Michael Jordan

amolbhatia50k

Sneaky bum time - Vaccination status: dozed off
Joined
Nov 8, 2002
Messages
98,382
Location
india
One of the most iconic sportsman and famous people when I was growing up, except I knew or cared little about basketball. I've begun to take a very mild interest but I am interested in knowing about a modern day sportsman who was popular in my time and is considered the greatest ever in his sport.

I'm a big fan of Federer and Tendulkar. I find golf tedious and boring and formula one doesn't really fascinate me so I'm not really interested in digging deep into the careers of Tiger Woods and Schumacher. And I'm always trying to look into footage I can get of Maradona and will probably do so will Ali. Jordan, though, is a lot more recent and hence should be fairly accessible.

So, any basketball fans here who would like to give an account on him and possibly name the 5 games that would define his greatness for people like me to look into?

Note: Let's keep this to Jordan and not other sportsman I've mentioned.
 
Pretty impossible to pick a few games really. You want to look up 'The Shot' and 'Last Shot' though. Just iconic Basketball and clutch moments.

His greatness is about the whole career though, not the winning, I mean he was clearly the best player in the league the second he stepped foot in it, but the Bulls weren't good at all, and while he was dominating, they were getting dominated if that makes sense. After a few years of individual success but playoff failure, he started to lead his team and teach them as well, and they gradually overcame their obstacles(Pistons, and Magic Johnsons Lakers) to become the dominant team of the 90's.

It's why ALOT were heavily against the LeBron thing, because he had a similar story ready built for him with his hometown, but he expected to win quicker and well in the current world and how internet effects things, hype got to him and he bailed on his building team for superstars.(which so far....has failed.)

 
Zen said:
Pretty impossible to pick a few games really. You want to look up 'The Shot' and 'Last Shot' though. Just iconic Basketball and clutch moments.

His greatness is about the whole career though, not the winning, I mean he was clearly the best player in the league the second he stepped foot in it, but the Bulls weren't good at all, and while he was dominating, they were getting dominated if that makes sense. After a few years of individual success but playoff failure, he started to lead his team and teach them as well, and they gradually overcame their obstacles(Pistons, and Magic Johnsons Lakers) to become the dominant team of the 90's.

It's why ALOT were heavily against the LeBron thing, because he had a similar story ready built for him with his hometown, but he expected to win quicker and well in the current world and how internet effects things, hype got to him and he bailed on his building team for superstars.(which so far....has failed.)

Click to expand...


I'm sure you can provide 5 games that you think were his greatest. For example anyone who wants to see what keano was all about should watch the juve one amongst others. That was considered great because of the performance, the pressure and stage. Documentaries provide a nice overall idea of ones career but I want to see him at his best.

And shut it you cartoon alien geeks.
it was called space jam
 
amolbhatia100 said:
I'm sure you can provide 5 games that you think were his greatest. For example anyone who wants to see what keano was all about should watch the juve one amongst others. That was considered great because of the performance, the pressure and stage. Documentaries provide a nice overall idea of ones career but I want to see him at his best.

And shut it you cartoon alien geeks.
it was called space jam
Click to expand...

Documentaries provide the story, without the story, the games don't mean as much in the longer season American sports.

But we'll try.

63pts vs the Celtics 1986
'The Shot' vs Cleveland 1989
Game 2 vs Lakers for the NBA Championship 1991
'The Flu Game' vs Utah Jazz 1997
'The Last Shot' vs Utah Jazz 1998

added bonus;

'40 at 40' vs New Jersey 2003.

Skips anything he did at MSG, rivalry vs the Pacers, games vs Barkley, and some of his stuff vs a Pistons team who basically played like thugs to ONLY keep him at like 30ppg instead of 35ppg(in comparison in todays era, Kobe/Lebron can sometimes struggle to go 25ppg in series). Youtube should have the 6 i mentioned AND most of these anyway if you search it well enough, mostly split into about 8/9 parts though.
 
marchi-91 said:
Really? I thought it was just some generic basketballer. Thank you for ruining my fond memory! :)
Click to expand...

