1994-1995 REGULAR SEASON
With baseball on hold because of a player strike, Jordan began to
consider a return to the NBA, and by late winter rumors were
flying that he would rejoin the Bulls in time for the playoffs.
Chicago was puttering along with a 34-31 record when Jordan took
the floor for the club on March 19 against the Indiana Pacers. He
scored 19 points in that game but looked a little rusty. Jordan
hit for 27 points three nights later against the Boston Celtics,
scored 21 against the Orlando Magic on March 24, and then popped
in 32 against the Atlanta Hawks the following night. On March 29
he showed that his skills were undiminished with a memorable
55-point performance against the Knicks in New York. With Jordan
back for the final 17 games of the regular season, the Bulls went
13-4 to finish at 47-35 overall. He led the team in scoring in 11
of those games, topped the club in assists four times, and led
the Bulls in rebounding on six occasions. He finished with
averages of 26.9 points, 5.3 assists, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.76
steals in 39.3 minutes per game. Jordan struggled from the field,
however, shooting just .411. The Bulls drew the Charlotte Hornets
as opponents in the opening round of the postseason. Jordan
kicked off the playoffs by scoring 48 points in Game 1, then
followed that up with a 32-point performance in Game 2. The Bulls
eliminated Charlotte in four games as Jordan averaged 32.3 points
per outing in the series. In Chicago's second-round matchup with
the Orlando Magic he scored 38 points in Game 2, 40 in Game 3,
and 39 in Game 5, but the Bulls fell in six games. In 10
postseason games he averaged 31.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 4.5
assists, but he also coughed up 4.1 turnovers per contest.
1993-1994 REGULAR SEASON
After winning his third straight NBA title with the Chicago Bulls
in 1992-93, Jordan had a tough offseason that reached its nadir
when his father, James Jordan, was murdered in North Carolina. On
October 6, just one day before the start of training camp, Jordan
stunned the basketball world by announcing his retirement. He
left holding the highest career scoring average in NBA history at
32.3 points per game. After much speculation about his plans,
Jordan returned to the spotlight in a baseball uniform. He spent
the 1994 baseball season playing for the Birmingham Barons, an
affiliate of the Chicago White Sox in the Class AA Southern
League. An adequate outfielder, he hit .202 in 127 games,
striking out 114 times in 436 at bats. Jordan belted 3 home runs,
collected 51 RBIs, and stole 30 bases. He also led all Southern
League outfielders with 11 errors.
1992-1993 REGULAR SEASON
The extraordinary had long since become commonplace for Jordan
and the Bulls. Chicago posted its fourth straight 50-win season
and took another division title in 1992-93 as Jordan averaged
32.6 points to claim his seventh straight scoring title and tie
Wilt Chamberlain for most consecutive scoring crowns. He led the
league in steals for the third time in his career, and he earned
a seventh straight appointment to the All-NBA First Team and a
sixth straight appointment to the NBA All-Defensive First Team.
He scored 30 points at the All-Star Game, giving him a career
All-Star Game average of 22.1 points per game, the highest in NBA
history. Among a slew of fine single-game performances, Jordan
scored 54 points against the Los Angeles Lakers in November,
scorched the Washington Bullets for 57 in December, victimized
the Orlando Magic for 64 in January, and then racked up 52 in
March against the Charlotte Hornets. He also reached a milestone
by scoring the 20,000th point of his NBA career. In the
postseason the Bulls got by the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland
Cavaliers in the first two rounds without a loss. After dropping
the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals to the New
York Knicks, Chicago came back to take four straight and win the
series. The Bulls defeated the Phoenix Suns in six games in the
NBA Finals to nail down a third consecutive title. Jordan was
named Finals MVP once again after averaging 41.0 points against
the Suns to set an NBA Finals record.
1991-1992 REGULAR SEASON
Chicago waltzed through the regular season in 1991-92, winning 67
games as Jordan reprised his previous season's performance. He
won a second straight MVP Award, was named to the All-Star squad
for the eighth year in a row, ran his streak of All-NBA First
Team selections to six years and his string of NBA All-Defensive
First Team selections to five, and was once again the league's
leading scorer, at 30.1 points per game. He started the season by
scoring 40 or more points in three of the Bulls' first four
games, and he led the club in scoring in 69 contests during the
year. The Bulls posted the best record in the NBA by a margin of
10 games but had a tougher time in the postseason than the
previous year. After sweeping the Miami Heat, they fought the New
York Knicks for seven games before taking the semifinals series.
