Ranking Michael Jordan's Top 50 Games of All Time: Part 2
These final 10 games are the masterpieces of Michael Jordan's career. The games in which his brilliance as a basketball player was forever etched into the minds of those who saw them.
These are the games after which you needed to take a minute to gather yourself. The games that, if you saw them, you will forever remember those few hours. The way songs remind you of people and past times, these games provide that effect. They make the memory of the Zenith television in that old living room crystal clear and bring poetry from those who were there in person.
As the previous 40 games have shown, Jordan has put on many memorable performances on a basketball court, but these are the ones that make people who never saw him play live argue he is indeed the greatest basketball player of all time. So without further ado, Part 2 of Michael Jordan's 50 greatest games.
Methodology
1 of 11
Here is a reminder of our methodology fromย Part 1:
Clearly these rankings will be largely subjective, but I will be looking at three categories for every game: stats, feel and reward.
Everyone uses statsโthe ones you lie about from when you played high school sports, or the ones you present to your boss when you want a raise. They provide some indisputable evidence about performance, but not the whole story.
Feel is the opposite of stats; there's nothing exact about it. However, the reason tens of millions of people watch sports and 70,000 attend an NFC Championship Game with a sub-zero-degree temperature is the emotional appeal. Sports aren't scripted or mixed and mastered to perfection; they're raw and unpredictable. That's why people gather in large groups to watch and place wagers, to ride that raw energy.
When I say reward, I don't always mean championships and records. Jordan has a deep passion for basketball, but he needs to win. That need to win could come in the deciding game of the NBA Finalsโit could also come in golf or blackjack. When Will Smith, not an athlete but a musician and actor, was asked onย Jimmy Kimmel Live!ย about hanging out with Michael Jordan, his response was, "It's like a competition." Dominating other human beings doesn't bring Jordan joy; it brings him peace. This category factors in what Jordan won, whether it be an important game, a personal victory or any type of validation.
10. The Basketball King
2 of 11
Date: July 22, 1992
Stat line: 17 PTS, 5-7 FG, 5-6 FT, 6 AST
Final score: White Team 40, Blue Team 36
This is the famous Dream Team scrimmage in Monte Carlo, Monaco. They hadn't played as well as their coach, the late Chuck Daly, would've liked in a 40-point victory in an exhibition game against France. With three days remaining until the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Daly had the players scrimmage. There were referees who would officiate games in Barcelona.
Since this contest wasn't broadcast, my information comes from Jack McCallum's account from his book about the Dream Team. This excerpt was released by Sports Illustrated and titled "Greatest game nobody ever saw."
The Blue team included Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Chris Mullin and Christian Laettner. The White team featured Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird and Karl Malone. Injuries to Clyde Drexler and John Stockton forced Johnson and Jordan to match up against each other.
The Blue team jumped out to a 5-0 lead. Johnson, who only eight months prior had retired from the NBA after he was diagnosed with HIV, had the energy for a Game 7 at the Great Western Forum, and Barkley was dominant. The Blue team's lead ballooned to 11-2, and it took another nine-point lead at 13-4.
This is when Jordan began to show Johnson that, while loving the experience of bonding with the players, he's here to finish what he started in 1991 by showing everyone who is the best basketball player in the world. His next three possessions end with a three-pointer, jump shot and assist, and it's 17-11.
With eight straight points, the White team finally took the lead at 21-20 after a wild Johnson miss led to Jordan running the break and feeding Pippen, who finished with an emphatic dunk. They didn't relinquish the lead, and the rest of the game included hot tempers, trash talk and Daly wishing the seconds would tick faster as he realized he stoked way too much coal on the competitive fire.
Then, after the game is over and Johnson says, "It was all about Michael Jordan," the victor takes a cup of Gatorade and decides to serenade the former Laker legend. His song of choice: "Be Like Mike."
