A lot of things have been said about Michael Jordan and his greatness, but there are facts about the GOAT that will blow everybody’s minds in just one second. Jordan won six titles shared in two three-peats, racked up plenty of individual honors and more.
However, it’s crazy to see how people tend to underestimate how good he was when his level was apparently decreasing. Comparisons are hateful, but that’s exactly what we’re seeing with LeBron James this season with the Lakers.
Back in 1998, when he was in the middle of his 30s, Jordan was still balling and that NBA season is the biggest proof of that. For instance, he won the NBA title, earned his fifth MVP award, the Finals MVP, was called to the All-Star Game as well as making the All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team for the ninth time in his career.
He even broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA record by scoring in double digits for the 788th straight game by scoring 33 points while averaging 28.7 points per game, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
Yet, the most memorable thing he did was leading a diminished squad to win a championship. To put things into perspective, during that season Dennis Rodman only started in 9 playoff games of the 21 the Bulls played. The big man wasn’t playing at his best level and that was very visible during that year, as he barely averaged 3 points per outing in the Finals.
Moreover, Scottie Pippen only played 44 games that campaign and his participation in the Finals wasn’t as good as expected, scoring 15 points per game during that series.
Jordan carried this team all the way to the Finals against the Utah Jazz, winning the series in 6 games, with the player having a stellar role hitting a last-second jumper with only 6.6 seconds left on the clock. It looks like goats are ageless, as MJ showed every time that he’s not normal.
This has to be one of the most successful seasons individually speaking for a major sporting league competitor.
