Jordan and the Shrug

On June 16th, 1996, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won their first title since Jordan’s return to basketball from baseball. The next few posts will be about some of the best Michael Jordan moments.

After winning his first NBA title in 1991 against the Los Angeles Lakers, Michael Jordan had established himself as one of the most dominant players the league has ever seen. Now, in the 1992 NBA Finals, Jordan led his Bulls against another great shooting guard, Portland’s Clyde Drexler. This finals series was going to be a duel between Jordan and Drexler. But, in Game 1, Michael showed everybody watching that he was the best in the league.

Jordan’s first basket was a runner in the lane, his first 2 points of the game. Jordan hit a 3 to give him 5 points. He then went to his patented post-fade-away in which he got fouled and drilled the shot. He made the free-throw to give him 8 points. With the shot clock running down, Jordan hit another 3, this one from the corner to give him 11 points. On the fast break, Jordan hit another 3, to give him 14 points. Jordan hit a mid-range jumper to give him 16 points on the night. Jordan sliced through the defense with a killer crossover and hit a top of the key mid-range to give him 18 points. Jordan made another great move in the post to give him 20. Jordan hit another 3 and this gave him 23 points. Jordan stole the ball and pulled up from mid-range and knocked it down, giving him 25 points. Jordan hit another mid-range, to give him 27. Off of an offensive rebound, Jordan hit a top of the key 3 to give him 30 points. With that 3-pointer, Jordan broke the NBA record for most 3’s in a half in NBA Finals history. Pippen missed the layup, but Jordan came in and slammed it with 2 hands, giving him 32 points. On another fast-break, Jordan hit another 3, to give him 35 points. And that’s when it happened, on the way down the floor, Jordan looked to the crowd and shrugged his shoulders, saying “I don’t know how I’m making these.” Jordan was never a great 3-point shooter, but he was lighting the Blazers up from deep. He also broke the NBA Finals record for most points in 1 half, with 35.

Jordan went on to have 39 on the game, and the Bulls would eventually win the series 4-2. Jordan would get his 2nd NBA Championship and 2nd Finals MVP. This season, Jordan also led the league in scoring, his 6th straight season in doing so. Jordan averaged 35.8 points, 1.7 steals, 6.5 assists, 4.8 rebounds, shooting 52.6% from the field and 42.9% from 3. He did all of this in 42.3 minutes per game. His Game 1 performance has gone down as one of the great NBA Finals performances.

I hope you enjoyed this Iconic Moment, and please leave a comment on what other Iconic Moments I should do in the future.