9. The Career High
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Date: March 28, 1990
Stat line: 69 PTS, 23-37 FG, 21-23 FT, 6 AST, 18 REB, 4 STL, 1 BLK
Final score: Chicago Bulls 117, Cleveland Cavaliers 113
Not many guards set career highs in points and rebounds on the same evening. Only one approached 70 points and 20 rebounds on a single night while still finding time to distribute six assists and shoot 62.2 percent from the field.
There is a chance Jordan found his inspiration on this day from a Cleveland newspaper. Doug Collins, TNT's color commentator that evening and Jordan's coach the previous season, mentioned early in the game that an article was published about guard Craig Ehlo's outstanding defense.
Whatever was on Jordan's mind, it resulted in his shooting 6-of-7 from the field with 15 points in the first quarter. That effort gave the Bulls a 27-26 lead. It continued in the second, when he scored 16 more to reach 31 points on 73 percent shooting, but as a team, the Bulls shot only 44 percent from the field and went into halftime with a 53-50 lead.
They stretched the lead to 11 by the end of the third, but the Cavs clawed their way back. Jordan had a chance to end the game in regulation after grabbing a rebound with 22 seconds remaining but missed a free throw. Ehlo hit a three-pointer on the next possession to send the game to overtime.
During the extra session, Jordan scored eight points and put the game out of reach by rebounding Horace Grant's free-throw miss and making two free throws of his own to give the Bulls a four-point lead with four seconds remaining.
8. Double Nickel
4 of 11Date: March 28, 1995
Stat line: 55 PTS, 21-37 FG, 10-11 FT, 2 AST, 4 REB, 1 STL
Final score: Chicago Bulls 113, New York Knicks 111
Jordan was five games into his return to the NBA and was playing well enough. He had buried a game-winner in Atlanta and put a hurting on the Boston Celtics at their Garden. This Garden, however, was Jordan's favorite stage. The biggest show on Broadway had returned, and Jordan stole the show from the opening number.
He scored 20 points in the first quarter and didn't let up for the rest of the night. There were one-handed ball fakes, jab steps, post moves, and he also ate some hard fouls. The game was hanging in the balance with a minute remaining when Jordan showcased his playmaking talents for his only two assists of the game.
Just as TNT color commentator Hubie Brown said Jordan had forced his last three possessions, he took John Starks baseline and whipped a pass around Patrick Ewing to Scottie Pippen for a jumper and a 109-107 lead. Then with the score tied at 111, Jordan made Starks stumble, drew in two more defenders and fed center Bill Wennington for a dunk with 3.1 seconds remaining. This was Jordan spelling out "I'm back" on the Knicks' center-court logo.
7. The Shot
5 of 11Date: May 7, 1989
Stat line: 44 PTS, 17-32 FG, 9-13 FT, 6 AST, 9 REB, 1 STL
Final score: Chicago Bulls 101, Cleveland Cavaliers 100
The only team during the 1988-89 season that had a better record than the Cavs was the eventual NBA champion Detroit Pistons. There were high expectations for the team by Lake Erie.
Near Lake Michigan, the Bulls had lost three more games than they did the previous season, finishing 47-35 and earning the Eastern Conference's No. 6 seed. They didn't beat the Cavs one time during six regular-season meetings after defeating them in a first-round playoff series in 1988. In this series, the Bulls went up 2-1 and had a chance to close out the Cavs at home in Game 4, but Jordan missed two of four free throws in the final minute of the fourth quarter and they lost in overtime.
In Game 5, the Bulls trailed the majority of the game and were down eight points one minute into the fourth quarter. Center Bill Cartwright and forward Horace Grant were in foul trouble most of the game. They re-entered in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls took a five-point lead with six minutes remaining.
The Cavs erased that lead in 90 seconds. It was back and forth in the final four minutes, but that is when Jordan saved the Bulls' season. Of the 30 points he scored in the second half, nine of them came in those final minutes. That includes his putting two more missed free throws behind himโand hitting that famous buzzer-beater to knock off a team with 10 more regular-season wins and advance to the next round.
