@@eddiebuckets7688 Something that rarely gets mentioned is the fact that Jordan actually suffered with tendinitis in his knees since college. The first noticeable effects of his tendinitis occurred in the 1991 Playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers and persisted throughout the 1991 Finals against the Lakers but MJ struggled significantly with tendinitis in his knees throughout the entire 1995/96 season. He also developed tendinitis in his wrist. We all know he was injury-riddled during his Wizards tenure but Jordan actually played with several injuries throughout his career as a Bull. He rarely talked about his injuries though, never wanting his opponents to view him as vulnerable. This quote from MJ in 1996 shows his unmatched competitive mindset... "What I try to do is focus on the moment, the situation at hand. Instead of allowing myself to think about pain, I try to concentrate on the value of my skills to this team. Once I'm out there, I just go at it. If it hurts too much to go left or bend over, then I don't do it. I don't want to come out looking hurt. They see you bleed, they go for more blood."
96 was definitely his worse, but the best player on the court (Shawn Kemp) barely outplayed MJ with a GS of 18.7 to MJ's 18.5 and the Bulls still won. Just hard to top Mike in the playoffs, man.
Game score doesn't give you context though. That series was over when the Bulls beat the Sonics in game 3 and went up 3-0 with Jordan leading the way. Jordan shot badly in game 4, easily his worst game of the series. He had an ok game 5 shooting 50%, but not doing much in the 4th quarter. In game 6, he shot badly, but defended well, was a big playmaker for the Bulls and even grabbed 9 boards. Overall, I still believe Jordan was the best player on the series, mainly considering the Sonics were on a mission to stop Jordan in games 4 and 5, constantly trapping him.
The real context is that the bulls were shooting terrible, so Jordan got tripled teamed and shot poorly because he was getting triple teamed. This was a literally talked about in the pre game intro on NBC
@@Matthew.Morcos I’ve been saying it for years that it was no accident MJ won that championship on Father’s Day. Last dance confirmed it. Not saying he threw two games but in the back of his mind, he was thinking about his father. If the glove was so effective how did MJ score 45 the first time they played in 97?
@@MrE_ lol. It’s nothing to do with dedication, it is just something I do for fun. People can say what they want about Lebron, don’t care. You seem a bit triggered tho. 🤷
20.94 game score is still a MVP level performance. His lowest in a playoff series was 26.6ppg against the Hawks, which they won 4-1. By his standards he may have had a bad series, but overall, he didn't.
@@typhlosionproductions5970 Yes it is. 20.4 game score was the one Jordan averaged 27/9 on 49% shooting against one of the best defenses ever.. That is certainly MVP level.
Kareem wasnt "missing" in 91, he had been retired for 2 years already. And Jordan wasn't in his "prime" in 95, he was only 2 months into basketball after being retired/ playing baseball for 2 years.
Using that Game Score metric, Jordan was only outplayed two times in a playoff series, both times by just 0.4 game score points. One of those instances included his teammate Pippen who had an otherworldly series, which he needed to have in order to outplay Jordan who averaged 30ppg on 61% true shooting that series. LeBron has been outplayed 21 times. TWENTY ONE TIMES. This includes being outplayed by multiple players in the same series _multiple times_ and being outplayed by teammates in the same series multiple times. He was once outplayed by nearly 10 game score points, which is absolutely huge for anyone who knows how that metric is calculated.
Michael Jordan never lost a series while have home court advantage. 🏀🏀🏀👀 NBA All Time Greats and the amount of time(s) they’ve lost Professional Playoffs series while having Home Court Advantage (aka losing when they’re supposed to win): Kareem Abdul-Jabbar --- 1973, 1974, 1977, 1981, 1986 Elgin Baylor --------- 1969 Giannis Antetokounmpo -- 2019, 2020 Charles Barkley ------ 1993, 1995 Larry Bird --------- 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990 Kobe Bryant -------- 2004, 2011 Wilt Chamberlain ------ 1961, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1973 Steph Curry --------- 2016 Tim Duncan --------- 2001, 2002, 2012, 2016 Kevin Durant -------- 2012, 2013, 2021 Julius Erving -------- 1972, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1984 Kevin Garnett -------- 2003, 2004 LeBron James ------- 2009, 2010, 2011 Magic Johnson ------- 1981, 1986, 1990 Kawhi Leonard ------- 2012, 2016, 2020 Karl Malone -------- 1987, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004 Moses Malone ------- 1979, 1984, 1989 Dirk Nowitzki -------- 2006, 2007, 2010 Hakeem Olajuwon ----- 1985, 1987 Shaquille O’Neal ------ 1994, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2010 Chris Paul --------- 2008, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 Oscar Robertson ------ 1965, 1973, 1974 David Robinson ------ 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001 Bill Russell --------- 1958 Isiah Thomas ------- 1984 Dwyane Wade ------- 2005, 2011 Jerry West --------- 1969, 1974 Michael Jordan ------ N/A
If people really cared about the stats, then they would know every stat makes Jordan look like a freak of nature compared to Lebron, who just looks like he's been here a long time and played pretty well for a long time.
Great video, in 1995 tho Jordan wasn't off mentally, he was off physically because he had recently returned from his time playing baseball. Although the stats seem fine for Jordan, watching him play it was clear that he needed more time to prepare for basketball.
Jordan wasn't even off physically in 95 I watched those games. The reason they lost in 95 was because they didn't have an answer for Shaq. Jordan averaged 32 ppg that series.
@@hiphophead4891False! He was clearly out of shape, not the same stanima, decision making or defensive level. Jordan is Jordan but it's pretty clear he wasn't in top shape in 95. You need more than 17 games to compete for a championship even if you are Jordan. Shaq played better in 96 statistically then he did 95. This was a close 6 game series game 1 & 6 could've easily gone the Bulls way.
@@Reaper13-hi3yoJordan needed more than 17 games to compete for a championship. It was a close 6 game series. Shaq played better in 96 than 95. Jordan in baseball shape with a new supporting cast and the series go 6. People act like the Bulls got swept or something.