Technically the NBA has never acknowledged him as the logo, but the designer who designed the logo said West is the logo.

west.gif
 
Zen said:
Documentaries provide the story, without the story, the games don't mean as much in the longer season American sports.

But we'll try.

63pts vs the Celtics 1986
'The Shot' vs Cleveland 1989
Game 2 vs Lakers for the NBA Championship 1991
'The Flu Game' vs Utah Jazz 1997
'The Last Shot' vs Utah Jazz 1998

added bonus;

'40 at 40' vs New Jersey 2003.

Skips anything he did at MSG, rivalry vs the Pacers, games vs Barkley, and some of his stuff vs a Pistons team who basically played like thugs to ONLY keep him at like 30ppg instead of 35ppg(in comparison in todays era, Kobe/Lebron can sometimes struggle to go 25ppg in series). Youtube should have the 6 i mentioned AND most of these anyway if you search it well enough, mostly split into about 8/9 parts though.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot. Actually you're right, I should watch a documentary first and then the games you've mentioned will have a context to them.
 
MJ - though it was wonderful to see him in person playing for my team(Wizards) as opposed to watching him and the Bulls beat down on the Bullets(old name of the Wizards)...I still would have preferred he didn't sully his reputation with the 2nd comeback.

I forced my parents to buy me Air Jordans, every time a new one came out, and he was my 1st genuine sporting 'hero'.

Kobe, LeBron...not a patch on Jordan. One of the most driven basketball players of all time, and to think his high school coach thought he wasn't good enough(tall enough).
 
cj4_elmo said:
Technically the NBA has never acknowledged him as the logo, but the designer who designed the logo said West is the logo.

west.gif
Click to expand...

They should change the logo. The league is mostly black dudes. Doesn't represent the sport well enough.
 
Zen said:
Documentaries provide the story, without the story, the games don't mean as much in the longer season American sports.

But we'll try.

63pts vs the Celtics 1986
'The Shot' vs Cleveland 1989
Game 2 vs Lakers for the NBA Championship 1991
'The Flu Game' vs Utah Jazz 1997
'The Last Shot' vs Utah Jazz 1998

added bonus;

'40 at 40' vs New Jersey 2003.

Skips anything he did at MSG, rivalry vs the Pacers, games vs Barkley, and some of his stuff vs a Pistons team who basically played like thugs to ONLY keep him at like 30ppg instead of 35ppg(in comparison in todays era, Kobe/Lebron can sometimes struggle to go 25ppg in series). Youtube should have the 6 i mentioned AND most of these anyway if you search it well enough, mostly split into about 8/9 parts though.
Click to expand...

The Flu Game, in essence, is what MJ is all about. After the first half, I was pretty sure Bulls are going to lose that game. Jordan was sick, almost didn't make it to play at all, and there's a moment in the game where he threw up and could barely walk. The Bulls was 21 points behind at one point.

In the second half, Jordan played like a man possessed and end up with 38 points and win the game for Bulls. If you're looking for that Keane in Turin moment for Jordan, I'd say it was this game
 
Even if Kobe wins six rings, I don't think you can rank him next to Jordan as the game's greatest.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
One of the most iconic sportsman and famous people when I was growing up, except I knew or cared little about basketball. I've begun to take a very mild interest but I am interested in knowing about a modern day sportsman who was popular in my time and is considered the greatest ever in his sport.

I'm a big fan of Federer and Tendulkar. I find golf tedious and boring and formula one doesn't really fascinate me so I'm not really interested in digging deep into the careers of Tiger Woods and Schumacher. And I'm always trying to look into footage I can get of Maradona and will probably do so will Ali. Jordan, though, is a lot more recent and hence should be fairly accessible.

So, any basketball fans here who would like to give an account on him and possibly name the 5 games that would define his greatness for people like me to look into?

Note: Let's keep this to Jordan and not other sportsman I've mentioned.
Click to expand...

feck Schumacher, watch SENNA. Fantastic film about a legendary racing driver and man.
 
Chrisjn_ said:
feck Schumacher, watch SENNA. Fantastic film about a legendary racing driver and man.
Click to expand...