6. Perfection
6 of 11Date: April 3, 1988
Stat line: 59 PTS, 21-27 FG, 17-19 FT, 6 AST, 4 REB, 2 STL, 2 BLK
Final score: Chicago Bulls 112, Detroit Pistons 110
When it comes to artistic beauty, this game is Jordan's Sistine Chapel, his Songs in the Key of Life. He played as close to a perfect basketball game as maybe anyone in the history of the NBA. Jordan missed just three attempts in each half and shot 77.8 percent from the field while scoring nearly 60 points and committing only one turnoverโan offensive foul.
The Bulls also needed every point because they were on the road playing the eventual Eastern Conference champions. Jordan even provided the proper ending. The score was tied 110-110 when Isiah Thomas caught a pass, drove the lane and attempted a potential game-winning shot. Jordan rejected it from behind, and the ball went out of bounds.
Jordan then gathered a deflection, got fouled in the open court and sank both free throws. Then on the final possession, Jordan played textbook defense on Thomas, who missed a shot as time expired.
This game also holds up statistically. When Klay Thompson scored 60 points on 11 dribbles with eight three-pointers in 2016, his effective field-goal percentage was 75.8. Jordan was 0-of-1 from three and still had a 77.8 effective field-goal percentage.
5. 'Jordan for Three. Yes!'
7 of 11Date: June 3, 1992
Stat line: 39 PTS, 16-27 FG, 1-1 FT, 11 AST, 3 REB, 2 STL
Final score: Portland Trail Blazers 89, Chicago Bulls 122
The Bulls and Blazers were finally matching up in the NBA Finals, and there was a debate on who was better: Jordan or Portland guard Clyde Drexler. In that debate, Jordan's 27 percent shooting from the three-point line was held against him. Jordan used the opening 24 minutes of Game 1 to destroy that line of thinking.
He shot 14-of-21 in the first half, scoring 35 points and leading the Bulls to a 66-51 advantage. There was some trademark Jordan in the game: turnaround jump shots, putback dunks, hanging in the air during a shot attempt only to drop off an assist.
The story on this day, however, was his three-point shooting. He made six threes in the first half, sending Chicago Stadium into a frenzy. On the final three, he jogged past the NBC broadcasters and shrugged his shoulders as the Blazers helplessly called another timeout.
Magic Johnson was one of the broadcasters that day. In February this year, he said Jordan was still mad from the night before when the Lakers legend had Michael's number in a game of cards. According to Johnson, that's why he shrugged at the broadcasters. Whoever was on Jordan's mind, it resulted in an NBA Finals record for most threes in a half that lasted until 2010 when Ray Allen hit seven for the Celtics.
4. Say 'Atlantic City' One...More...Time
8 of 11
Date: May 31, 1993
Stat line: 54 PTS, 18-30 FG, 12-14 FT, 2 AST, 6 REB, 2 STL, 1 BLK
Final score: New York Knicks 95, at Chicago Bulls 105
Game 4 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals was another night when Jordan had had enough. He reportedly went to Atlantic City, New Jersey, between Games 1 and 2 in New York. Jordan had already received negative publicity once his gambling on golf and poker went public in 1992. His play was also questioned after some below-standard games in New York and a 3-of-18 performance in the Bulls' Game 3 win.
Jordan went two weeks without speaking to the media, but his play made quite a public statement with the Bulls down 2-1 to the Knicks. He would've scored at least 60 points if he didn't catch an offensive foul in the fourth quarter after a good acting job by current Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers and didn't have to sit for three minutes after getting whistled for his fifth personal foul shortly after.
Jordan shot 7-of-8 in the third quarter for 18 points. He took three shots in the paint in the game and finished 6-of-9 from the three-point line. Whatever anger was in his heart, he channeled into his jump shot that night. After the game, Jordan ran straight off the court, not waiting for NBC reporter Ahmad Rashad.