Kareem retired in 89...that 91 team made it to the finals without Kareem outright. He was not missing. And worthy didn't miss a game until they were already down 3-1
Yeah it really makes you wonder if he just made a mistake or if there are some major blind spots in his knowledge of the history. Cuz saying Magic was "missing Kareem" in '91 is a pretty wild statement. I wonder if bro just looks at stats all day or if there's any additional contextual research that goes into this
I’m pretty sure Magic was 2nd in MVP voting that year too he just lost to prime MJ 😭😭 that was a good lakers team but 91 was just Jordan and the bulls’ time
So. Lakers were without Kareem and Worthy and Byron Scott got injured. Thats the team Bulls closed the series against. Hows that supposed to be a great competition?
@@1vaultdweller the lakers didn't win without kareem in 89 also. That lakers team still great man come on they won 58 games that year behind the portland trailblazer who won 63 games
@@1vaultdwellerThey were already down 3-1 by the time Worthy and Scott got injured (both got injured late in Game 4 and it wasn't a close game, Bulls were winning that regardless). Those injuries had minimal impact on the series, Bulls were just the better team. That wasn't the peak of the Showtime Lakers by any means but it was still a damn good team. That was prime Magic and prime Worthy + Vlade Divac, Sam Perkins, Byron Scott, and A.C. Green. Jordan simply outplayed Magic in that series, the supporting casts were relatively even (if anything Magic had more help).
Kareem got eliminated shooting 43% one series in the mid 70s. There are old newspaper articles about Clyde Lee (who) giving him the business. Wilt could fill up his own video. MJ stands alone.
Yeah, a lot of Wilts great games and numbers he put up were in the regular season. His stats are practically cut in half when looking at his postseason career.
@@An0n_ym0u5 yea but MJ used the name as a throwaway taunt. It's like if I dunked on you and screamed "You can call me Daddy now". Obviously MJ didn't want people to start nicknaming him "daddy" or "black jesus". Reggie miller made it MJ's official nickname by using the taunt out of its original context.
I think his biggest series knock that you can make is the 89 series after game 3. His play declined from his ridiculous 34 or such ppg and lost 3 straight games that were well within reach. The single game you can say he blew was game 5 where he made 4 shots for 8 points and the rest were free throws. Craig Hodges led the team in scoring that night and the bulls were only down 1 to start the 4th quarter. This was the moment that broke the bulls that year. They had never trailed in a series that year until then. This is as close of a case you can get to a series flop but in reality it's just game 5 with exaggerated context.
He was great in game 6, but his play in games 4 and 5 were way below his standards. Game 5 they tried to use him as a facilitator. He still played great defensively, but was way too passive offensively, simply trying to kick it to an open team mate. Awful decision, considering the Bulls lacked scoring prowess. Game 6, Pippen was out 1 minute into the game after he was elbowed by Laimbeer. Jordan carried the team offensively with his scoring and playmaking. He had 8 turnovers, but also forced a ton of turnovers on the defensive end. Did a great job on Isiah(who shot 4/11 against him that game), but Isiah torched the Bulls's smaller guards. In the end, Jordan needed more help offensively to force a game 7 and without Pippen, the Bulls were in serious trouble.
@@davidschmidt1793yeah he still played ok at the worst. You could argue his numbers were inflated in game 6 due to having the ball more with Pippen being out and that would complete a subpar games 4-6 but that's a stretch. People don't realize that game 4 was when the Jordan rules came about and that's why the series changed direction. The playoff record between the teams until that point was 5-3 in favor of the pistons. After the Jordan rules the pistons won 5 straight going into the 1990 series and could've had 6 in a row if Jordan didn't pull off another 47 point game 3 miracle to avoid going 0-3.
@@antonioguglielmetti2661 Well, with Pippen being out, it made sense for him to focus more on the playmaking. I agree with your comment. I'm aware of the 'Jordan rules' starting in game 4, but I gotta say I didn't even notice any major changes watching that game. They played him tough, doubled when needed and clogged the paint. Still, can't argue with the results. 1990 Jordan was even better than the 89 version. What Jordan did in those games 3 and 4(47 and 42 points) was insane. Playmaking,scoring,clutchness,defense, you name it. All that while being primarily guarded by Dumars and Rodman.
I agree to some extent but you have to remember the Pistons were basically assaulting him in that series 😂 saying he only hit 4 shots in game 5 and "the rest were free throws" blatantly ignores that context. He was getting hacked constantly, so of course he's going to be scoring primarily on free throws
His worst playoff series by far is the 1995 loss to the Magic... Averages never tell the whole story. In 1996 NBA finals just as in 1997 Conf finals he played pretty great when his team took commanding 3-0 lead. I could care less if his stats went down afterwards. Both series were practically over after the first 3 games. ...but against Magic in 1995 he just wasn't clutch and made crucial mistakes despite seemingly nice averages. So, he had one bad series his entire career... Bad for his standards... far from anything resembling a meltdown...
And no as much as I love Jordan, being rusty just getting back into the NBA is not an excuse for him he simply choked in that series which is ok. No NBA legend even the very best is perfect.
@@imfinishedgrinding638lmao bad series =/= choked lol MJ never choked once in his career mf is just rusty and someone made a good play jordan’s bad series that is on proper form is the 96 finals people wont mention the 95 series loss again the Magic because he swept them in the next year which is damn impressive considering that team is a great team
Also, in every single one of those series losses, MJ took all the blame. Nobody ever said he "needed more help". The league and the media were saying his playing style wasn't conducive to winning (the same they did with Curry)
MJ took the blame when they lost… and when Pippen played bad, MJ still always lifted him up and said positive things about him in the post game interviews!
@@Reaper13-hi3yoRodman was about to be out of the league nobody wanted him Rodman just said in a interview he thinks Pop did that trade in hopes it would blow up the locker room/chemistry of the Bulls
I loved what you said about Kawhi Leonard, because I always thought the same thing when I saw him play: "this guy when he is on the court is the best player in the world." Sadly, he almost never plays.
