Bulls vs. Pistons 1984-85 - Rookie Jordan saves the day

[marscter564]

damn he looks so young

[edua12o]

michael jordan the best forever, extraordinary player and athlete

[bran1226]

Jordan's rookie stats: 28.2 ppg, 5.9 ast, 6.5 rbs, 51 fg%, players today in their prime can't even match that!

[thettruest]

1:20, exactly wut the commentators sed. Such a fuckin BEAST.

[Battle5star]

No specific center was named. It just had to do with the fact that back then everyone was stuck on the notion that you had to have a strong center to win. The commentators did come to their senses and concluded that Jordan was too valuable.

[Battle5star]

I have this game. The commentator actually discussed whether or not the Bulls should trade Jordan for a center.

[idster7]

@Battle5star are you serious????? what center??? & what was the justification?

[leols1]

lol, what a pleasure to watch old nba flicks. there was so much more passion. So much so, they had fights as if they where family members. the defense was so much more intense. not like todays weak sauce, ppfft cant even hand check anymore.

[kspaintballer93]

lol top rebounder on his team, hes a shooting guard

[dbone024]

lol, look at Lambeers fatass flapping all over the place.

[waihong001]

if jordan missed any of the last free throws, they would go overtime

[WhenDisastersAttacks]

1;25 , , the commentator says " HANG ABILITY" , , TRUE!!!

[throttle217]

Anyone who thinks Kobe is in any way comparable to Jordan should watch this vid. What help did mike have in those days? None!!! and yet he not only excelled, he transcended a whole league. Don't know of anyone other player that has put the body of work into the game that mike has.

[Raford146]

Isiah averaged 14 assists per game that year.

[chitownboricua32]

what player makes announcers just nut on themselves like at 1:06?

[Bigturns33]

lol i hear ya i was crackin up listening. Jordan unreal his strength even that small because of his speed was just insane.

[chrisuncleahmad]

Ironic this came against Detroit before they became the Bad Boys.

In those days, Detroit was a run-and-gun team.

[bondboy67]

I still can't believe the trailblazers took sam bowie

[proken58]

Portland really, really needed a center that year.  They were OK at guard.

[bondboy67]

You are defending the Sam Bowie Pick. I can understand Houston picking Akeem the dream. Portland picking bowie made Portland ordinary for years. Bobby Knight said it best . When the head coaches and the gm asked him who to pick. He said if you need a center or a forward pick Jordan. Knight saw Jordan during the 84 olympics and thought that jordan wand fundamentally unbelievable thats before jordan was scoring at an incredible rate.

[Bigturns33]

Dean Smith even said we didnt really teach michael anything he just came back better and better, defensivly on his own got better, offensivly just kept getting better, we knew he jsut worked so hard on his own didnt have to say anything to him.

[metaphoria3]

i cant believe his defender was awarded with cheering after allowing only 30 points to Jordan against a prideful defense. amazing.

[romadkern]

lol did the aunouncer say "nonmalested shot" at the end ??

[YellowMK2T]

"Hangability"!!

That's Air Jordan baby

[RRdaKing23]

hangability lol i gotta use that

[ssgoku003]

God!!I miss those days!

[MidaVeel]

Thanks alot for doing such a hard, but interesting work here. Cool to watch these more than 20 years later.

[zoklo666]

he's like the Mario Lemieux of basketball

[jmralcazar]

GREATEST EVER OF ALL TIME By acclamation the greatest ever, for ever. The Greatest there ever will be.

[TheMaku]

announcers sound like they're having orgasms

[fats0112]

thats sick 28 points per game only as a rookie.

[mnkhan2020]

thats 28.2 ppg of 1985 = 34 ppg of 2008. Today's piss poor video game defense NBA era, rookie MJ will shit on it . easily add 5-6 ppg cuz rookie MJs shooting pct will shoot up to 54%.

[ddenuci]

Wait a minute, how did you come up with that extrapolation ? In 1984-85 season, teams averaged 110.8ppg. Today, teams average 100ppg. If anything, Jordan's 1984-85 average would translate to a lower average in 2009.

[mnkhan2020]

Better skilled players, much better shot selection, much better passing game lead to much higher team averages despite having much more physical defense back then. Not like today where everyone stands at 3-pt line to jack up 3s & miss them.

Fuck this european sissy defense talent & lack of NCAA fundamental teaching thanks fo straight from high school to pro players.

[ddenuci]

Mnkhan: Agree 100% that the game has been slowed down intentionally, and that the 3-point line has had a negative effect on the flow of the game.

