NBA Archives Debunked: The Jordan Saga

Chapter 36 The Peak (3)

On the morning of June 1992, 6, in the Bulls training hall, after almost everyone left, Jordan stayed to practice three-pointers.The teammates were gone, the reporters were gone, even the caddies were gone, leaving only Jordan and the hoop.He had to pick up the ball himself, but he still took one shot after another, taking hundreds of shots from beyond the three-point line.If someone asked him why he did this, he would just tell them: just vote casually, just for fun with friends.

The results of the extra training were seen by everyone that night.

In the first game of the finals, one and a half minutes before the end of the second quarter, Paxson dribbled the ball into the frontcourt, stopped and turned around, and saw Jordan standing on the left side of the top of the three-point arc, with both hands empty.Paxson understood and sent the ball immediately, and Grant also understood, blocking Clifford Robinson before going down to grab the rebound.Jordan catches the ball and has no intention of getting any closer to the basket.no need.He jumped up calmly from beyond the three-point line, shot calmly, and the ball, like its owner, ran to the basket calmly and passed through the net calmly.

Clifford Robinson still threw himself on Jordan with all his strength, but that was not only useless, but also self-defeating.After the goal was scored, Jordan stared at Robinson, shook his head, and looked at the magician who was working as a commentator on the sidelines, spread his hands, and shrugged.

I also don't know why this is happening.

"I got into it, and shooting threes was like free throws," Jordan said after the game. "I didn't know what I was doing, but the balls just kept coming in. What can I say? I don't know how to explain it. You know it will end, it will end, but when?"

From the first quarter, Jordan took shots from outside the three-point line again and again, throwing the ball in again and again.In the first quarter, he scored 18 points, including 5 of 3 three-pointers.In the second quarter, he returned to the court after a period of rest, and his hands were even hotter. He made 7 consecutive shots, including 3 three-pointers, and scored another 17 points in this quarter.In such a magical shot, Jordan set two NBA Finals records: 6 three-pointers in the half and 35 points in the half.

Drexler knew what was going on on the field.Jordan's performance in these two quarters made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.But in the process, what did he say to Jordan? "Won't you miss it?" "Strike." "Nice." "Sports Illustrated" reporter Jack McCarron later commented in the article: Drexler "sets back the art of trash talk by about 30 years." year".

Drexler is not as hostile and competitive as Jordan, he is too gentlemanly.After the game, he told the media: "I think I have defended well. That guy has incredible scoring instincts, and you can't do anything about it. That (outside the three-point line) was where we wanted him to shoot."

Clifford Robinson, who suffered Jordan's "shoulders shrugging", said with emotion: "There is one way to stop Michael, and that is not to let him play."

Danny Ainge was already playing for the Trail Blazers at this time, and he and Jordan were old acquaintances.Angie has his own ingenious defensive plan: "I talked to him about golf, and I tried to distract him. I reminded him that the last time we played golf together, I won him." Unfortunately, this still failed to interfere with Jordan.

Throughout the first half, Jordan made 21 of 14 shots. In addition to 9 of 6 three-pointers, the mid-range was also ridiculously accurate.Jordan said: "It's like you're in the gym shooting alone, someone picks it up for you, you have a chance to make adjustments, you take the shot, your eyes are on the rim, you're completely in rhythm. That's the way it is. "

According to the rhythm of the first half, Jordan is fully expected to break the NBA playoff single-game scoring record (1986 points) created by himself in 63, but in the last two quarters, he only scored 4 points.Of course, this is mainly because the Bulls established a huge advantage of more than 30 points in the third quarter, and Jordan didn't exert any more force.After the game, the reporters told Jordan that the 6 three-pointers he made this time tied the NBA Finals record. After hearing this, Jordan smiled and said, "If you had told me earlier, I would have shot more. "

公牛以122比89大胜。乔丹27投16中，得39分，送出11次助攻；皮蓬也有出色发挥，24分、10助攻、9篮板的准三双数据。开拓者队无人得分上20，其中德雷克斯勒14投5中贡献16分，三分线外2投0中。

Jordan achieved unprecedented success from beyond the three-point line in this battle, but he is very sober and does not intend to rely on long shots from now on. "I don't want to keep this image of shooting threes for too long," he said, "because it takes away part of my own game. I like my creativity. If I focus too much on the three-pointer, it will lose the original. style and definition."