Me, before clicking on the vid after reading the title: No Me, after watching the video: duh. Great content, awesome work & research bro. You've got a new Sub
This is a very interesting topic to watch, tbh I didn’t expect MJ to be this dominant although I know how goated he is. But come on looking at those numbers and facts made me realise how truly MJ is way better than a lot of his comparable rivals.
that bucks series in 85 he was being guarded by Sydney Moncrief one of the greatest on ball defenders of all time I think he one DPOY around that time too. That might explain the fg %
If you're only judging fully healthy playoff series you'd have to exclude Wade's 07 first round and Steph in the 16 Finals. Both of em were playing hurt. Wade was supposed to have season-ending shoulder surgery in Feb or March of 07. Steph tore his MCL in 2016 and missed the first two weeks of the playoffs.
I've always said there's no series you can blame him for losing except maybe vs the Magic in 95. His worst series is probably vs the Sonics in the finals, from a statistical standpoint, and they still won
Keep in mind some of these series were only 5 game series so those stats can be from only 3 games when the bulls swept. That's a lot different than avg that for 5 to 7 games
Your approach is wrong, you only referred to series where the Bulls lost. But there could also have been series that the Bulls won but MJ still underperformed, i.e. others saved his ass.
The 96 Finals was probably his worst playoff series. But that was only after the first 3 games which the Bulls won. So the series was basically over by then.
I'd say the 93 conference Finals was MJ worse series shot 40% including a 3/18 game 3. The Knicks were just so bad outside of Patrick Ewing the Bulls still won by 20 and Pippen went 10-12 for 29 points.
97 series against Miami wasn't good. Both he and Pip shot horribly, but played great defense. They both joked about how bad they shot the ball, never blaming anybody, but themselves.
@@puhlease4289 It was actually a pretty solid squad. Mourning, Hardaway, Mashburn, Ike Austin, PJ Brown, Vashon Leonard. Big frontcourt, good backcourt.
Not really. Mike is notorious for raising his game in the postseason & all of his stats genuinely go up which is crazy because they were already tuff. You can argue that the 96 Finals may be his “worst” but that’s by his standards and by most on a grade scale is probably still a B B minus series
Could you do the same for lebron? Sure he had one of the craziest chocke series ever, but I can't recall another playoff series where he played badly. Just curios
3x straight losses to pistons. Wow. Isaiah was a beast. This is what makes mj great . He kept fighting amd broke through. Lesson kd and lebron shiukdve learned from. To succeed you must fail.
Honestly, if the Bulls could have gotten past Detroit in 89 and 90, they would have cruised to championships both of those seasons. The Bulls were better than either the 89 Lakers or 90 Trailblazers. Once Detroit got finished with their tough series with Chicago both of those years, they had little opposition in the finals.
For me Lebron's worst playoff series is the 2008 ECSF: 27/8/6 36% FG 5 TO per game 17.5 gamescore NASTY He was even worse statistically in the 07 Finals: 22/7/7 36% fg 6 TO per game 10.6 Game score 🤮🤮🤮 I kinda give him a pass because he was only 22 and didn't go to college to really get that refinement a player needs to play high level nba playoff basketball. That's why I have the 08 ECSF as his worst, that and the fact that as terrible as he was his team was still able to push it to 7 games. He plays just a little bit better (which would have still been terrible), they win. Gm 1 for example he goes 2-18, 10 TO and had a wide open layup to send it to OT that he missed.
I'm a LeBron guy, but the fact that MJ never had bad series is one of the reasons I can see that makes most people put him above LeBron. I can't think of any other player ever who hasn't had a bad series. Kobe had a lot, Shaq did, LBJ did, Curry, Durant, Bird, Magic, all of them. Maybe Kareem didn't have any standouts but I wouldn't know. I'd say Jordan's standout worst series are the 1996 finals, the 1989 ECF where he only really had that one very good game and he was very inefficient outside of that one game 3, 1997 ECF vs Miami where he did have 30 ppg but on terrible efficiency and just 2.6 assists per game. Aside from that there's only really individual games as opposed to series and that is a level of consistency we've never seen before in the playoffs.
It's easier to have less of a struggle when you have a better roster than your opponent in every series. MJ's Bulls were favored in all 6 Finals appearances in the 90's. When he was outmatched in roster talent in the 80's he did not win anything. Just saying
@@Reaper13-hi3yo I agree that MJ's teams were always favoured in his finals runs and that the strength of his opponents is massively overrated in his 90s runs, but in the 80s and in 1990, Jordan himself played ridiculously well nearly all the time aside from a few games and 1 or 2 series. You could maybe make the argument that in some of those runs he was putting up empty stats (I'd disagree) but MJ was himself not struggling, the 80s Bulls teams just weren't that good compared to the 90s and they were playing much better teams. The 90s Bulls didn't play any teams as good as the 80s Celtics or Pistons obviously, but Jordan himself still played excellent against those teams in losing efforts.
@@Reaper13-hi3yo That's ridiculous. The 92 Blazers and 97 Jazz were arguably just as good as the Bulls were. The 93 Suns and 98 Jazz had homecourt advantage. The only reason the Bulls were considered favorites(they were certainly underdogs in 1998) was because they had a prime Michael Jordan. If Jordan had underperformed in any of those finals, they easily lose. The pressure was on him to perform at a superstar level and he did. When he was outmatched in the 80s, meaning he was facing some all time great teams with multiple Hofers while playing next to nobodies, he outplayed everyone, but his team was easily outplayed and they lost.
That’s false , bulls were not favored in all his finals appearances , def not favored in all his playoffs series . His first three peat , he did not have the best team . The reason why the bulls always won was because of mj lol. The goat .
Jayson Tatum getting mentioned among greatest players but not Kareem? I guess you’re only really able to focus on players who primarily played in the last 40ish years but still.
LB didn't call him Jesus... he called him GOD. lol I can't imagine hearing that in your 2nd year coming from league MVP and not having ur ego inflated. bro was different sheesh
MJ has had bad series before. It's just overlooked because his team always ended up winning. Against the Knicks in 1993, he had a pretty bad series. He went off for 2 of the games so it made his numbers look better, but he wasnt his greatest.
