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They say pressure bursts pipes. When the lights get brighter, the palms become sweatier and the back tightens up as you start feeling the gravitas of the moment. Not for Michael Jordan. MJ thrives off of these moments, these games. In fact, he gets better. The bigger the moment, the bigger the performances from His Airness.
Michael Jordan, en route to six championships with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s had some of the most incredible playoff games of all time. Along with Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson, the Bulls would punish teams at home and on the road. The mere fact that none of the six NBA Finals the Bulls won have ever gone the distance is a testament to the greatness of Jordan and company.
For his career, Michael Jordan averaged 30.1 points per game. But there have been five playoff series where MJ averaged more than 40 points per game. That's right, 40!
Below, we look at the five series where MJ was shooting lights out and averaged more than 40 points per game.
#5. 1993 NBA Finals vs the Phoenix Suns - 41 points per game
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls came into the 1992-93 season hoping to three-peat for the very first time. They were up against the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals, and as king of the mountain, all eyes of the basketball world were trained on MJ. His Airness showed up big time by averaging 41 points, 6.3 assists, and 8.5 rebounds while shooting over 50% from the field and 40% from range.
The Chicago Bulls won the first two games on the road at Phoenix thanks to MJ having 31 and 42 points respectively. Looking to wrap things up at home, the Bulls fell to a 129-121 loss in Game 3. But come Game 4, His Airness once again showed why he is widely considered to be the greatest of all time with a 55-point performance on better than 56% shooting from the field. The Bulls went on to win the series in six games.
#4. 1990 Eastern Conference Semifinals vs the Philadelphia 76ers - 43 points per game
Michael Jordan averaged 43 points, 7.4 assists, and 6.6 rebounds while shooting over 54% from the field and nearly 40% from downtown against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Bulls won the series in five games, with Jordan's best performance coming in a Game 4 win on the road where His Airness poured in 45 points.
Unfortunately, MJ and company would go on to lose to the Detroit Pistons in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals. With the Pistons holding home-court advantage, the Bulls fought bravely to take the series to seven games. MJ averaged over 32 points per game in that series.
#3. 1986 Eastern Conference First Round vs the Boston Celtics - 43.7 points per game
Arguably the greatest playoff performance of Michael Jordan's career took place in this series against the Boston Celtics. It was Game 2 and MJ came out looking like a man possessed. His Airness had 63 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals while shooting 53% from the field and over 90% from the free throw line, all while playing over 50 minutes that night.
The entire NBA took notice of this 23-year-old from North Carolina. Larry Bird said, "I think he's God disguised as Michael Jordan". A statement like that, coming from someone who was arguably the best player on the planet at the time, spoke volumes of the greatness Michael Jordan possessed. However, the night ended in defeat as the Celtics won by 4 points and they proceeded to wrap up the series in the next game.
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#2. 1992 Eastern Conference First Round vs the Miami Heat - 45 points per game
Michael Jordan averaged 45 points, 6.7 assists and 9.7 rebounds while shooting over 60% from the field against the Miami Heat. Jordan's Bulls swept the Heat in three games and eventually went on to repeat as champions. He shot over 90% from the free-throw line and played nearly 40 minutes a night.
But his best game of the series was saved for last. In Game 3, with the Bulls looking to wrap up proceedings, Michael Jordan had 56 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocks while shooting better than 66% from the field. It went down as one of the greatest performances of Michael Jordan's illustrious career.
#1. 1988 Eastern Conference First Round vs the Cleveland Cavaliers - 45.2 points per game
Still in search of his elusive first NBA Championship, Michael Jordan was a man on a mission and nobody was going to get in his way. His Airness immediately let the Cleveland Cavaliers know that he was here to win. Jordan dropped 50 points in Game 1 as the Bulls emerged victorious, 104-93 and had the best performance of the series in Game 2 where he dropped 55 points on better than 53% shooting from the field.
Michael Jordan and company proceeded to beat the Cavs in five games and played the Detroit Pistons in the second round. But that was the end of the road for Jordan and the Bulls as they were beaten up (quite literally) in five games by the "Bad Boys" Detroit Pistons.
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