Michael Jordan changed the NBA when he missed on purpose.
Athletes have been chasing his ghost for years
But one night in 1996, Michael Jordan missed a free throw on purpose in crunch time in a crucial game 4 in the playoffs.
No it was not to get the rebound and put back, and it was genius.
Michael Jordan is possibly the greatest scorer of all time, 10 scoring titles, most points in a single playoff run so even players at the game were confused
so how do we get here? I’m going to break down the 3 steps to Jordan’s master plan and how it completely changed the NBA as we know it.
To understand how, we need to understand what was on the line.
And this was piece #1, Jordan left basketball at the top of the game.
And that’s Piece #2, the 1995 Playoffs were a wake up call to the NBA.
One extremely crucial piece of information to understand what happens next is that Jordan is wearing no. 45, not no. 23. Number 23 has a lot of significance now. It’s what LeBron chose to wear because he was inspired by Michael Jordan. It’s all over Jordan’s shoes. The number 23 has soaked in that Jordan aura and has aura itself.
But it’s still Jordan right? Donovan Mitchell wears 45 because of Jordan too so it can’t just be for nothing?
Game 1 starts and this is what Brian Shaw who was on that Magic team, was thinking at the time
And in the final 4 minutes, it’s a one point game
Now the Magic were doubling Jordan. They were selling out.
But Jordan couldn’t score.
The game would be close down to the last shot. The Bulls up 91-90, Jordan brings up the ball and
The Bulls were unable to come up with anything in the last 6 seconds and the Magic would win the game. Jordan had choked, something that no one had really seen.
Jordan went 8 of 22 for the game with 19 points, disappointing for him, Scottie only had 7 points on 2 of 11 shooting. It was a disaster.
And Nick Anderson who had been on the recieving end of many Jordan performances, feeling Jordan wasn’t invincible anymore.
Leading to the one night.
In the playoffs, the Bulls would meet the Magic again, this time in the Eastern conference finals. The Magic wanted to make up for their finals loss last year and the Bulls wanted to prove that they were the better team retooled with Dennis Rodman and finally an in shape, league MVP Jordan.
The series starts and the Bulls came out swinging, winning by 38. Jordan scores 35 the next game, the Bulls win a close game, then the next, and the Bulls are on the verge of sweeping the Magic, but then came the one night forgotten about by many, but not by the players.
On May 27, 1996, Game 4 starts. And the Magic get off to a good start, leading by 8 at the end of the first despite Jordan making his first 5 shots.
This was not a Magic team accepting defeat.
But Jordan was on a mission making tough shots like this.
Jordan had 37 points heading into the last 5 minutes of the game.
Jordan hits this jumper to make it 100 to 91, a 9 point lead with a minute and half, a dagger of sorts. He has 45 points and gets fouled at the end of the game . Darnell Armstrong who was on the Magic recaps it the best.
Michael Jordan misses both free throws at the end of the game to leave 45 points on the board in a close out game to show the Magic that 45 really could be special. 23 was 45.
And the Magic players received the message. A message that was one year in the making, a message to the rest of the players in the league that the invincible Jordan was back.