@@TongueOut23 I'm all for that outlook as long as we apply that same thought process to the other players who had bad series, but their team still won. Like Jayson Tatum in this year's finals.
According to Jordan fans if you lose that's all that matters so by their stupid ass logic he's had 7 bad playoff series. His legacy tarnishing years are in Washington and Charlotte though. Compared to Bird who won MVP, COTY and EOTY.
That was the bottom of the pack in the 80s. At the top you had the Celtics, Pistons, and Sixers who were all led by Hall Of Famers. Now the 90s actually had the most 55+ and 60+ win teams out of any era and Jordan’s Bulls defeated seven of those 60+ win teams. Just say you don’t know NBA history and keep it moving.
Lebron worst series he still shot 48% and was 7 and 7. This series was a symptom of the Heat's dysfunction in being loyal to Dwade and having an inexperienced coach, and a dominant Pat Riley that insisted that Dwade was the guy. Dwade was about half the player that Lebron was, but the Heat wanted dwade to run the show.
They wanted Wade to run the show because he’s better at getting others involved. LeBron on the other hand constantly needs to dominate the ball and forces others to adjust to his play style.
@@Serching4JerryGarcia No offense to your intellect but I have never seen a more braindead ignorant description of Lebron vs. Dwade. Dwade is literally useless by himself, Lebron took multiple teams to finals with no other top players because he is literally a moving franchise that makes everyone better...and just the fact they won 2 chips with Lebron leading and dwade following is enough to prove that having dwade leading was a bad choice.
@@notiowegian no offense to my intellect? LeBron has been teammates with the majority of players he played with on the 08 and 2012 USA Olympic teams. It doesn’t take rocket science to see that he’s played with so many all stars and always needed major roster improvements to win. He had two all stars on his team every time he won a ring; Wade and Bosh in Miami, Kyrie and Kevin Love in Cleveland, and Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard in LA in 2020.
Calling 2011 a LBJ meltdown means your basketball accumen caps off at Skip Bayless. I'd say think about that, but I'm not sure that you have the capacity to do so.
No it was a meltdown and I watched that series. LeBron was very passive in 4th quarters and they lost a 2-1 series lead. How the fuck do you lose that series when your partner D Wade won Finals MVP against that same team in 2006? That loss gave LeBron his 3rd straight year of losing a playoff series when having home court advantage.
Mj’s worst playoff series is a super star’s above average playoff performance
exactly
@@eddiebuckets7688 Something that rarely gets mentioned is the fact that Jordan actually suffered with tendinitis in his knees since college. The first noticeable effects of his tendinitis occurred in the 1991 Playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers and persisted throughout the 1991 Finals against the Lakers but MJ struggled significantly with tendinitis in his knees throughout the entire 1995/96 season. He also developed tendinitis in his wrist. We all know he was injury-riddled during his Wizards tenure but Jordan actually played with several injuries throughout his career as a Bull. He rarely talked about his injuries though, never wanting his opponents to view him as vulnerable. This quote from MJ in 1996 shows his unmatched competitive mindset...
"What I try to do is focus on the moment, the situation at hand. Instead of allowing myself to think about pain, I try to concentrate on the value of my skills to this team. Once I'm out there, I just go at it. If it hurts too much to go left or bend over, then I don't do it. I don't want to come out looking hurt. They see you bleed, they go for more blood."
Except for Lebron
96 was definitely his worse, but the best player on the court (Shawn Kemp) barely outplayed MJ with a GS of 18.7 to MJ's 18.5 and the Bulls still won. Just hard to top Mike in the playoffs, man.
Game score doesn't give you context though. That series was over when the Bulls beat the Sonics in game 3 and went up 3-0 with Jordan leading the way. Jordan shot badly in game 4, easily his worst game of the series. He had an ok game 5 shooting 50%, but not doing much in the 4th quarter. In game 6, he shot badly, but defended well, was a big playmaker for the Bulls and even grabbed 9 boards. Overall, I still believe Jordan was the best player on the series, mainly considering the Sonics were on a mission to stop Jordan in games 4 and 5, constantly trapping him.
Kemp absolutely did not outplay Jordan. Sports isn't about just looking at stats. Context is far more important
The real context is that the bulls were shooting terrible, so Jordan got tripled teamed and shot poorly because he was getting triple teamed. This was a literally talked about in the pre game intro on NBC
His worst series is the 96 nba finals honestly and they won lol
And he won finals MVP. His worst series was a finals MVP
@@T65XJ lol exactly
They won due to bad coaching if we’re honest
@@Matthew.Morcosthe Bulls won in 96 due to Rodman and thr Bulls getting a bunch of Off rebounds.
@@Matthew.Morcos I’ve been saying it for years that it was no accident MJ won that championship on Father’s Day. Last dance confirmed it. Not saying he threw two games but in the back of his mind, he was thinking about his father. If the glove was so effective how did MJ score 45 the first time they played in 97?
MJ went to/used his left:
0:26
0:30
1:00
1:27
2:11
2:16
2:27
2:54
3:01
3:23
3:27
3:38
4:02
4:29
4:32
4:47
4:58
5:07
5:12
8:11
8:26
9:16
9:21
11:43
That's honestly impressive how you kept track of all of that
Too much dedication. You look like the type of guy to get triggered if someone says lebron the goat
@@MrE_
lol. It’s nothing to do with dedication, it is just something I do for fun. People can say what they want about Lebron, don’t care. You seem a bit triggered tho. 🤷
@@eddiebuckets7688
Not hard, just hit the clock button every time I see something. Great video btw!
@MrE_ who said lebron?
Some bad playoff games, never a bad series! His worst series still averaged 20.94 on 49% shooting, with truly no help!
20.94 game score is still a MVP level performance. His lowest in a playoff series was 26.6ppg against the Hawks, which they won 4-1. By his standards he may have had a bad series, but overall, he didn't.
@@davidschmidt1793no it’s not
@@typhlosionproductions5970 Yes it is. 20.4 game score was the one Jordan averaged 27/9 on 49% shooting against one of the best defenses ever.. That is certainly MVP level.
