Michael Jordan was a cold-blooded killer on the court who relished in ripping the hearts out of opposing players and fans alike. Jordan’s incredible career accomplishments have led to him being widely regarded as the greatest player in NBA history, and it was quite evident early on in his career that there was something different about this guy.
As a rookie, Jordan averaged 28.2 points per game which remains the sixth-highest scoring average for a first-year player. He also won Rookie of the Year in the process in what was just the first of countless accolades he would receive throughout his career.
Michael Jordan Once Revealed That He Couldn’t Do Anything On The Court When He Played Against Julius Erving
While he was proving to be dominant as a rookie, there were a couple of times that even someone like MJ was unable to do anything on the court. It didn’t have anything to do with some great game planning from his opposition, though, as he was just starstruck when going up against his idol Julius Erving. Jordan revealed in his book “For The Love Of The Game” that he had too much admiration for Dr. J.
via Philstar:
In his book “For the Love of the Game”, Jordan said, “When I came into the league (NBA), I wasn’t nearly as enamored with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as I was with Julius Erving. As a kid, my first nickname was ‘Magic’, but the only player I really knew about was Dr. J.”
“I had a couple of good games against Philadelphia during my first season,” added Jordan, “but I couldn’t do anything when I was matched up with Julius because I had so much admiration for him. I was just happy to be on the same floor.”
In the same way that so many players like Kobe Bryant looked up to Jordan, players of MJ’s generation often looked up to Erving, who was probably the biggest icon during the time. MJ really wasn’t able to do much, as he himself admits, and the first two times he played against the Sixers, he averaged 15 points, which was well below what he averaged for the season.
In fact, two of his four lowest-scoring games that season came against the Sixers, which shows how much MJ was being affected because of having to play against his idol. Jordan being Jordan, though, was able to play through it eventually, and he averaged 36.3 points in his last 3 games against the Sixers that season, with Erving playing two of those. Erving also spoke once about going up against a young MJ and said that he knew Jordan was going to carry the torch, which he certainly did.
