MJ returning to wear 23 instead of 45 (Bulls Broadcasting Ver.)

[TheFilipinoBoxer]

cobcords

[Richardson20111005]

first to dislike this

[Sone1ne]

When I come back like Jordan, wearing the 4.5.. It ain't to play games with you, it's to aim at you, probably mame you - Jay Z

[keochk]

Kukoc is so gay at 6:14

[MrESTEVAN88]

is he rocking the jordan 11s

[Louie212121]

@MrESTEVAN88 Yes. This is the first NBA game he ever wore them. They were a prototype that the designer, Tinker, didn't want him to wear.

[oldmanwithers1]

Someone tell me.. why was Jordan so out of form when he came back? Comparing this to 1996, he looks as quick as ever, with the hops and speed of his earlier years, but with his skills of the second three peat?

[wornoutshoes11]

@oldmanwithers1 in 95' he was out 18 months playing minor league baseball and never really played much basketball while in 96' he's back in basketball form and was wearing the AJ 11's, something that made him regain his catlike moves... (this is in response to u assuming nobody ever answered your question.after 3 months).

[GreatkingAlexander]

yeah orlando got em with h grant celebrating on there home court but paybacks a bitch a year later the god said take that i got you

[hotttarheeldude]

funny that this is jordan "out of shape" right after the comeback. an out of shape jordan is still better than 99% of players in the league. kobe should never be mentioned in the same breath as Superman(Jordan)

[lionelangemario]

@hotttarheeldude

absolutely!

[philliyfanbo]

its one thing when the crowd does it but when the stadium announcer does the "DEFENSE" chant its really annoying and sounds super gay

[kbmorrison100]

why he was playing with white sneakers?

[JZ2001JC]

BAck in 1995 when first watching this game I thought I was watching a Sportschannel Chicago classic Bulls game when I saw him have #23 on.

[magicoke1]

why is jordan wearing white 11 while the rest of his teamates are wearing black shoes

[masterchiefrules2012]

@magicoke1 that's why he got fined by the NBA for wearing a white-based shoe ^^

in game 3 he wore the Nike Air Money of Penny Hardaway while for the rest of that series

he wore the black/white-royal AJ 11 (aka Spacejams).

[TheBloodshower]

amazing shot @ 1:12

[jagemobe]

what a beautiful, beautiful man. No homo.

[ljubabacje]

Can somebody tell me why did MJ wear number 45 at all?for what reason?...tnx...peace

[d4seasons]

@ljubabacje NBA rules when a players' # is retired it cannot be worn again ever. when m. jordan returned to the NBA he chosed # 45 which he wore it on his baseball outfit. @ first the league fined him for the violation but later they left him alone. he looks much better in 23. 45 looked strange.

[ljubabacje]

@d4seasons oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo­oooo:D...thanks

[cooljjjj]

@d4seasons

Wearing a retired jersey isn't against NBA rules. For instance the Bulls retired #10 (Bob Love) but BJ Armstrong was still allowed to wear the same number (with Love's permission). The only reason the league fined the Bulls was because they weren't notified of Jordan's number change.

[d4seasons]

@cooljjjj oh. i didn't know that. thanks. there was a funny error. on the KNICKS. originally Earl Monroe in nov. of 1971 he wore # 33. then he switched to # 15. # 15 was worn by Dick Mc Guire in the 1950's to the 1960's. both #'s are retired. e. monroe during the BULLETS era he wore # 33 first, then he switched to # 10. ****

[Loudmouf84]

@cooljjjj I don't think Bob Love's #10 was retired at the time BJ Armstrong started playing with the Bulls, but I think it was retired while BJ was still on the team, which is why he got to keep wearing it.

[cooljjjj]

@Loudmouf84 Thats what I meant. Love's number was retired around BJ's 4th season, but he gave BJ the blessing to keep wearing it. My point was that MJ wasn't fined because he wore a retired number, thats not against some league rule, or else they would have fined him for every game over the next 3 years. When the Lakers retired Magic's #32, they didn't fine him when he came back and wore it during the 95-96 season. MJ's the G.O.A.T. but he wasn't above the rules, except when he travelled. lol.