Kareem wasnt "missing" in 91, he had been retired for 2 years already. And Jordan wasn't in his "prime" in 95, he was only 2 months into basketball after being retired/ playing baseball for 2 years.
This is what I want to see just honesty about these players, great work.
Using that Game Score metric, Jordan was only outplayed two times in a playoff series, both times by just 0.4 game score points. One of those instances
included his teammate Pippen who had an otherworldly series, which he needed to have in order to outplay Jordan who averaged 30ppg on 61% true
shooting that series.
LeBron has been outplayed 21 times. TWENTY ONE TIMES. This includes being outplayed by multiple players in the same series _multiple times_ and being outplayed by teammates in
the same series multiple times. He was once outplayed by nearly 10 game score points, which is absolutely huge for anyone who knows how that metric is
calculated.
fantastic work. curious - which series was it for Pip? I feel like I've seen just about every series and have no clue which it could be LOL
Individual Worst playoff series (performance) should be part of the "GOAT" criteria conversation.
Michael Jordan never lost a series while have home court advantage.
🏀🏀🏀👀 NBA All Time Greats and the amount of time(s) they’ve lost Professional Playoffs series while having Home Court Advantage (aka losing when they’re supposed to win):
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar --- 1973, 1974, 1977, 1981, 1986
Elgin Baylor --------- 1969
Giannis Antetokounmpo -- 2019, 2020
Charles Barkley ------ 1993, 1995
Larry Bird --------- 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990
Kobe Bryant -------- 2004, 2011
Wilt Chamberlain ------ 1961, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1973
Steph Curry --------- 2016
Tim Duncan --------- 2001, 2002, 2012, 2016
Kevin Durant -------- 2012, 2013, 2021
Julius Erving -------- 1972, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1984
Kevin Garnett -------- 2003, 2004
LeBron James ------- 2009, 2010, 2011
Magic Johnson ------- 1981, 1986, 1990
Kawhi Leonard ------- 2012, 2016, 2020
Karl Malone -------- 1987, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004
Moses Malone ------- 1979, 1984, 1989
Dirk Nowitzki -------- 2006, 2007, 2010
Hakeem Olajuwon ----- 1985, 1987
Shaquille O’Neal ------ 1994, 1995, 2004, 2005, 2010
Chris Paul --------- 2008, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022
Oscar Robertson ------ 1965, 1973, 1974
David Robinson ------ 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001
Bill Russell --------- 1958
Isiah Thomas ------- 1984
Dwyane Wade ------- 2005, 2011
Jerry West --------- 1969, 1974
Michael Jordan ------ N/A
💯💯💯 Nobody ever talks about THIS!
Well damn. Amazing tier list.
Stats stats stats...exactly why Lebron loves to stat pad...he knows most people are casuals and care more about stats than context
If people really cared about the stats, then they would know every stat makes Jordan look like a freak of nature compared to Lebron, who just looks like he's been here a long time and played pretty well for a long time.
The advance stats are also in Jordan‘s favor.
Great video, in 1995 tho Jordan wasn't off mentally, he was off physically because he had recently returned from his time playing baseball. Although the stats seem fine for Jordan, watching him play it was clear that he needed more time to prepare for basketball.
Jordan wasn't even off physically in 95 I watched those games. The reason they lost in 95 was because they didn't have an answer for Shaq. Jordan averaged 32 ppg that series.
@@hiphophead4891 Bingo- had CHI even got to the Finals HOU would have smashed them with no Grant. MJ needed more help which was Rodman in 96.
@@hiphophead4891 he gets a pass because he is Jordan, but no one else would live down losing there while bragging about being undefeated
@@hiphophead4891False! He was clearly out of shape, not the same stanima, decision making or defensive level. Jordan is Jordan but it's pretty clear he wasn't in top shape in 95. You need more than 17 games to compete for a championship even if you are Jordan. Shaq played better in 96 statistically then he did 95. This was a close 6 game series game 1 & 6 could've easily gone the Bulls way.
@@Reaper13-hi3yoJordan needed more than 17 games to compete for a championship. It was a close 6 game series. Shaq played better in 96 than 95. Jordan in baseball shape with a new supporting cast and the series go 6. People act like the Bulls got swept or something.
Kareem retired in 89...that 91 team made it to the finals without Kareem outright. He was not missing.
And worthy didn't miss a game until they were already down 3-1
Yeah it really makes you wonder if he just made a mistake or if there are some major blind spots in his knowledge of the history. Cuz saying Magic was "missing Kareem" in '91 is a pretty wild statement. I wonder if bro just looks at stats all day or if there's any additional contextual research that goes into this
I’m pretty sure Magic was 2nd in MVP voting that year too he just lost to prime MJ 😭😭 that was a good lakers team but 91 was just Jordan and the bulls’ time
So. Lakers were without Kareem and Worthy and Byron Scott got injured. Thats the team Bulls closed the series against. Hows that supposed to be a great competition?
@@1vaultdweller the lakers didn't win without kareem in 89 also. That lakers team still great man come on they won 58 games that year behind the portland trailblazer who won 63 games
@@1vaultdwellerThey were already down 3-1 by the time Worthy and Scott got injured (both got injured late in Game 4 and it wasn't a close game, Bulls were winning that regardless). Those injuries had minimal impact on the series, Bulls were just the better team. That wasn't the peak of the Showtime Lakers by any means but it was still a damn good team. That was prime Magic and prime Worthy + Vlade Divac, Sam Perkins, Byron Scott, and A.C. Green. Jordan simply outplayed Magic in that series, the supporting casts were relatively even (if anything Magic had more help).
Good job! I'm so fed up with narrative chatter, that your numbers-backed analysis comes as a relief from all that nonsense.
Kareem got eliminated shooting 43% one series in the mid 70s. There are old newspaper articles about Clyde Lee (who) giving him the business. Wilt could fill up his own video. MJ stands alone.
