It took years for Michael Jordan to start winning. However, he wasn’t the problem.
“His Airness” went from averaging 28.2 points as a rookie to putting up 37.1 points in his third year in the league. His field goal attempts also went up, with the North Carolina product attempting 27.8 shots per contest during the 1986-87 season.
That, along with the lack of team success, led some to believe that Jordan only cared about himself on the court. However, when Larry Bird encountered MJ in the first round of the 1986 playoffs, he gained a deeper understanding of why the Chicago Bulls superstar didn’t embrace a team-oriented mentality.
“Early on, people were saying Michael didn’t have a team mentality,” Bird said in Jackie MacMullan’s book: “When the Game Was Ours.” “That was because he didn’t have a team.”
MJ vs. Celtics in ’86 playoffs
Jordan, only in his sophomore year, wasn’t intimidated by the 1986 Celtics, despite going up against the likes of Bird, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Robert Parish, and Bill Walton. Boston ended up sweeping Chicago, but the then 23-year-old made his presence felt.
In Game 1, Michael led all scorers 49 points in a 19-point loss for the Bulls. However, with four Celtics starters scoring more than 20 points, the final result was somewhat expected.
In Game 2, MJ dropped 63 points, a playoff record that still stands to this day. But despite making NBA history, the Bulls shooting guard wasn’t impressed by his performance, proving he did prioritize winning over putting up numbers.
“I’m not worried about the points,” Jordan told The Washington Post, per Andscape. “I’d give all the points back if we could win.”
“His Airness” followed up his iconic scoring display with a 19-point outing, but the Celtics beat the Bulls 122-104 in Game 3 to close out the series. For all his greatness in that series, it became apparent that MJ couldn’t do it by himself.
Bird was all praise for Jordan
Still, Michael’s performances against the all-time great Boston team earned him the respect of Larry Legend.
Despite multiple Celtics players taking turns guarding Jordan, he still averaged 43.7 points in the series. Bird was also great, putting up 28.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 8.0 assists against Chicago, but the Bulls’ sophomore stole the show.
“He was hitting outside shots, driving to the hole,” Bird said via NBA.com. “We had about everyone on the team guarding him. He obviously was in a zone. He kept them in the game with big basket after big basket. We couldn’t stop him. We tried to shade him to help, everything. You were talking about a different type of talent.”
Five years later, MJ finally won his first NBA title after beating the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals. He then went on a historic run, leading the Bulls to five more championships in seven years.
“His Airness” continued to put up crazy numbers, but this time, he had a supporting cast that allowed him to translate those stats into wins. That’s the luxury MJ didn’t have early on in his career.