[Loudmouf84]

@cooljjjj well yea, if a player gets his number retired and then he comes back, it's still his number to wear. There is no way anyone can get in trouble for wearing their own number. (Btw, a player can wear someone else's retired # with that players blessing.) MJ coulda worn 23 right when he came back, but he chose 45 because it was his older brother Larry's number from back in the day. MJ chose 23 because he wanted a number that was about half of his brothers, and he liked 23 more than 22.

[cooljjjj]

@Loudmouf84 Thats...mostly what I just said.

[Loudmouf84]

@cooljjjj not really

[cooljjjj]

@Loudmouf84

ME: "Love's number was retired around BJ's 4th season, but he gave BJ the blessing to keep wearing it"

YOU: "(Btw, a player can wear someone else's retired # with that players blessing.)"

ME: "Wearing a retired jersey isn't against NBA rules." "When the Lakers retired Magic's #32, they didn't fine him when he came back and wore it during the 95-96 season"

YOU: "..if a player gets his number retired and then he comes back, it's still his number to wear"

[Loudmouf84]

@cooljjjj A) I broke down to you how Jordan chose both 23 & 45, B) no team can make a player give up the number if they are already wearing it when that number is being retired for another team. A good example of this is even in baseball when Jackie Robinson's #42 was retired league wide. Every player already wearing 42 got to keep it. You can't make anyone stop wearing a number

[cooljjjj]

@Loudmouf84

"A" isn't really relevant to what we're talking about.

"B" Wasn't even disputed by me. Did I ever say that a team could force a player to give up his number if it had been retired mid-season? No I didn't. Didn't I did say that BJ was STILL allowed to wear #10 even though it had been retired mid season, and that Love gave BJ his blessing to keep the number? You've basically agreed with everything I've said only using different words and examples.

[Loudmouf84]

@cooljjjj Yes I have been agreeing with you. Then you got smart with the "Thats...mostly what I said" response. As far as what I said about MJ's choices in the #'s 23 & 45, I explained that for d4seasons who was discussing it before.

[vaibanez17]

@ljubabacje I have always heard that he didn't wear 23 because his dad had only seen him in 23 and he wanted to wear 45 because it was not 23. He did it because his dad died.

[Iggy3]

they really played that cheesy music during visitor's posessions?

[leedavidalan2]

32 year old MJ killing the rim at 6:00

[jimmy3610]

I miss MJ.....this is when basketball was great to watch.

[kimv020887]

@jimmy3610 well Shaq, Kidd are still in the NBA and basketball is STILL great to watch.

[PoopPeeSandwich]

nice, i remember seeing this live and being psyched he went back to 23, there was something off about him wearing 45

[Grobertown]

@5:00m "They'll take a timeout and talk about it. Hahha with 3:08 time Wow!" LMAO Awesome.

[GettinToThePaper11]

No doubt MJ is one of the greatest

[DURTYSOUTH92]

@GettinToThePaper11 Not one of the greatest, He is the greatest...

[yonisfarah]

MJ was a good defender. People always talk about his offense but his defence was equally amazing.

[veronicaisl]

ohhh tha's jordan 11, he's wearing 11 while the rest of the bulls wearing black shoes.. beautiful shoes..

[mickeymbz]

@veronicaisl jordan got fined for wearing white shoes instead of black like the rest of the team...that jew stern fined him back then....they dont give a fuck now-a-days.boston celtics players wear black and some white shoes..

[andriusssska]

So what? If you want be best basketball player you should copy the best ... What do you want?? The Kobe copy Greg Ehlo ??? :) MJ copied West, Kobe Copying MJ, Lebron Copying them both, and young boys are copying Lebron.

[darg0009]

ey bro ur wrong.. if you wanna b the best you should LEARN from the best not to COPY them; MJ did not copy; MJ re-invented the game; kb is just a copy

[bigbossman999]

@darg0009 you're right mj didnt pattern his game at all after julius erving...even though he said so lol..