[logann]

You do realize that there is a three point line in the game in this video, right?

[AIRTIGHT31]

Talk about fukin LEADERSHIP. Lead his team in every stat as a rookie!

[brokenmonkey000]

hoopsencyclopedia= the greatest Jordan Fan of all time

[balleralm0916]

LOL, IDK bout that. I'd say "hoopsencyclopedia = the guy with the biggest ass collection of MJ vids." And also a HUGE fan. Me too though...

[peteandjordanlover09]

shut up hoops is the greatest Jordan fan of all time ask any question about him he would know of Jordan he will give u the answer

[nightfirexxx12]

jordan= the greatest player of all time

[McCainis4me]

Love those old school Bulls jerseys with the numbers on the left side! Wish they would bring back the script CHICAGO on the road jerseys!

[JCR1992]

hell yeah those were the shit

[scottreynolds74]

Even from this short clip you can see how much better the NBA was in general compared to now. Granted there are 2 elite hall of fame players playing in this game, but still... I miss those Bad Boys/Bulls battles.

[crb4059]

Cool that orlando Magic is named after orlando Woolridge!

[threeby8887]

Notice that the players who were involved in the fight even helped each other up afterward, like it was no big deal. And I remember that at that time, fights were at least a weekly occurence in the NBA.

[grooveskin]

superman in 80's superman inthe 90's nuff said!

[thestreetprophet]

damn he was so good! I nearly stopped watching basketball after he retired from the bulls the second time, there was no point in watching!

[thestreetprophet]

damn he used to play fast when he was young...he is the best ever!!

[at1212b]

That fake left then right at the baseline is unbelievable. My eyes almost popped out due to the dizzing speed!

[Beatdoze]

The nba is not what it used to be not because of the players but of the gay refs that stay blowin the whistle

[Beatdoze]

do u think refs called moving screens back in the day hell no these refs are gay they destroy the best plays of the game swallow ya whistle chumps

[mrobinstone]

jordan his airness!!!!

[Beatdoze]

the problem with todays game is not the players its the terrible officials that blow the whistle every fuckin 2 seconds

Is it that difficult to jus Let em play u cant do shyt on the court now without the refs stopping play

Wat is david stern an idiot or somethin every play is like a fuckin travel now shyt

[hooperX101]

yeah, but what's so agonizing about that is you'll see a couple of minutes of good NBA basketball and then a ticky tack call on one end (spurs) and then a hard, clear foul on the other end (any team they play) and no call

I know I'm hatin on the spurs, but I do see that a lot during the game. I think that can also be said about LeBron James.

[Beatdoze]

i swear the nba has the worst officials out of all sports they miss the most calls as if their blind and then they make phantom calls that didnt happen its a shame really the way they call palming and traveling violations on moves that are to quick for there old ass to see nba refs are terrible

[hooperX101]

exactly. they need to make a change

[marqymarq1]

DAMN HIS FORM WAS UGLY HIS ROOKIE YEAR

[celenas77]

Well, DAMN I WISH MY FORM WAS AS UGLY SO I COULD WIN ROOKIE OF THE YEAR!

[susuairj]

thank you for posting, the pre-championship era of jordan is simply amazing to watch!!

[DoctorJ82]

This is the beginning of MJ's Kingdom! Thank you for posting this!

[Hypebusta]

It's odd because the Tribune said that Ennis Whatley had the Bulls' high with 2 steals, but MJ clearly had at least 2 steals...

[crb4059]

The Orlando Magic were named for Orlando Woolridge and Magic Johnson.

[MarylandBroadcaster]

*****

[larrelove]

what the hell is ohpra whinfry doing there? 4:22

[DiamondDebeuzelle]

the NBA back in the 80s and 90s was so much better than it is today. I don't know what the consequences of that mini-brawl in this post were, but today about 6 guys would have got suspended. No physical play allowed in today's game.

[TheJewGod]

yea the refs were more lenient back then for better or worse. I just watched a 1986 Laker playoff game recently where there was a little skirmish between two players and one of them pushed the ref and didn't get a tech. Unbelievable.

[crb4059]

JewGoo, players back then, although got in occasional skirmishes, still had class and importantly composure. Unlike today, where a mean look can get you suspended.

[celenas77]

Hell, the announcers were actually chuckling at the scuffle! Like it was nothing. Maybe they knew that the players weren't gonna go into the stands and punch people...then again, I agree with your assessment: the NBA is so much softer today. Less passion, less stellar defense, more suspensions!