Yeah, a lot of Wilts great games and numbers he put up were in the regular season. His stats are practically cut in half when looking at his postseason career.
Larry didn’t call Jordan black Jesus. He called him god disguised as Michael Jordan. It’s a well documented quote.
LaFlop called Jordan black Jesus.
You're right about the Bird quote, but Black Jesus was a nickname he had among players in the league during the 90s
black jesus is reggie miller's nickname for MJ
Lmfao you all Googled search it. MJ was the one who called himself Black Jesus when he was trolling Reggie in a game. 😂
@@An0n_ym0u5 yea but MJ used the name as a throwaway taunt. It's like if I dunked on you and screamed "You can call me Daddy now". Obviously MJ didn't want people to start nicknaming him "daddy" or "black jesus". Reggie miller made it MJ's official nickname by using the taunt out of its original context.
@@Placid_Falcon As I said, MJ said it first....🤣
Great video love the editing
Even in MJ worst series he was never a ROLE PLAYER like that head turning 2011 performances
I think his biggest series knock that you can make is the 89 series after game 3. His play declined from his ridiculous 34 or such ppg and lost 3 straight games that were well within reach.
The single game you can say he blew was game 5 where he made 4 shots for 8 points and the rest were free throws. Craig Hodges led the team in scoring that night and the bulls were only down 1 to start the 4th quarter. This was the moment that broke the bulls that year. They had never trailed in a series that year until then.
This is as close of a case you can get to a series flop but in reality it's just game 5 with exaggerated context.
He was great in game 6, but his play in games 4 and 5 were way below his standards. Game 5 they tried to use him as a facilitator. He still played great defensively, but was way too passive offensively, simply trying to kick it to an open team mate. Awful decision, considering the Bulls lacked scoring prowess. Game 6, Pippen was out 1 minute into the game after he was elbowed by Laimbeer. Jordan carried the team offensively with his scoring and playmaking. He had 8 turnovers, but also forced a ton of turnovers on the defensive end. Did a great job on Isiah(who shot 4/11 against him that game), but Isiah torched the Bulls's smaller guards. In the end, Jordan needed more help offensively to force a game 7 and without Pippen, the Bulls were in serious trouble.
@@davidschmidt1793yeah he still played ok at the worst. You could argue his numbers were inflated in game 6 due to having the ball more with Pippen being out and that would complete a subpar games 4-6 but that's a stretch. People don't realize that game 4 was when the Jordan rules came about and that's why the series changed direction. The playoff record between the teams until that point was 5-3 in favor of the pistons. After the Jordan rules the pistons won 5 straight going into the 1990 series and could've had 6 in a row if Jordan didn't pull off another 47 point game 3 miracle to avoid going 0-3.
@@antonioguglielmetti2661 Well, with Pippen being out, it made sense for him to focus more on the playmaking. I agree with your comment. I'm aware of the 'Jordan rules' starting in game 4, but I gotta say I didn't even notice any major changes watching that game. They played him tough, doubled when needed and clogged the paint. Still, can't argue with the results. 1990 Jordan was even better than the 89 version. What Jordan did in those games 3 and 4(47 and 42 points) was insane. Playmaking,scoring,clutchness,defense, you name it. All that while being primarily guarded by Dumars and Rodman.
I agree to some extent but you have to remember the Pistons were basically assaulting him in that series 😂 saying he only hit 4 shots in game 5 and "the rest were free throws" blatantly ignores that context. He was getting hacked constantly, so of course he's going to be scoring primarily on free throws
@@nolanrussell6326bullshit
His worst playoff series by far is the 1995 loss to the Magic...
Averages never tell the whole story.
In 1996 NBA finals just as in 1997 Conf finals he played pretty great when his team took commanding 3-0 lead.
I could care less if his stats went down afterwards. Both series were practically over after the first 3 games.
...but against Magic in 1995 he just wasn't clutch and made crucial mistakes despite seemingly nice averages.
So, he had one bad series his entire career... Bad for his standards... far from anything resembling a meltdown...
I was about to say the same. 95 is by far his worst series and he killed by most people standards lol
And no as much as I love Jordan, being rusty just getting back into the NBA is not an excuse for him he simply choked in that series which is ok. No NBA legend even the very best is perfect.
@@imfinishedgrinding638choked? Someone made a great steal.
agreed
@@imfinishedgrinding638lmao bad series =/= choked lol MJ never choked once in his career mf is just rusty and someone made a good play jordan’s bad series that is on proper form is the 96 finals
people wont mention the 95 series loss again the Magic because he swept them in the next year which is damn impressive considering that team is a great team
Magic 1995, Sonics 1996 & Pistons 1988.
You deserve more subs broh 👍
Mj against brid in 1986 averaged 43.7 pts 6.3 reb 5.7 ast 2.3 stl 1.3 BLK 50.5% FG
Also, in every single one of those series losses, MJ took all the blame. Nobody ever said he "needed more help". The league and the media were saying his playing style wasn't conducive to winning (the same they did with Curry)
MJ took the blame when they lost… and when Pippen played bad, MJ still always lifted him up and said positive things about him in the post game interviews!
... except Chicago needed to add more help in Rodman, the best rebounder in the league, to get by Orlando in 1996. He got more help, plain and simple
@@Reaper13-hi3yoRodman was about to be out of the league nobody wanted him Rodman just said in a interview he thinks Pop did that trade in hopes it would blow up the locker room/chemistry of the Bulls
No he didn't lmfao he was trying to get traded yall love making up shit
@davis2k1234 plenty people wanted him yall just lie for no reason
I loved what you said about Kawhi Leonard, because I always thought the same thing when I saw him play: "this guy when he is on the court is the best player in the world." Sadly, he almost never plays.
Me, before clicking on the vid after reading the title: No
Me, after watching the video: duh.
