Best Michael Jordan Highlights

The greatest NBA player of all time, Michael Jordan won six NBA Championship rings and one NCAA Championship. Jordan is a living legend with an incredible body of work as a professional and amateur basketball player. Whether you are a long-time Michael Jordan fan or newly discovered his amazing basketball ability, you should find something to enjoy here.

This is not meant to provide a comprehensive history about Michael Jordan, if you would like all the historical information you can get that from MJ's Wiki page. This lens will focus on some of the highlights and more interesting info about MichaelJordan.

Michael Jordan (born February 17, 1963) grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. One of the most interesting stories from his high school years occurred in his sophomore year. At the time, Jordan was only 5'11" and he tried out for the Varsity basketball team but given his height he was cut from the varsity team and was relegated to play junior varsity. Of course, he excelled on that junior varsity team scoring over 40 points in several games. During the next year, he grew four inches and became a standout on the varsity team his final two years of high school. His senior year we was selected to the McDonald's All American Team while averaging a triple double his senior year.

MJ played at the University of North Carolina for three years before leaving early for the NBA. During his freshman year he was named ACC Freshman of the Year and was a key player in the Tarheels run to an ncaa Championship his freshman year. In the championship game against Georgetown, MichaelJordan hit the game winning shot in a foreshadowing moment of his future clutch NBA performances. In his two subsequent years, he averaged 17.7 ppg and was named First Team All American in both seasons.

In the 1984 NBA Draft, MJ was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the third pick of the draft. While the first pick was Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets), a seven footer who later won two championships and future hall of famer, the second pick was Sam Bowie (Portland Trail Blazers). Bowie had a nine year career in the NBA and was a decent player but Portland's decision to pick Bowie over Jordan may have been one of the worst NBA front office decisions of all time.

From the very beginning of his NBA career, Michael Jordan was a scoring machine. As a rookie, he averaged 28.2 ppg and by his third season he was averaging 37 ppg. However through 1989, MJ was stymied in the playoffs by the "Bad Boys" Detroit Pistons of the late 1980s. They put together a defensive plan called the "Jordan Rules" that created multiple double teams on Michael depending upon where he was on the court. Given that the Bulls were so reliant on Jordan's scoring on these late 1980s teams, they were unable to overcome the "Jordan Rules" defense.

However, the critical breakthrough came in 1990 when MJ realized that the overall team could be even stronger if we was able to trust his teammates and rely on them for more of the scoring. His scoring average dropped to 31.5 ppg but the team broke through the Pistons to get to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. After dropping the first game to the Lakers in Chicago, MJ and the Bulls the next four games straight to win their first NBA Championship.

The first incarnation of the Bulls won three straight NBA Championships before MichaelJordan decided to retire to try his hand at professional baseball. Upon his father's untimely death, MJ felt he owed it to his father to try baseball which was his father's favorite game. Of course, Jordan's baseball career turned out to be short lived as he struggled to hit the curveball in double A ball for the White Sox.

in March 1995, MJ decided to come back to basketball and played for the Bulls at the end of season and into the playoffs. Even though he was not in basketball shape, he helped the Bulls reach the Eastern Conference Finals against the Orlando Magic in the 1995 playoffs.

For the 1995-1996 season, the Bulls added one of their old nemesis from the Detroit Pistons, Dennis Rodman, a rebounding specialist. He replaced Horace Grant who had left through free agency. Rodman was the perfect addition to the Bulls because he scooped up 20 rebounds a game but did not require points like most other rebounders. Since there were not enough points to go around with Jordan, Pippen, Luc Longley, Steve Kerr and Tony Kukoc, Rodman was the perfect compliment for this team -- playing great defense and scooping up rebounds.

The reincarnation of the Bulls won three more NBA Championships and set the single season record with a record of 72-10 in 1995-1996. That team also set a record with a 44 game home winning streak and the best start to a season at 41-3.

One of the most interesting things about Michael Jordan's career is the list of potential hall of famers that he prevented from winning an NBA Championship including Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, Shawn Kemp, Reggie Miller and Allan Iverson. Not all of these players would have won Championships if MJ had not played the game but at least some of them would have. But Michael Jordan loved the challenge of playing against other stars and never backed down from a challenge. In fact, he played at a much higher level when he was playing against other big stars and that is at least partly why these stars never won a Championship.

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If you like this Michael Jordan video, you should check out PhilKessel's Youtube channel

Maybe the best basketball commercial ever made, Gatorade created this montage of Michael Jordan clips in NBA games and on the playground. It is particularly fitting because Michael Jordan negotiated a "for the love of the game" clause into his original Bulls contract that allowed him to play in any playground pick up game because of his love of the game. This unique commercial demonstrates that passion for the game while also highlighting every kids dream to be like Mike against the backdrop of the song "Be Like Mike" by Teknoe.

And of course, today we are watching an entire generation of NBA stars including Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James that all grew up wanting to be like Mike...

While Michael Jordan's overall game was outstanding, he is probably best known for his memorable dunks. Michael Jordan was certainly the most inventive dunker of his generation and maybe all time. This video of the Top Ten Michael Jordan dunks was created by NBC TV. Hope you enjoy it.

Defense is the Key to Championships

While Michael Jordan is better known for his offense, MJ grew into one of the best defenders in the NBA to help Chicago capture its six championships. He won NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1988 and led the league in steals for three years (1988, 1990 and 1993) and was on the NBA All Defensive First Team 9 times.

As a Bulls fan during those championship years, I was never worried about a Bulls victory as long as they were within 15 points going into the fourth quarter. That is when the team would "release the dobermans" as assistant coach, Johnny Bach, used to call it. Michael Jordan (6'6") and Scottie Pippen (6'8") were both incredibly athletic with long arms and very quick hands. During the fourth quarter of games, they would dial up their defense to another level with full and half court presses and traps.

An opponent's lead would shrink very quickly once they dobermans were released. They would steal, glide and dunk for multiple baskets early in the fourth quarter. Once the Bulls had the lead it was Michael time and he would dribble drive to the hoop or pull up for short jumpers that he almost always made. If you were dumb enough to foul him, well those were almost automatic at the end of games. MichaelJordan shot 83.5% from the free throw line during his career, but I am would guess it was closer to 90% in the last 5 minutes of games. He had ice in his veins and thrived on the pressure at the end of games.

in the late 1980s, Spike Lee and Michael Jordan came together to create a number of Nike commercials featuring Lee's Mars Blackmon character from the movie, She's Gotta Have It, and of course Michael Jordan. Most were funny and entertaining and this is one of my favorites.

Another excellent Michael Jordan video tribute with a very good musical backdrop. The video features Michael Jordan highlights of dunks, drives and shots.

If you like this video, you should check out TheGreatBasketWorld Youtube channel

Very cool MJ Nike commercial from a couple of years ago that highlights the next generation of basketball players that are trying to follow in Michael Jordan's footsteps. It is fun to watch young players imitating many of MJ highlights from some historic games and then we get a cute cameo of MJ at the end.

This Be Like Mike commercial features a number of guest stars including Mia Hamm, Ahmad Rashard, Chris Berman, Bugs Bunny and Larry Bird.