[aceirmada]

It really started with the Bad Boy Pistons of the Mahorn-Laimbeer era where they started to get in brawls like this every 3-4 games. At first the NBA endorsed it, but eventually it led to crackdowns like the automatic 1-game suspension for leaving the bench (used to be a $500 fine) and for throwing a punch (was left to judgment). I grew up a Piston fan and that team was very entertaining and very good, but the league eventually decided they didn't like it.

[sfhguibnbhq]

1984! Damn now THIS is OLD SCHOOL!

[phenomebhie]

yeah an OLD SCHOOL but when you see MJ moves and play it's like watching a New School basketball :)

[Nosfeast]

This might be a dumb question but I was just thinking about it and had no clue. Was he the first person picked in the draft for that starting year season? Im sure he was a first round draft pick but wanted to know if he was the very first person picked. If not what teams passed him up?

[23thegoat]

He was the 3rd draft pick. Houston picked Hakeem Olajuwon for the 1st and Portland picked Sam Bowie for 2nd.

[jp3813]

MJ invented and innovated nearly every modern offensive move used by most players today.

[uberathlete]

You could really see here that MJ even early on had an almost complete (but still unrefined) game. He uses screens, drives, has a midrange j, posts up, plays swarming D, etc. The guy had all the tools, he just had to polish them through the years.

[zodiiak]

LOL

[hoopsencyclopedia]

Oh yeah, how is this video over 10 minutes long? Does youtube allow that?

[starks23]

From my experience you can make as long as 10:59. But it's safer to keep it under 10:55.

[elabudi3]

I've seen videos 27 minutes long, how?

[starks23]

From the help section:

----------------------

Can I upload videos that are longer than 10 minutes?

You can no longer upload videos longer than ten minutes regardless of what type of account you have. Users who had previously been allowed to upload longer content still retain this ability, so you may occasionally see videos that are longer than ten minutes.

[hoopsencyclopedia]

Rare game - thanks! I haven't seen this one so this one makes me feel like I'm in junior high. MJ made 4-6 original moves every game and that's what I lived for. That forward-fading, super-pump, jumper at 6:18 was actually a part of his regular arsenal back then. So absurd.

[andytimmons1230]

exactly........

[truballar2003]

his free throw shooting form was different from that of 87 yr till the end of his career

[IrinaDerevkoLives]

These bulls suck except for jordan and woolridge, no wonder jordan didn't like to pass the ball in the early days.

[bones23jones]

Lambier pulled some of the dirtiest plays.

[KCAccidental101]

With the NBA catering to today's perimeter players, Jordan would tear the league up right now.

[illflo69]

you and hoops are the best along with Jordan, YOU TWO Are THE BEST THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO YOUTUBE :)

[elabudi3]

Rare video... thanks for the post!

[Basil1976]

From the commentators... 'Hangability' :) !

[3DStoneCt]

Detroit had a good team that year; they lost to Boston in the second round in six games. That 1985 Pistons team would win the championship today. This is a year before they got Joe Dumars and two seasons before they picked up Rodman and Salley. The Celtics ruled the East at this time; it's fun to watch these guys when they were both in their embryonic stages of competing for rings. You can see Detroit is closer than Chicago.

[mackcrusher]

That's true. At the time of this game, Detroit already had established players in Thomas, Laimbeer, and Johnson, key players on the '89 and '90 teams. John Long was also on the 1989 squad. The only link between this Bulls team and the Bulls of the 90s was Jordan. That shows you how good young Jordan was as a player and how far the Pistons would go as a team.

[popeyeisgood]

thanks again starks23. i would like to see more of his rookie season. by the way, the fight is very cool, i wonder what happened to those players afterward. they probably didnt get suspended at all.

seriously i admit the excitment of that.

also, i notice that jordan made decent mid range shots even in his rookie season, was he really not good at that when he just started?

[romans6thru8]

Starks23 thanks for the young M.J. The dunk at 4:34 was tough! Do you have most of his entire career? It must be nice to see it unfold (again) from '84 on.

Peace and God Bless

Know Him (John 17:3)

Find freedom in walking with Him (Romans 8:1)

[jaboo82681]

another great game Starks23

[craz4]

again a great vid, starks 23! thanks

[plupiter]

Love these rookie games. The energy--running up and down the court--the style, the potential, the baby face. Keep the rookie games coming!

[jeeazy]

No problem man, I love your uploads bro just like I love MJ's game!Thanx!

[rrTale]

U gotta love the way the commentators talk about him..They're in awe with the new kid, so athletic, so exciting..Little did they know that this kid would become the face of the game. Thank u starks u got me addicted man!