Great content, awesome work & research bro. You've got a new Sub
this was a great video
This is a very interesting topic to watch, tbh I didn’t expect MJ to be this dominant although I know how goated he is. But come on looking at those numbers and facts made me realise how truly MJ is way better than a lot of his comparable rivals.
that bucks series in 85 he was being guarded by Sydney Moncrief one of the greatest on ball defenders of all time I think he one DPOY around that time too. That might explain the fg %
FG% is an awful way to measure player's efficiency
@@TongueOut23 it’s actually the best way to measure a player’s efficiency obviously there’s other metrics but that’s the main 1… basic basketball 101
If you're only judging fully healthy playoff series you'd have to exclude Wade's 07 first round and Steph in the 16 Finals.
Both of em were playing hurt. Wade was supposed to have season-ending shoulder surgery in Feb or March of 07.
Steph tore his MCL in 2016 and missed the first two weeks of the playoffs.
I've always said there's no series you can blame him for losing except maybe vs the Magic in 95. His worst series is probably vs the Sonics in the finals, from a statistical standpoint, and they still won
Excellent analysis, just proving that MJ was truly head and shoulders above the rest.
Great video
Thanks 🙏
Keep in mind some of these series were only 5 game series so those stats can be from only 3 games when the bulls swept. That's a lot different than avg that for 5 to 7 games
Your approach is wrong, you only referred to series where the Bulls lost. But there could also have been series that the Bulls won but MJ still underperformed, i.e. others saved his ass.
The 96 Finals was probably his worst playoff series. But that was only after the first 3 games which the Bulls won. So the series was basically over by then.
I did my own breakdown on this topic a few months ago and i think numbers wise his “worst” was against the supersonics where he avg’d 26 ppg i think.
I'd say the 93 conference Finals was MJ worse series shot 40% including a 3/18 game 3.
The Knicks were just so bad outside of Patrick Ewing the Bulls still won by 20 and Pippen went 10-12 for 29 points.
97 series against Miami wasn't good. Both he and Pip shot horribly, but played great defense. They both joked about how bad they shot the ball, never blaming anybody, but themselves.
Who was on Miami? Can’t remember…..
@@puhlease4289 Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning and Hall of fame snub Tim Hardaway
Mourning, Tim hardaway, mashburn, Bruce Bowen, Dan majerle
@@puhlease4289
I think A. Mourning, D. Marlene and T. Hardaway were on the team (as far as I can remember)
@@puhlease4289 It was actually a pretty solid squad. Mourning, Hardaway, Mashburn, Ike Austin, PJ Brown, Vashon Leonard. Big frontcourt, good backcourt.
Yes, the 1st time he faced the Pistons in the playoffs, I believe it was 1988.
Not really. Mike is notorious for raising his game in the postseason & all of his stats genuinely go up which is crazy because they were already tuff. You can argue that the 96 Finals may be his “worst” but that’s by his standards and by most on a grade scale is probably still a B B minus series
Could you do the same for lebron? Sure he had one of the craziest chocke series ever, but I can't recall another playoff series where he played badly. Just curios
I think the 2007 finals was a poor series.
07,08,09,10 all has bad series
3x straight losses to pistons. Wow. Isaiah was a beast. This is what makes mj great . He kept fighting amd broke through. Lesson kd and lebron shiukdve learned from. To succeed you must fail.
Honestly, if the Bulls could have gotten past Detroit in 89 and 90, they would have cruised to championships both of those seasons. The Bulls were better than either the 89 Lakers or 90 Trailblazers. Once Detroit got finished with their tough series with Chicago both of those years, they had little opposition in the finals.
They have to soften the league to get this kind of numbers and yet they still have a hard time catching up, let that sink in, 😂😂😂😂
His worst is playing baseball lol
Jordan baseball game is better than LeBrons basketball game
Soo 6 Chips in 15 Seasons / When The Win He's God , When They Lose The Team isn't Ready ??? That Makes Sense ..
His worst playoff series was against the Magic in 95 when he came back from retirement
Never lost while having home court advantage, meaning that never got upset unlike the self proclaimed goat 😂😂
They didn’t call him a “competitive psychopath” for nothing.
For me Lebron's worst playoff series is the 2008 ECSF: 27/8/6 36% FG 5 TO per game 17.5 gamescore
NASTY
He was even worse statistically in the 07 Finals: 22/7/7 36% fg 6 TO per game 10.6 Game score
🤮🤮🤮
I kinda give him a pass because he was only 22 and didn't go to college to really get that refinement a player needs to play high level nba playoff basketball.
That's why I have the 08 ECSF as his worst, that and the fact that as terrible as he was his team was still able to push it to 7 games.
He plays just a little bit better (which would have still been terrible), they win. Gm 1 for example he goes 2-18, 10 TO and had a wide open layup to send it to OT that he missed.
Besides Milwaukee, every team to beat MJ went on to THE NBA FINALS 😂
I'm a LeBron guy, but the fact that MJ never had bad series is one of the reasons I can see that makes most people put him above LeBron. I can't think of any other player ever who hasn't had a bad series. Kobe had a lot, Shaq did, LBJ did, Curry, Durant, Bird, Magic, all of them. Maybe Kareem didn't have any standouts but I wouldn't know. I'd say Jordan's standout worst series are the 1996 finals, the 1989 ECF where he only really had that one very good game and he was very inefficient outside of that one game 3, 1997 ECF vs Miami where he did have 30 ppg but on terrible efficiency and just 2.6 assists per game. Aside from that there's only really individual games as opposed to series and that is a level of consistency we've never seen before in the playoffs.
It's easier to have less of a struggle when you have a better roster than your opponent in every series. MJ's Bulls were favored in all 6 Finals appearances in the 90's. When he was outmatched in roster talent in the 80's he did not win anything. Just saying
@@Reaper13-hi3yo I agree that MJ's teams were always favoured in his finals runs and that the strength of his opponents is massively overrated in his 90s runs, but in the 80s and in 1990, Jordan himself played ridiculously well nearly all the time aside from a few games and 1 or 2 series. You could maybe make the argument that in some of those runs he was putting up empty stats (I'd disagree) but MJ was himself not struggling, the 80s Bulls teams just weren't that good compared to the 90s and they were playing much better teams. The 90s Bulls didn't play any teams as good as the 80s Celtics or Pistons obviously, but Jordan himself still played excellent against those teams in losing efforts.
