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After the Chicago Bulls won their third consecutive championship in 1993, a whirlwind of events occurred in the life of Michael Jordan. Her father, James Jordan was tragically killed in July 1993, and then, three months later, M.J. He shocked the world when he announced his retirement from the NBA, citing his lack of motivation and his father’s death as reasons why he wanted to walk away.
Jordan spent the next year and a half trying his luck in a baseball career., as a member of the Birmingham Barons, the Double A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. The Bulls legend finally wanted to return to the NBA, and he did it on March 19, 1995 on the road against Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers. However, when he went to the court that night at Market Square Arena, he was not wearing the widely recognized number 23 that had become synonymous with his name. Instead, Jordan was wearing number 45. In the next Sunday episode of “The Last Dance”, Jordan explains why.
“I didn’t want to go to number 23 because I knew my father was not there to look at me and I felt it was a new beginning,” Jordan said. “And 45 was my first number when I played in high school.”
As fans crowded into the arena in Indianapolis that night, trying to catch a glimpse of Air Jordan for the first time since it lifted its third championship trophy in 1993, Jordan was dealing with a surge of excitement. This was the first game he would play without his father, and it was also his first game after an early retirement.
“I was nervous because I hadn’t played competitively in a long time, and I felt naked because my father wasn’t there,” said Jordan. “It just seemed very different.”
Despite all anticipations of Jordan’s return, that night did not end on a positive note. He finished with 19 points on 7-of-28 from the field in a 103-96 overtime loss to Indiana. Nine days later, Jordan had his highest-scoring game at Madison Square Garden when he lost 55 points, now known as the “Double Nickel Game,” while wearing the number 45. It was a return to form for the Bulls legend. , and he did it on the biggest stage of professional basketball.
Jordan proceeded to wear No. 45 for the remainder of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs against the Charlotte Hornets. However, when he reached the conference semifinals, against the Orlando Magic and his former teammate Horace Grant, things changed.
In Game 1 of that series, the Magic resembled the top team. Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson and Grant outscored the Bulls, but the Bulls were able to maintain a late lead. Chicago was 91-90 with 22 seconds remaining, and when M.J. was picking up the ball, Anderson took his pocket, prompting the Magic to take a one-point lead. On the Bulls’ next possession, Jordan turned the ball over, effectively securing the game for Orlando.
After that game, Anderson became overconfident. Grant retells the story in the documentary, citing Anderson for saying “45 is not 23,” and noting that Jordan did not have the same explosion he had before retiring. Now if there is one thing we know about M.J., it is that he will use any little pun to motivate him to destroy the opposition. However, that’s exactly what happened in Game 2. Not before changing his jersey number to 23, resulting in a $ 25,000 fine from the league.
However, it didn’t matter. Jordan proceeded to set the Magic on fire for 38 points to lure the Bulls even into the series. He slashed Orlando’s defense on every trip to the ground and ended the game with four blocks, including a pair in a young Shaq. After that game, Bulls coach Phil Jackson summed up Jordan’s performance and why the jersey changed perfectly.
“I was responding to comments that he is not the same 23-year-old,” Jackson said through the New York Times. “I think that was his answer. ‘OK, look at this.’ That’s my opinion. Michael said he was hitting .202 with No. 45 on his back in baseball, and I said, ‘You’re also shooting at it. percentage. It’s time for you to go back to 23. ‘ “
While Jordan and the Bulls lost that series in six games, that loss to Orlando served as fuel for M.J. come back even better. The fact that he was even able to play at the level he was performing at after having played baseball for a year and a half, is just another testament to the ethical value and raw talent that Jordan possessed.
However, anything less than first place was not what he wanted. Jordan’s personal trainer Tim Grover detailed in episode 7 of the documentary how committed M.J. to get back in shape in basketball for next season as soon as the final buzzer sounded in Game 6 of the series against the Magic.
“After the season, there is usually a period of time where Michael takes time off,” Grover said. “The night they lost to Orlando, I said, ‘Michael, I’m about to get out of here, let me know when you want me to see you.'” He says, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Michael had an obligation to himself, the fans, his teammates, the organization, his family, everyone. He said if you are going to sit down and take three hours of your day to see me on TV, I have an obligation to give you my best all the time. “
His best is exactly what we got the following season. When Jordan returned for the 1995-96 season, he won his fourth league MVP trophy and led the Bulls to a record 72-10 season. Not to mention, the start of the second Chicago trike began. His uneven return in ’95, and the Bulls’ subsequent loss to Orlando in the second round of the playoffs, clearly served as a motivation for M.J. became the best player in the league again.
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