3. Larry Bird's Road to Damascus
9 of 11
Date: April 20, 1986
Stat line: 63 PTS, 22-41 FG, 19-21 FT, 6 AST, 5 REB, 3 STL, 2 BLK
Final score: Chicago Bulls 131, at Boston Celtics 135
The Celtics had visions of the Larry O'Brien Trophy dancing in their heads going into the 1986 postseason, not of fighting off the eighth-seeded Bulls. Jordan, however, made sure Boston would remember his name as the franchise set out for its 16th NBA championship.
This was Jordan's premiere to the world. It was a nationally televised playoff game on the East Coast, and it came on the heels of his 49-point outing in Game 1.
Game 2 was spectacular. You have to feel for those who missed most of it because their local affiliate showed Washington Bullets vs. Philadelphia 76ers.
The fourth quarter featured Jordan taking on Celtics forward Larry Bird, center Robert Parish, forward Kevin McHale and guard Danny Ainge by himself. Every time the Celtics looked like they were about to finish off the Bulls, Jordan scored on four defenders, blocked Parish, passed for an assist or took a simple pull-up jumper before the defense could get set.
He got six-time All-Defensive first-team guard Dennis Johnson to foul out in the first overtime. Jordan missed a potential game-winner in that period, but Bulls forward Orlando Woolridge's 18 missed shots had more to do with the loss. Johnson's backup, Jerry Sichting, helped the Celtics prevail in the second overtime.
Bird, not one to often heap praise on an opponent, said to reporters after this game, "I think it's just God disguised as Michael Jordan."
2. The Flu Game or the Bad Pizza Game or Something ElseโYou Decide
10 of 11
Date: June 11, 1997
Stat line: 38 PTS, 13-27 FG, 10-12 FT, 5 AST, 7 REB, 3 STL, 1 BLK
Final score: Chicago Bulls 90, at Utah Jazz 88
Whether it's the flu, food poisoning or the spins, vomiting all night is total misery. Whatever the reason for Jordan, he was still sick once he arrived at the Delta Center two hours before Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals.
Past the unpleasantness of that experience, it means Jordan couldn't eat all day and played 44 minutes with the Bulls tied 2-2 in a Finals for only the second time in his careerโand the Jazz having won the last two games.
Not only did he play, but he also had to get the Bulls out of a 16-point deficit in the first half, which required his scoring 17 points in the second quarter. Chicago took a 45-44 lead but trailed 53-49 at the end of the first half and 72-67 after the third. In the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, Jordan scored, missed, scored again, grabbed a defensive rebound, hit Toni Kukoc for a three-pointer and then made his own three to tie the game.
The Jazz called timeout, and when NBC came back from the commercial break, it showed Jordan slumping into a chair and an ice pack slipping from the back of his neck and falling behind the bench. On the Bulls' next possession, he hit a jump shot in Jazz forward Bryon Russell's face for a 79-77 lead with eight minutes, 23 seconds remaining.
Jordan didn't score again until the 2:46 mark. In fact, the only points the Bulls accumulated in that stretch were some Pippen free throws. Pippen also led the defense and, combined with some errors by the Jazz, it was anyone's game at the three-minute mark. The Jazz took an 84-81 lead on a John Stockton three, but Jordan responded with a runner.
Karl Malone and Scottie Pippen split free throws on the next two possessions. With 46.5 seconds to play, Jordan got fouled and, while looking like a member of the Addams family at the free-throw line, made the first attempt. On the second, he corralled his own miss and reset the offense.
The play ended with Russell doubling Pippen just outside the paint, which led to a pass to Jordan for a three-pointer at the top of the key and an 88-85 Bulls lead with 25 seconds remaining.
They never trailed again.
1. The Last Shot of the Last Dance
11 of 11Date: June 14, 1998
Stat line: 45 PTS, 15-35 FG, 12-15 FT, 1 AST, 1 REB, 4 STL
Final score: Chicago Bulls 87, at Utah Jazz 86
How did Michael Jordan top Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals? He didn't have a choice.