@@sammcdermott78 Well said, I think all of what you said is legitimate & accurate
@@Reaper13-hi3yo That's ridiculous. The 92 Blazers and 97 Jazz were arguably just as good as the Bulls were. The 93 Suns and 98 Jazz had homecourt advantage. The only reason the Bulls were considered favorites(they were certainly underdogs in 1998) was because they had a prime Michael Jordan. If Jordan had underperformed in any of those finals, they easily lose. The pressure was on him to perform at a superstar level and he did. When he was outmatched in the 80s, meaning he was facing some all time great teams with multiple Hofers while playing next to nobodies, he outplayed everyone, but his team was easily outplayed and they lost.
That’s false , bulls were not favored in all his finals appearances , def not favored in all his playoffs series . His first three peat , he did not have the best team . The reason why the bulls always won was because of mj lol. The goat .
Casuals who keep sayin "Jordan 0-9 without Pippen" gotta watch this vid lmfao yk ball
Jayson Tatum getting mentioned among greatest players but not Kareem? I guess you’re only really able to focus on players who primarily played in the last 40ish years but still.
LB didn't call him Jesus... he called him GOD. lol I can't imagine hearing that in your 2nd year coming from league MVP and not having ur ego inflated. bro was different sheesh
michael jordan has had bad playoff series and still won, like the sonics in the finals
good video, but please cut out the stuff
Stuff?
The question was answered five minutes in lol
Has bill russell?
1989 Eastern Conference Finals vs Pistons.
Very similar to LeBron's 07 ECF. Both had a historic performance that single-handedly won a game, but were underwhelming for the rest of the series.
Yup Game 5
It’s not comparable
yes he has. by ad we mean he lost a series but never a chokejob like lebron
?? Tim’s worse is 2011 playoffs
10.6
Objectively define "bad" series.
Finally someone admitting he shot the lakers out the game. Cause he refused to pass.shaq the ball. Kobe shouldve been benched
Jordan glazer Jesus dude
But it's a fact
Jordan got better in the playoffs
Sure he has, but even his worst performances are better than a lot of players best.
MJ has had bad series before. It's just overlooked because his team always ended up winning. Against the Knicks in 1993, he had a pretty bad series. He went off for 2 of the games so it made his numbers look better, but he wasnt his greatest.
This pretty much means he did enough for his team to win.
@@TongueOut23 I'm all for that outlook as long as we apply that same thought process to the other players who had bad series, but their team still won. Like Jayson Tatum in this year's finals.
9:18
Bird called MJ God disguised as Michael Jordan.
MJ bird and Kobe worst series are against the pistons . Now a days these young folks don’t respect detroit
What has Detroit done since 05💀💀💀they been a joke ever since chauncey left
Can't have anything in Detroit?
According to Jordan fans if you lose that's all that matters so by their stupid ass logic he's had 7 bad playoff series. His legacy tarnishing years are in Washington and Charlotte though. Compared to Bird who won MVP, COTY and EOTY.
Michael Jordan never referred to Bird as God but the opposite is true 🤭
Healthy Worthy & Perkins he doesn't win #1. Go watch that series if you want the real answer.
Bird called Jordan god not black Jesus
just to give you some pointers. please don't use highvolume highpitched beep sounds in your video.
MJ couldn't win in the 1980s yet he is the goat. 🤷🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️🤷🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️🤦🏿♂️💯💯👀👀👀👀👀👀
His worst series was in 89 vs Detroit , bro played like shit in 3 out of the 6 games getting outplayed by zeke in the crucial game 5
Mj sold the bag in ‘95 against the magic
See I have a hard time believing his era was all that good when you tell me his team makes it to the playoffs with a 30 win record.
That was the bottom of the pack in the 80s. At the top you had the Celtics, Pistons, and Sixers who were all led by Hall Of Famers. Now the 90s actually had the most 55+ and 60+ win teams out of any era and Jordan’s Bulls defeated seven of those 60+ win teams. Just say you don’t know NBA history and keep it moving.
96 finals - 27 5 & 4 on 41% shooting.........y'all annihilate kobe for numbers like these but whatever
Lebron worst series he still shot 48% and was 7 and 7. This series was a symptom of the Heat's dysfunction in being loyal to Dwade and having an inexperienced coach, and a dominant Pat Riley that insisted that Dwade was the guy. Dwade was about half the player that Lebron was, but the Heat wanted dwade to run the show.
They wanted Wade to run the show because he’s better at getting others involved. LeBron on the other hand constantly needs to dominate the ball and forces others to adjust to his play style.
@@Serching4JerryGarcia No offense to your intellect but I have never seen a more braindead ignorant description of Lebron vs. Dwade. Dwade is literally useless by himself, Lebron took multiple teams to finals with no other top players because he is literally a moving franchise that makes everyone better...and just the fact they won 2 chips with Lebron leading and dwade following is enough to prove that having dwade leading was a bad choice.
@@notiowegian no offense to my intellect? LeBron has been teammates with the majority of players he played with on the 08 and 2012 USA Olympic teams. It doesn’t take rocket science to see that he’s played with so many all stars and always needed major roster improvements to win. He had two all stars on his team every time he won a ring; Wade and Bosh in Miami, Kyrie and Kevin Love in Cleveland, and Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard in LA in 2020.
@@Serching4JerryGarcia Lol, Dwight Howard in 2020...lol.
@@notiowegian Lol, that’s all you got? Yeah we done here.
Calling 2011 a LBJ meltdown means your basketball accumen caps off at Skip Bayless. I'd say think about that, but I'm not sure that you have the capacity to do so.
No it was a meltdown and I watched that series. LeBron was very passive in 4th quarters and they lost a 2-1 series lead. How the fuck do you lose that series when your partner D Wade won Finals MVP against that same team in 2006? That loss gave LeBron his 3rd straight year of losing a playoff series when having home court advantage.
@@Serching4JerryGarcia What defence were they running against LeBron in games 4-6? Simple question. You watched it right?
@@Serching4JerryGarcia Why was LeBron passive?