Michael Jordan's first return to Bulls resulted in $1000 tickets, more than 10 times the original price

Michael Jordan had an illustrious NBA career, winning six championships, six Finals MVP award and putting his name in the conversation for the greatest player of all-time.

Throughout his career, he made headlines and stole the spotlight in every arena he played. After leading the Chicago Bulls to three straight titles (1991-1993), he announced his decision to retire.

In his two seasons out, between 1993-1995, the NBA ratings dipped. When he announced he would return, the media went into chaos. His first major game after his return was on March 28, 1995 vs the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Jordan was 2-2 in his previous four games, as only 11 days had passed since his return to the NBA. The game against the Knicks triggered an insane frenzy for fans, who wanted to watch Michael Jordan play at the Garden for the first time after his return.

"It was June all of a sudden, right in the middle of March," Chris Brienza, the Knicks' director of public relations at the time, said later.

Brienza issued credentials to some 325 members of the media (175 more than for a normal regular-season game) from a dozen countries, as per an excerpt from Sports Illustrated.

In addition to that, outside the Garden, the Bulls' team bus took 15 minutes to negotiate the half block from Seventh Avenue to the Garden's service entrance. Scalpers were able to sell tickets for lower box seats that were usually sold at around $95 for over $1,000.

At Gerry Cosby & Co., the sporting-goods store in the Garden concourse, clerks were selling number 45 jerseys right out of the boxes.

"All Bulls stuff is going again after being dead for a year and a half," Cosby's Jim Root said.

Michael Jordan didn't disappoint. He came in with a new jersey (No. 45) and went on to score 55 points (10/11 from the free-throw line, 3/4 from beyond the arc, 21/37 from the field) to lead the Bulls to a 113-111 win.

His 55 points against the Knicks were the most anyone had scored in the new Garden since it opened in 1968 and the highest total to that point in the NBA season.

Michael Jordan's return renewed Bulls-Knicks rivalry

Michael Jordan returned to the Chicago Bulls in March 1995, almost a year after the Bulls had been eliminated by the Knicks in the playoffs. He finished that season averaging 26.9 points per game and didn't play enough games to qualify for the scoring title.

That average would have been good for fourth. Shaquille O'Neal of the Orlando Magic led the league at 29.3 ppg.

His return renewed the rivalry between Chicago and New York, which started in the early 90s amid the Bulls' three-peat.

The two powerhouses faced each other in the 1991, 1992 and 1993 playoffs, where every series featured an incident with Michael Jordan at its center. It was headlined by his infamous gambling trip to Atlantic City prior to Game 2 in 1993.

The Bulls' route to each of their three crowns went through New York. In 1994, the Knicks finally beat Chicago and advanced to the NBA Finals.