[GMPro24]

@darg0009 you ignorant dumbfuck, if u had half a brain you would know that its called adapting a playstyle and for your information jordan adapted his play style from players like julius erving. copying? gimme a break, learn something before you talk

[darg0009]

@GMPro24 LOL, made me laught, really made me laught :X:D

[CK3890]

@darg0009 MJ did copy. Every skilled position (not just basketball) requires you to copy what others have done first before developing your own style. Everyone copies. Get real. I can't believe your comment has that many thumbs up.

[masterchiefrules2012]

@darg0009 that is correct. Kobe is playing great, but he did only copied MJ's game instead of being different. If you look at Wade or Lebron, both are also MJ fans in their youth but they still play totally different.

[rumrumtanneo]

@andriusssska mj copied west? wtf nood

[giemueluy]

@rumrumtanneo not west...i think he meant to say "MJ copied brian scalabrine"

[greenmatrix151023387]

thanx 4 this video medestinier

[mmcneil777]

This series was kind of a 'kick in the butt' for Michael. Helped motivate him for another 3 championship run. He wasn't really in b-ball shape. Sort of out of synch, but you could see in this game, he was 'coming back' and things we are the road to 'geling'.. Best was yet to come.

[metajna]

well said: that thing "kobe" is faggot. trying to imitate all moves from MJ.

[louishenna]

Rockets and Bulls would have been a good finals

[3766401]

@louishenna so true

[delfra70]

@louishenna That would have been a magnificent finals. Eventhough the Rockets were defending champs and would have probally been favored at the time and rightfully so, i think the further the Bulls would have advanced, the more dangerous they would have become. At the time the Dream had taking MJ's spot temporarly as the NBA's best player, but once you get MJ in the finals on the biggest stage, anything could happen. I'll tell you this, the Bulls would not have got swept like Orlando.

[superterrifichappy]

@louishenna I think that all of the time, I'm from Houston and we could've at least taken them to 6 games but MJ was too much. Hakeem is as good of a center that ever played imo

[masterchiefrules2012]

@louishenna yes, and i always disliked it that the Bulls played against Utah in 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals. I wished that the Lakers would have been in 1998.

[magicuno]

Now I know why the Bulls lost this series and why Jordan choked!

THE WHITE SHOES IN THE PLAYOFFS!

BIG NO-NO! IT WAS A JINX! WHY DIDN'T I NOTICE THIS WHEN IT HAPPENED?

But we all know what happened in 1996. Payback.

[arkade2345]

IMHO, that is how you know MJ is the greatest of all time: he was so good, he was almost BETTER than the game and ran out of challenges TWICE in his career. what other athlete coudl walk away from the game and come back and within half a season be right back on top.

the mental drain on his team and teammates of repeating took its toll and MJ often said he wished he coudl just play like 15-20 "tune up" games and then play for the playoffs b/c he was sick of the grind of the regular season.

[arkade2345]

although it was very tough to swallow, i personally was very proud of MJ after that game 1 loss b/c he took it like a man and used it as motivation (thus inspiring his commercial in 97).

Jordan had wanted to retire since after the 1 title to play baseball, per his dad's suggestion, but as we all know 3-peat was too tempting to pass up to beat Magic and Bird.

[mnkhan2020]

Man!! just imagine MJ retiring after 1st championship in '91 at the age of 28. Fans worldwide would've been robbed of MJ's 29th & 30th yr. loosing those peak yrs would've been too tough to swallow cuz he expanded his mid-range game & footwork to a point of sheer magic. I'm so glad MJ only played bball his whole 20s & waited to retire after 30. sports fanatics only missed his 31st pro yr. aint that bad.Got his batteries fully charged due to time away from bball & baseball failure. thank god.

[hoopsencyclopedia]

This was a personal statement game by MJ due to whispers that he lost a step and Anderson's quote. MJ was extremely sensitive to anything indicating he might be on the 'downside' so he had to show that he could dominate on call yet again. Some insiders have even stated that retired in 1993 because his FG% 'dropped' to 49.5% from its usually 53-54%, which meant he was on the decline. (Good thing for us he realized he could dominate mentally as well as physically as he matured and cont...)

