assists!!! He couldn't pass tho...... that's the type of player he was, he wanted to prove that he could do whatever his super star opponent could do and more
I kept telling ppl mj never had a team avg pts over 20 . Mj teammate was trash on paper bulls all 6 championship should not win a chip . That how gd mj was .
I think mj shot just 70% from the line vs phx (due to problems on his wrist i believe) and still averaged 41 Imagine him going for his usual efficiency at the stripe for that series
Hello Jonny, I'm a new subscriber from Mexico city. I totally enjoy your content, specially about MJ, congratulations for such a great channel. Answering your question... YES I would love this topic to become a series in your channel, cotinuing with Magic, Hakeem, Duncan and, obviously, Kobe. Regards!
Jordan gets "clamped" by the Glove but wins. Lebron gets clamped by Jason Terry & loses. I don't understand why this debate has grown so strong in recent years, the only ones defending Bron are kids & grown crybabies who got heart broken by Jordan in the 90s.
My problem is when people yell it and then say “that’s why he’s goat.” MJ is my GOAT but 6-0 doesn’t make someone the GOAT. Just like how 11 rings doesn’t make you the GOAT. It does help your case tho
Hi jonny nice video as always , here's one thing in my entire time watching you , I've never seen you talk about.TRADES , u dont really talk about trades, I would live to see you talk about trades in nba history and more importantly trades u would implement
Technically Kemp did outplay Jordan. He had a great finals series, but then you also have people saying Rodman deserved it, that he even carried the Bulls 😂. Even if this wasn't Jordans greatest stat line for his standards, I'm not giving the damn FMVP to nobody else that ain't wearing #23 in Red and White 💯
Jordan has an iconic moment in pretty much all of these Finals: 91: Switch hands + crying with the trophy 92: Shrug 93: The only series without a super iconic moment. But I guess 40+ ppg is iconic in its own right. 96: Winning on father's day. 97: Buzzer + Flu 98: The final shot. The difference.
One thing you forgot to say is that while Michael Jordan does have the record for the most points in an NBA half he set that record while sitting out on the bench for 6 minutes in the second quarter because the Bulls were blowing them out. If Michael Jordan played the full half he would have set an unbreakable record.
I gotta say for me it’s 1. 1993 (obviously) 2. 1991 (most efficient & most well rounded) 3. 1997 (clutchest by far) 4. 1992 (great but others are better) 5. 1998 (amazing carry job but bad efficiency, no other good stats other than scoring) 6. 1996 (obviously)
Gotta agree that 1996 is the easiest to rank, directly at the bottom. The others are harder to rank. 1997 doesn't stand out statistically, but it has the Flu Game. 1998 wasn't particularly efficient, either, but it had the most vulnerable offensive squad. 1991 had the insane efficiency. 1993 had the insane scoring output. 1992 had the shooting. Overall, I'm going to put 1991 first because the Bulls won in 5, and could've swept if Jordan hit one more jumper. 1993 comes second because of the scoring numbers. 1998 because of the urgency for Jordan to handle the scoring load at the age of 35. Then just to round it out, 1992 in 4th and 1997 fifth. Either way, I'm saying a series where Jordan went 35.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 6.4 apg, 1.7 spg, on 61.7% TS% only amounts to his 4th best Finals series. What a career.
In my opinion I believe Dennis rodman was the MVP of the 1996 finals without rodman the bulls don't win that series. Jordan shot only 41.4 percent from the field in the 1996 finals against the sonics. Jordan shot 5/19 in game 6 6/19 in game 4 and 9/22 in game 2 plus Scottie pippen was playing on a really bad ankle that required surgery and he had surgery on after the Olympics in 1996 that heavily affected his offensive game thought the 1996 playoffs. Jordan was off against the sonics in the 1996 finals. Rodman averaged 14.7 rebounds a game and had 20 rebounds in game 6 and 19 rebounds in game 6 and Jordan didn't shoot the ball well in neither game.
I always agreed with you for every ranking that you've made and for everything that you said about basketball, but not this time. I think you put his first finals MVP too low, I got that Finals MVP Finals in top 2, I can understand if you rang that performance in top 3 because first three peat was very, very close, but to rank that Finals MVP under 1998???? I definitely don't agree. And also you made video about top 10 finals MVPs of all time, and you put only 1991 and 1993 Finals MVPs from Jordan on that list soo I don't understand how you put that award on 4th place thhis time...
Would put 1998 2nd just because of how legendary of a carry job it was, and that it had probably the most poetic ending in all of sports. 1993 is still number 1 tho easily: 1. 1993 2. 1998 3. 1992 4. 1991 5. 1997 6. 1996
Michael Jordan one 6 Championship in 8 years and he have legendary moment in finals that why Michael Jordan Greatest basketball player in NBA history Go 🐂
I still think his first 3 championships are way better since all of it are "proving the narrative against him wrong" series 91 = average 11 assists against Magic (destroying the narrative that he doesn't make his teammates better) 92 = 6 3PM (destroying the narrative that clyde is a better shooter against him) 93 = average 41ppg against the league MVP
His best 3 performances are probably the first 3peat and all are contenders. His most memorable and my favorite is his last, 98 finals. He was slower and tiring easier yet Carried the team with pippen injured for 2 games and barely playing in the final. Jordan just seemed to make the big plays when it matters so how fitting the GOAT known for mid range shooting, best scorer ever and one of the great defensive players would steal the ball from the star player and take it down to the otherside and hit a game winning mid range jump shot.