The same Senna that jumped from team to team when he knew the car wasn't a winner? As fast as Senna was, I put him in the same boat as Raikkonen in terms of developing a car. Fantastic driver, super fast, but he wasn't complete. Far from it. What Schumacher did was outstanding in his first career. Bar 92, 93, 96 and 05, he either was champion or took the title fight to the last round in full seasons. That my friend, is complete and utter dominance of the sport. Something the likes of Senna and Prost could only dream about.


Btw that movie is one of the most overrated piles of shit in cinema. Go and watch a fecking youtube clip and save yourself $20. It's good because its fast cars on the big screen, but the actual documentary is crap. It holds Senna in the highest regard racing wise, completely ignoring his biggest flaws, disregarding his massive charitable donations and life from 88 prior and blatantly making shit up ala the grid position debacle at Suzuka. One where they blatantly ripped footage from an entirely different race weekend and chopping it together to try and look genuine.
 
Snow said:
They should change the logo. The league is mostly black dudes. Doesn't represent the sport well enough.
Click to expand...

It's a silhouette, most people would think it's Jordan if they didn't know it was actually West. Don't see how it would affect the image of the game if they changed the logo anyway.

And West is arguably one of the few people who can make an legitimate argument to say he's the greatest of all time.
 
I don't think anyone looking at it could possibly think it's Jordan.....theres like zero resemblance. The lankiness just makes it only possible to be mistaken for a handful of players really.
 
Best ever. Any sport, nobody will ever make me think different.

Defining games?
Flu game
Last game as a Bulls player, the last three possessions there were all MJ. Scored a layup, stole the ball from Malone on defense and scored the game winner with a jumper. Greatness.
Have to mention the 63 points against the Celtics.
When he scored 49 against the Pistons in the 84-85 season. Called the revenge game for the freeze-out in the All-Star game by Isiah Thomas.
Scoring 69 points against the Cavs.
And many more.

One of my favorite memories is when I traveled to Washington with a couple of friends of mine to see MJ play for the Wizards at the age of 40. I was so glad to get the chance to see him in person since I hadn't been able to do so when he played for the Bulls. He scored 43 points and took 10 rebounds, there was a dunk, a circus shot and he hit the go-ahead basket to win the game as well. Perfect day.
 
i forgot which games cos they were long long time ago but two moments that i will tell anyone when we talked about basketball.
1) Jordan ducking under the outstretched arms of Patrick Ewing and scoring the basket. All this happened while he was in the air
2) Pippen missed his free throw but out of nowhere Jordan flies in and picked the ball and dunk it
 
LLMU said:
i forgot which games cos they were long long time ago but two moments that i will tell anyone when we talked about basketball.
1) Jordan ducking under the outstretched arms of Patrick Ewing and scoring the basket. All this happened while he was in the air
2) Pippen missed his free throw but out of nowhere Jordan flies in and picked the ball and dunk it
Click to expand...

He'd no left foot tho...
 
Zen said:
I don't think anyone looking at it could possibly think it's Jordan.....theres like zero resemblance. The lankiness just makes it only possible to be mistaken for a handful of players really.
Click to expand...

above in the thread


marchi-91 said:
For me, the greatest complement I can give him is that when I look at the NBA logo and I see the silhouette of the player, all I think is Jordan and that I guess, is the same for millions around the globe.
Click to expand...

Think he speaks for the average person, who don;t actually follow basketball, but know of Jordan. To them, when they see the logo, they immediately think of jordan. Hell, reckon most people who don't watch basketball would know what he looks like...
 
Have to agree cj4.. Jordan has become the face of Basketball for many people, not a bad thing if it gets people watching the game, but it there's other great players that folk should pay attention to, the likes of Larry Bird for instance & Ervin "Magic" Johnson were just two of many, that gave the NBA the profile it has today..
 
Yeah. I, for one, knew nothing about basketball when I was growing up but knew who Jordan was. Sadly, he was only the second most famous Michael in the world at the time. And they did a music video together as well didn't they?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.