[hoopsencyclopedia]

came back from retirement. After this season, he would state that even with these moments, he felt completely off with his timing and movements in the entire return year of 1995. I remember the shot at 4:55 live. My friend next to me jumped "OMG, that's nasty." There wasn't enough time with MJ and these Bulls to build the chemistry to balance these types of games with MJ which ultimately led to their loss. But 1996 erased all that. Thanks for edit!

[ihategoingbald]

well said. how do you feel how much Kobe copies MJ. I mean his finals celebration was just like MJ. MJ in 97 and 98

[hushg2000]

Which year did kobe copy? I have seen some things that Kobe has copied Jordan.

[quitmon]

i agree...i mean he hadn,t played in nearly two yrs!!! and after only a few games he was still able to dominate. i think if mj hadn,t retired.chicago would,ve ran off 8 straight titles.

[Amir883]

Jordan wouldn't of gotten where he was in 1991-1993 or 1996-1998 had it not been for the disappointments with the pistons and the magic. It only made him work harder than he already was. He came into the league with the best work ethic and those challenges only made him work harder and get better. Quick note: Jordan had the highest single game scoring for a playoff game in 1986, 1988-1993 1995-1998. Crazy stuff

[blackadam06]

And just think, he led the playoffs in scoring that year..LOL!!

The guy was swinging at baseballs almost 2 years prior to that year & comes in not in great "Playing" shape, rusty as hell & leads the playoffs in scoring!!

Unreal..

[LEBONGTHOM]

thanx for the upload,MJ was very determine in this gm after how gm 1 ended, he just abuses anderson and scott on both end of the court,nice shot over shaq @ 4:57

[jordanlover23]

I think this is the game where Jordan had 32-33 points in the second half, and then he followed that up the next game with 35-36 points (I forget) in the first half. Amazing.

[andgar923]

Nice vid, thx for the upload.

And is it me, or was Orlando playing "zone" from time to time?

Or at least something that's considered a "zone" by today's NBA standards.

[SPMJ]

Rare game. Thanks.

I was always amazed by how athletic MJ looked in the 30 odd games he played that season.

[Jordanhair]

Because of the baseball training,He became stronger

[michalus]

i have this game on my channel

[medestinier]

Thanks for comments.

In my opinion this series gave Jordan the motivation to work himself back to the top of his game.

That led to second three-peat.

[triklops]

Yeah absolutely agree. Just imagine: When it's hard for us fans to watch those scenes, where he loses the ball against Anderson...how much did it bother MJ when seeing those replays ??? It must have made him crazy !!!

[medestinier]

You're right. It's painful for us to watch those scenes.

[Std4mvp]

try bein a blazer fan in the finals when MJ single handendly beat us

[LorenzoCastillo7]

no, it didn't make him crazy, it made him stronger.

He thrived on failure, he loved failure because failure was his only challenge, because failure is what made him better as a 15/16 year old and what made him better each year he wasn't on top of the basketball world and after each year he was.

After that day he made a promise to himself that he wouldn't let something like that happen again, that next year it was going to be different.

Failure; in his words, "that is why i succeed"

[triklops]

crazy/stronger...call it whatever you want. He sure was not to happy when it happened. But it definetely drove him.

Unbelievable mentality...

[dlawson688]

@medestinier its funny you say that because he looked pretty good there! I guess for comparison purpose, this is the level Kobe played at in his prime. but not the level Mike played at in his prime.

[bwink23]

19, 20, 21, 22, michael jordan, 24, 25, 26....

[Cwm368]

Dong this time the N.B.A. was fining MJ like crazy for wearing the 23 jersey but he continued and next season they obliged! lol The power of MJ

[michalus]

not only jersey look at His J's.

[Cwm368]

They fined his J's too?

[michalus]

yes,all the players should have 1 color of the shoes&socks.

[Cwm368]

Ok, calm down nicca! Sike lol um... well he wasn't concerned about the fines obviously lol

[michalus]

of course it was another J's commercial.

[triklops]

Thanks 4 uploading...But dv122 is right....hard to watch Orlando series :)

[ForEmily23]

wow... very nice vid... don't think I've ever seen this one except for when it was played live

[dv122]

if i remember correctly jordan first shot wearing number 23 was a 3 pointer and he made it. i still dont like to remember this season its hard to watch