The NBA Finals is not a game to determine the outcome. After a 33-point victory, the total score is only 1-0.In the second game, the Bulls lost Jingzhou carelessly, lost their 10-point advantage in the fourth quarter, and lost 10-4 after overtime.Jordan scored another 115 points and sent out 39 assists. His personal performance still beat Drexler, but the team still failed to secure the home game.

Then moved to Portland, the Bulls won the third game to regain the home court advantage, but in the fourth game, they won first and then lost again. They still led in the fourth quarter, but they were reversed.After four games, the total score was tied 2-2, and the fifth game "Battle of Tianwang Mountain" was of decisive significance.

On June 6th, in Portland, the Bulls scored 12 points in the first quarter, leading the home team by 39 points, once again taking the lead.By the second half of the third quarter, the point difference was close to 13 points. It seemed that it was not difficult for the Bulls to win, but hidden dangers still existed, including Jordan's ankle injury.

In the second quarter, after hitting a baseline jumper, Jordan landed, accidentally tripped over a photographer on the floor, and slightly sprained his ankle.In the process of running back to the backcourt, he had obvious discomfort in his left foot.The next wave of the Bulls' offense, he took the initiative to request a timeout and returned to the bench to accept the treatment.

The injury was not serious, just painful, which affected Jordan's movement speed and flexibility, but did not affect his hand feel.After a short break before returning to the court, Jordan quickly hit a three-pointer.In the first half, Jordan made 13 of 8 shots and scored 27 points; in the game, Jordan made 23 of 14 shots, shooting more than 60%, and contributed 46 points.After the Bulls won this game 119 to 106, they are in good shape to win the championship.

Back in Chicago in the sixth game, the championship celebration was almost forced to be postponed. After three quarters, the Blazers in the away game led 79 to 64.Early in the fourth quarter, Jackson simply put Pippen on the court with four substitutes, including white guard Bob Hansen, who hadn't played much in the playoffs.Unexpectedly, Hansen and the others were so upbeat, they played a 14-2 climax in just three minutes, narrowing the point difference to 3 points and filling the big hole dug earlier.Then Jordan returned to the court and solved the remaining problems. The Bulls came back to win 97 to 93 and won their first home championship.Jordan scored 33 points in the final game, making 24 of 13 shots.

In the six finals, Jordan dominated Drexler.Jordan averaged 35.8 points, 6.5 assists, and shot 52.6% from the field; Drexler averaged 24.8 points, 5.3 assists, and only 40.7% from the field.Jackson knew privately that Jordan had to overwhelm and even destroy Drexler, and he had that need.As Angie put it, Jordan dealt with Drexler like "an assassin who comes to kill you and then digs out your heart."Jackson later felt that this might have hurt the Bulls, because under him, the team rarely put so much attention on a group of individual duels, which was contrary to his coaching philosophy.But anyway, the ending is good, Jordan won, and the Bulls won. After the 1992 finals, no one has seriously discussed the topic of Jordan and Drexler, who is better, who is stronger, and who is weaker, because the answer is obvious.

This season, Jordan once again won the annual MVP, championship and finals MVP.After two consecutive championships, his status in the NBA reached its peak and he became the undisputed king of the basketball world at that time.

1991-1992 season
Regular season: 80 games, 30.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 2.3 steals, shooting 51.9%
Playoffs: 22 games, 34.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 2.0 steals, 49.9% shooting
Finals: 6 games, 35.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.7 steals, 52.6% shooting
NBA championship

NBA Finals MVP
NBA MVP of the Year
NBA All-NBA First Team

NBA Defensive First Team of the Year

NBA scoring champion

NBA Finals halftime scoring record (35 points, Finals Game [-] vs. Trail Blazers)
NBA Finals halftime record for three-pointers made (6, Finals Game [-] vs Trail Blazers)
(End of this chapter)