The 1997-98 season was it for this version of the Bulls. Following the season, Jackson took a year off from coaching before pushing the Lakers of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal over the hump for their first NBA championship. Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets. And Jordan retired for the second time. Still, if Jordan wasn't already in a class above anyone whom he ever played against, then two consecutive three-peats (with a retirement separating them) would make it a technical knockout.
It was the mission for the Last Dance season, but as ESPN's documentary will show, the Bulls' internal dysfunction reached a peak during the 1997 offseason. Contract negotiations were ugly, and after the other key members of the Bulls got one-year deals, Pippen could no longer swallow the disrespect after his pact was not extended, which made him the 122nd-highest-paid player in the NBA. He took this out on the team, asking for a trade and delaying surgery, which resulted in his playing only 44 regular-season games.
The Bulls still won 62 games and scrapped their way to a Finals rematch against the Jazz. The Athletic's John Hollinger created a formula to rate the greatest NBA playoff series of all time while he was at ESPN in 2011. He ranked the 1998 Finals the best of all the Finals series and the second-best postseason series, trailing only the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals the Celtics won in seven games against the Sixers.
The reason for the high ranking of Bulls vs. Jazz II was that each game, outside of the historic beatdown Utah endured in Game 3, could have been won by either teamโwhether it was Chicago's Game 2 victory at the Delta Center or the Jazz's delaying the sixth championship celebration with a two-point win in Game 5 at the United Center. It also was going to take every ounce of strength Jordan had, because Pippen had taken one charge too many, and his back was shot.
Pippen looked strong early in Game 6 with a dunk on the Bulls' first possession. He later acknowledged that slam reinjured his back, and after he left the floor in the first quarter, he didn't play the rest of the half. When he returned, he gave a gutsy effort that his team needed, but that wasn't seven-time All-Star Scottie Pippen on the floor that night.
The only other Bull to score in double digits besides Jordan was Toni Kukoc, who had 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting. With Pippen hurt, Jordan was not looking to pass that night. He wanted to end the Jazz himself. During one stretch, he shot 9-of-15 from the field; during another, he was 1-of-9.
Jordan looked gassed late in the fourth quarter, as some of his shots hit the front of the rim. However, he kept the Bulls in striking distance by going to the free-throw line, so when John Stockton hit a three-pointer with 41.9 seconds remaining, it only put the Jazz up 86-83.
All Jordan did after a Bulls timeout was play arguably the best 37 seconds of basketball in the history of the NBA. He took the inbounds pass from Pippen and needed only five seconds to blow past Russell for a layup.
With a one-point lead, Stockton passed the ball to Malone on the block with 23 seconds remaining. Guard Jeff Hornacek cleared out around Malone, and it would have been logical to expect Jordan to follow. Except he instead doubled Malone and stole the ball. All five Jazz players got back on defense, but Russell was left all alone on Jordan at the top of the key.
Jordan then scored the final two points of his tenure with the Bulls in perhaps the most indelible moment of his career. When the buzzer sounded, the 35-year-old Jordan had scored 51.7 percent of the Bulls' points. The win gave him six Finals MVPs, six championships in eight seasons and a couple of three-peats.
During Jordan's first MVP season in 1987-88, Magic Johnson led the Lakers to the title, and it was the first time a team had repeated since Bill Russell's Celtics won the last of 11 championships in 13 years in 1967-68 and 1968-69. The Pistons and Bulls then followed the Lakers by winning back-to-back titles, but then the Bulls made history by becoming the only team to win three in a row besides Russell's Celtics and George Mikan's Minneapolis Lakers.
Then the Bulls won three in a row again, putting them ahead of Mikan's Lakers and Bryant's Lakers, who later three-peated with Shaq from 1999-2000 to 2001-02 but got swept by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round of the 2010-11 playoffs after championships in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
During that Celtics' run, the NBA was a small-time operation. They won nine of those championships in an NBA with either eight or nine teams, and the league was up to only 14 teams by 1968-69.
The Bulls won in a league that never had fewer than 27 teams and had 29 starting in 1995-96. All that winning, and Jordan led the NBA in scoring during every single one of those championship seasons.
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