The conference finals matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers lasted
six contests. The Bulls then faced Portland in the NBA Finals and
came away with a second straight title when they downed the Trail
Blazers, 97-93, in Game 6. Jordan was the Finals MVP once again
after averaging 34.5 points in 22 postseason contests. After the
season, he played for the U.S. Dream Team at the Olympic Games
and claimed his second gold medal.
1990-1991 REGULAR SEASON
Jordan added the only important item missing from his basketball
resume when he guided the Bulls to an NBA Championship in
1990-91. During the regular season the Bulls won a club-record 61
contests to take the Central Division by 11 games. An All-Star
and a member of both the All-NBA First Team and the NBA
All-Defensive First Team, Jordan also won the league MVP Award
for the second time in his career. With a regular-season scoring
average of 31.5 points per game, he picked up his fifth straight
scoring title as he topped 40 points in a game 11 times. He
averaged 6.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists and ranked third in the
league in steals at 2.72 per game. The Bulls waltzed through the
postseason, sweeping the New York Knicks in the opening round,
cruising past the Philadelphia 76ers with only one loss in the
conference semifinals, and then sweeping the archrival Detroit
Pistons in four games in the Eastern Conference Finals. After
losing Game 1 of the NBA Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers, the
Bulls won the next four contests to claim their first-ever title.
Jordan averaged 31.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 8.4 assists during
the team's postseason ride. He also earned the NBA Finals MVP
Award.
1989-1990 REGULAR SEASON
Phil Jackson took over as head coach of the Bulls for the 1989-90
season, and everything started to click for Chicago. The Bulls
put together a 55-27 record, the club's best showing since it had
gone 57-24 under Dick Motta in 1971-72. Jordan was his usual
dominating self at both ends of the court, leading the NBA in
scoring (33.6 ppg) and steals (2.77 per game). He set a personal
best when he scored 69 points in a 117-113 overtime win against
the Cleveland Cavaliers. He also emerged as a legitimate threat
from beyond the three-point arc, posting a .376 percentage-100
percentage points above his previous career high-while hitting 92
long-range shots, compared with 68 in his first five seasons
combined. A member of the All-Star Team once again, Jordan was
also picked for the All-NBA First Team and the NBA All-Defensive
First Team. In the postseason the Bulls got past the Milwaukee
Bucks and the Philadelphia 76ers in the first two rounds but fell
to the Detroit Pistons in seven games in the Eastern Conference
Finals. Jordan averaged 36.7 points in 16 playoff games.
1988-1989 REGULAR SEASON
In 1988-89 Jordan turned in possibly the best all-around
performance of his career. The league's leading scorer once again
at 32.5 points per game, he finished 10th in the NBA in assists
with a career-high 8.0 per outing and also set a career high by
pulling down 8.0 rebounds per contest. He ranked third in the
league in steals at 2.89 per game. On January 25 he scored the
10,000th point of his career. Named to the East All-Star Team for
the fifth straight year, Jordan scored 28 points in 33 minutes of
action. His postseason honors included membership on the All-NBA
First Team and the NBA All-Defensive First Team and selection as
Player of the Year by The Sporting News. The Bulls slipped a bit
in the regular season, posting a 47-35 record, 3 fewer wins than
the season before. But after squeezing by the Cleveland Cavaliers
in five games in the opening round of the playoffs, the Bulls
ousted the New York Knicks in the conference semifinals and
advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for only the third time
in team history. They fell to the Detroit Pistons in six games.
Jordan averaged 34.8 points in 17 postseason games. In the
pivotal Game 5 of Chicago's first-round series against Cleveland,
Jordan hit a memorable buzzer-beating jumper over Craig Ehlo to
bring the Bulls from a 100-99 deficit to a 101-100 victory.
1987-1988 REGULAR SEASON
The Bulls added two talented rookies in 1987-88, drafting Horace
Grant and trading for Scottie Pippen. The new blood helped lift
Chicago to a 50-32 record, the team's best result since the
1974-75 season. Jordan led the club in scoring in 81 of 82
regular-season games and topped 40 points on 18 occasions.
