Michael Jordan is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time, but FS1’s Nick Wright wants everyone to know he wasn’t perfect, like you might have been led to believe. Wright scoffed at suggestions that Jordan never had bad playoff moments on the latest episode of his What’s Wright? With Nick Wright podcast.
“The idea that Jordan never had bad playoff moments is, of course, laughable, but folks will consider it gospel,” Wright said. “… Fifth year in the playoffs, you’re up 2-1 on Detroit. This is the first one that you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, if this were LeBron [James], people would remember it more.’… Year 5, haven’t been to a Finals, have won a league MVP, you’re up 2-1 on Detroit in a home Game 4, you go 5-15.
“And then in the thing that people say Jordan would never do, ‘Oh, he would never shy from the moment,'” Wright continued. “In the critical Game 5 in Detroit, 4-8 from the field. 4-8. Detroit wins, and they win the next game. So again, those are little demerits if you will… The next year against Detroit, another critical Game 5, it’s Year 6. You still haven’t been to a Finals. You’re trying to get over the hump. It’s 2-2 in the series, 7-19, and you get blown out. You lose series in seven.”
These definitely weren’t great performances. The one that stands out is his 4-8 shooting night for the Chicago Bulls against the Detroit Pistons in Game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference Finals. It seems almost inconceivable that Jordan, the greatest scorer in the game, wouldn’t even attempt 10 field goals in a huge playoff game.
Wright claims Jordan shied away from the moment, but that’s not quite fair. He had torched the Pistons with 46 points in Game 3, and they were not going to allow him to beat them. They kept throwing multiple bodies at Jordan in Game 5, and instead of jacking up bad shots, he chose to be a playmaker.
Jordan finished the night with 18 points (4-8 FG), five rebounds, nine assists, and one steal as the Bulls lost 94-85. You could argue he still should have shot more, but any suggestions that the moment was too big for him is a bit much.
Wright wasn’t done just yet, though. He first acknowledged Jordan was incredible in the 1991 and 1992 playoffs, as the Bulls won it all. In 1993, though, there was one bad performance that doesn’t get talked about a lot today.
“It’s hard to find a bad playoff moment until we get to the game that is lost to history,” Wright said. “And this is the one that I just can’t get over because The Last Dance tricked you on it. So if you watched The Last Dance right before Jordan retired the first time, they are going for their third straight title.
“They have lost back-to-back games to the Knicks, and MJ in those two games shot 37% from the field in both,” Wright continued. “They are down 0-2. Jordan is talking about all of the scrutiny and pressure, and he is getting killed in the media because he was in Atlantic City gambling all night, okay?
“They go back to Chicago,” Wright continued. “They are down 0-2. Their season is on the line. And Michael Jordan goes 3-18, but they win ’cause [Scottie] Pippen’s unbelievable, and in the next game he scores 54… The Last Dance made you think they’re down 0-2, he’s getting killed for gambling all night, and then drops the 54 points. That’s not what happened.”
Now, this one is definitely fair. The Bulls were in must-win territory heading into Game 3 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks. They needed some Jordan magic, and he put up 22 points (3-18 FG), eight rebounds, 11 assists, two steals, and two blocks. He almost got a triple-double, but that was a horrific shooting night.
Fortunately for the Bulls, Scottie Pippen put up 29 points (10-12 FG), four rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Had Pippen not stepped up, they might not have three-peated.
While Wright pointed all this out, he believes Jordan was at his worst in the 1995 playoffs when the Bulls lost to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. He had just come out of retirement for the first time in 1995, but he isn’t getting a pass for that.
“The real answer is twofold on did Jordan have rough playoff moments,” Wright said. “The real answer is when he came back from baseball, the series against the Magic, he was not good. And people thought the Bulls were going to win that series. He had a 40-point game in that series and another 38-point game early in that series.
“And then at the tail end of that series, he was not good,” Wright continued. “And in the game they got eliminated he was outright bad. He had a half dozen turnovers, he was 8-19 from the field. He got stripped at the end, and they lost.”
Wright also brought up Jordan not being great over the final three games of the 1996 NBA Finals against the Seattle SuperSonics. He averaged 23.7 points on just 36.7% shooting from the field after the SuperSonics decided to have Gary Payton guard him after Game 3, but the damage was already done. The Bulls had won the first three games and ended up winning in six.
Wright admits Jordan never had a playoff series as bad as LeBron James in the 2011 NBA Finals, but he isn’t interested in hearing that he never had bad moments.
