 |  |  |
On St. Patrick's Day 1995, the Chicago Bulls were a team in transition, nearly a season-and-a-half since Michael Jordan's first retirement.
Playing its first season in the United Center, Chicago was a struggling outfit, having lost power forward Horace Grant to the Orlando Magic the previous offseason and watching an unhappy Scottie Pippen seemingly play his way out of town.
On this Friday night, my family gathered at my grandparents' for our annual St. Patrick's Day dinner. Once must-watch television, the Bulls were second fiddle to my cousins, uncles and me as we watched the first round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament.
During commercials, we switched the channel over to the Bulls' home game against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bulls would beat the Bucks 87-86 to improve to 34-31 on the season. The Bucks fell to 24-41. The fact the barely over .500 Bulls were struggling with the Bucks was a sign that Chicago was not a serious title contender, though that would seemingly change the next day.
During the Bucks game, Pippen would give a sign that something larger was coming, pointing to the bottom of his Air Jordan shoes, specifically "The Jumpman" logo. With a large grin on his face, Pippen waved his finger toward himself, as if saying to Jordan "Come back."
Apparently, Jordan had been practicing with the Bulls during this stretch, and rumors were building that MJ was considering a comeback.
The next day I was preparing to watch the second round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament when the news broke.
Playing its first season in the United Center, Chicago was a struggling outfit, having lost power forward Horace Grant to the Orlando Magic the previous offseason and watching an unhappy Scottie Pippen seemingly play his way out of town.
On this Friday night, my family gathered at my grandparents' for our annual St. Patrick's Day dinner. Once must-watch television, the Bulls were second fiddle to my cousins, uncles and me as we watched the first round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament.
During commercials, we switched the channel over to the Bulls' home game against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bulls would beat the Bucks 87-86 to improve to 34-31 on the season. The Bucks fell to 24-41. The fact the barely over .500 Bulls were struggling with the Bucks was a sign that Chicago was not a serious title contender, though that would seemingly change the next day.
During the Bucks game, Pippen would give a sign that something larger was coming, pointing to the bottom of his Air Jordan shoes, specifically "The Jumpman" logo. With a large grin on his face, Pippen waved his finger toward himself, as if saying to Jordan "Come back."
Apparently, Jordan had been practicing with the Bulls during this stretch, and rumors were building that MJ was considering a comeback.
The next day I was preparing to watch the second round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament when the news broke.
Michael Jordan announced in a famous two-word statement, "I'm Back." Jordan was returning to professional basketball, beginning tomorrow against the Indiana Pacers.
My seventh-grade self was over the moon, running to my Mom to share the good news. When Jordan retired at the beginning of sixth grade, I thought I would never see him play basketball again. One of my good friends Mike would always tell me that Jordan was coming back, but I never believed him.
The following morning, I would pop a VHS into my family's old VCR and record Jordan's first game back. My 13-year-old self knew this was a historic moment.
I remember watching the NBC-5 Chicago pregame show at 10:30 a.m. Central Time, which detailed Jordan's decision to come back, specifically his desire for the Bulls to take care of upcoming free agent B.J. Armstrong and sign a power forward in the offseason. I remember Anthony Mason's name being bandied about as an eventual replacement for Grant, whom the Bulls did not adequately replace following his free-agent departure to the Magic.
That day I would watch Jordan, wearing a new number, 45 instead of 23, struggle to shake off the rust. The clearly better team, Indiana would build a big lead before the Bulls rallied late, forcing overtime but losing.
I would shake off my disappointment of the Bulls' loss and Jordan's tough game with the excitement of playing in the seventh-grade All-Star basketball game later that afternoon.
For the rest of the 1994-95 season, the Bulls were must-see television, now mentioned as championship contenders again with Jordan back in the fold. However, anyone who watched Jordan beforehand knew this wasn't the same Michael of old, at least at the moment, and this Bulls team was flawed, not having the frontline talent or depth to compete with the Magic, Pacers and New York Knicks.
While Jordan would have his moments, including hitting a game-winner against Atlanta during his fourth game back and then scoring 55 points against the New York Knicks, Michael looked like a player who hadn't played in 18 months.
Eventually, the Bulls would advance to the second round of the playoffs, losing in six games to Grant, Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway and the rest of the Magic, the team of the future in the Eastern Conference.
While happy that Jordan was back, Bulls' fans wondered if Michael had lost a bit of his game as he struggled during the end of Chicago's season-ending loss to the Magic.
Motivated more than ever by the loss to Orlando, Jordan would rededicate himself to the game in the summer of 1995, including hosting pickup games on the set of the movie "Space Jam," thus setting the stage for a dominant following season, a script that only Michael Jordan could write.
My seventh-grade self was over the moon, running to my Mom to share the good news. When Jordan retired at the beginning of sixth grade, I thought I would never see him play basketball again. One of my good friends Mike would always tell me that Jordan was coming back, but I never believed him.
The following morning, I would pop a VHS into my family's old VCR and record Jordan's first game back. My 13-year-old self knew this was a historic moment.
I remember watching the NBC-5 Chicago pregame show at 10:30 a.m. Central Time, which detailed Jordan's decision to come back, specifically his desire for the Bulls to take care of upcoming free agent B.J. Armstrong and sign a power forward in the offseason. I remember Anthony Mason's name being bandied about as an eventual replacement for Grant, whom the Bulls did not adequately replace following his free-agent departure to the Magic.
That day I would watch Jordan, wearing a new number, 45 instead of 23, struggle to shake off the rust. The clearly better team, Indiana would build a big lead before the Bulls rallied late, forcing overtime but losing.
I would shake off my disappointment of the Bulls' loss and Jordan's tough game with the excitement of playing in the seventh-grade All-Star basketball game later that afternoon.
For the rest of the 1994-95 season, the Bulls were must-see television, now mentioned as championship contenders again with Jordan back in the fold. However, anyone who watched Jordan beforehand knew this wasn't the same Michael of old, at least at the moment, and this Bulls team was flawed, not having the frontline talent or depth to compete with the Magic, Pacers and New York Knicks.
While Jordan would have his moments, including hitting a game-winner against Atlanta during his fourth game back and then scoring 55 points against the New York Knicks, Michael looked like a player who hadn't played in 18 months.
Eventually, the Bulls would advance to the second round of the playoffs, losing in six games to Grant, Shaquille O'Neal, Penny Hardaway and the rest of the Magic, the team of the future in the Eastern Conference.
While happy that Jordan was back, Bulls' fans wondered if Michael had lost a bit of his game as he struggled during the end of Chicago's season-ending loss to the Magic.
Motivated more than ever by the loss to Orlando, Jordan would rededicate himself to the game in the summer of 1995, including hosting pickup games on the set of the movie "Space Jam," thus setting the stage for a dominant following season, a script that only Michael Jordan could write.
| | |
| | |
RSS Feed