Equally remarkable, he failed to reach 20 points only three times
during the year. He won every major honor, including Most
Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, selection to the
All-NBA First Team, selection to the All-Defensive First Team, an
All-Star Game MVP Award (after scoring 40 points), and the NBA
Slam-Dunk Championship. He led the league in scoring with 35.0
points per game and in steals with 3.16 per contest. Chicago
advanced past the first round of the playoffs for the first time
in seven seasons, besting the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games
in the first round before falling to the Detroit Pistons in five
games in the conference semifinals. Jordan set a playoff record
for field goals made in a game with 24 against Cleveland on May
1, and he established another mark in the same game by attempting
25 shots against the Cavs in a single half. In 10 playoff games
he averaged 36.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.7 assists.
1986-1987 REGULAR SEASON
In 1986-87 Jordan began a string of consecutive NBA scoring
titles that would last for seven seasons until his surprise
temporary retirement in 1993. He scored a career-high 37.1 points
per game and became the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to
top 3,000 points in a season. In November and December he went on
a rampage and rang up 40 points or more in nine straight games.
He poured in 58 points against the New Jersey Nets on February
26, then toasted the Atlanta Hawks for 61 on April 16 in a game
in which he sank an NBA-record 23 points in a row. Jordan also
became the first player in league history to record 200 steals
and 100 blocked shots in a season. He played in the All-Star
Game, won the Slam-Dunk Championship, and was named to the
All-NBA First Team. Despite Jordan's all-world performance, the
Bulls still couldn't break above the .500 mark. They slipped a
notch in the Central Division, finishing fifth with a 40-42
record, and drew Boston in the first round of the playoffs. For
the second straight year the Celtics sent the Bulls home with a
three-game sweep. Jordan averaged 35.7 points but shot just .417
from the field in that series.
1985-1986 REGULAR SEASON
Three games into the 1985-86 season, Jordan went down with a
broken bone in his left foot. He was sidelined for 64 games
before returning in mid-March. Without Jordan for most of the
campaign, the Bulls won only 30 games but still managed to snag a
playoff berth. In 18 regular-season games Jordan averaged 22.7
points, 2.9 assists, and 3.6 rebounds, all career lows. He was
voted to the All-Star squad but was unable to play because of the
injury. With a spectacular three-game outburst in the Bulls'
opening-round playoff loss to Boston, Jordan showed that he had
completely recovered. In Game 2 he scored a playoff-record 63
points in Chicago's double-overtime 135-131 loss to the Celtics.
He averaged an astonishing 43.7 points for the three-game series.
1984-1985 REGULAR SEASON
Jordan came into the NBA after an outstanding three-year career
at North Carolina. As a freshman, he hit the jump shot that gave
the Tar Heels the NCAA Championship in 1982. He was College
Player of the Year in 1984. Jordan averaged 17.7 points in three
seasons before declaring himself eligible for the NBA draft after
his junior year. The Chicago Bulls took him with the No. 3
overall pick. (Houston took Hakeem Olajuwon with the first pick,
while Portland drafted Sam Bowie at No. 2.) Between his college
and pro careers, he was co-captain and star of the
gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic basketball team in 1984. Jordan
joined a club that had finished at 27-55 the previous season and
had been led in scoring by Quintin Dailey. Jordan lifted the team
to a 38-44 record and a playoff berth for the first time since
1981. Voted a starter in the 1985 All-Star Game, he scored 7
points in 22 minutes. On February 12 he set a club single-game
rookie record by pouring in 49 points against the Detroit
Pistons. He finished the season with a scoring average of 28.2
points per game (third in the league behind the New York Knicks'
Bernard King and the Boston Celtics' Larry Bird) and set Chicago
single-season records for points (2,313), field goals (837), free
throws (630), free-throw attempts (746), and steals (196). It all
added up to an NBA Rookie of the Year Award, a slot on the NBA
All-Rookie Team, and a selection to the All-NBA Second Team.
After finishing fourth in the Central Division, the Bulls faced
the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs and fell
in four games. Jordan averaged 29.3 points in the series.