Joe Zhan’s dialogue! Discussion on historical GOAT (Jordan chapter)

The discussion between Jordan and James has always been a place where military strategists must fight. One reason is that countless people have compared the two from different angles; the other reason is that the two have had excellent careers, and as long as the comparison between the two is involved, they will eventually become a war.

The reason for mentioning this topic is mainly to evaluate James' career from the perspective of a person who has experienced the Jordan era. Before the discussion, there are two points that need to be stated in advance:

, first, we do not want to compare which era is stronger. As long as we have a sufficient competitive environment, records and honors can be discussed and compared; second, personal opinions, rational discussion.

First, a concept is proposed, that each player will play the role of "Challenger" and "Trail Blazers" in order during his career advancement. Challengers have complete and fair opportunities to decide how they can surpass the achievements of the Trail Blazers, depending on how they can be evaluated by the public and where they can occupy in history; while the achievements of the Trail Blazers have been finalized and there is no chance to continue to make breakthroughs.

Explain in a simple sentence: the historical records of predecessors were used to break!

So, what is the mountain of record standing in front of Jordan when he plays the Challenger?

When Jordan entered the league with his later generations, there were quite a few mountains erected in front of him. Bill Russell, Chamberlain, Jabbar, Magicians, Larry Bird and others had records worth following. If Jordan wanted to become a GOAT, he naturally needed to surpass his predecessors one by one. No matter what era, this rule would never change.

Jordan won four consecutive scoring champions between 1987 and 1990 after returning from a serious injury in the second year, and was expected to have the opportunity to challenge Chamberlain's record of seven consecutive scoring champions who had dominated the list for more than 20 years; and in the 1990s, the competitiveness of the NBA far exceeded that of Jacky Cheung at that time, with only 9 teams at that time. From this perspective, Chamberlain's mountain was basically surpassed.

From another perspective, the title of scoring champion is actually not a big bonus to Jordan's historical status, but rather an invisible pressure. A scoring champion who cannot win the championship is undoubtedly a more derogatory than a compliment for Jordan. Therefore, for Jordan, his highest goal must be, and only the champion, and the overall career height and value can be recognized by fans.

Then 1988, 1989 and 1990 for three consecutive years, the Pistons stood in front of the Bulls in the playoffs, and even developed the Jordan Rule. The Pistons won two consecutive championships. As long as they won another championship, they could achieve three consecutive championships of the dynasty with special historical significance.

Why do we specifically mention the three consecutive championships?

Looking back at the 1960s, although the Celtics achieved eight consecutive championships, it was an ancient achievement that occurred when there were only nine teams in the NBA. In the decades since then, only the Lakers, who joined forces with Jabbar in 1988, won three championships within four years, becoming the closest existence to three consecutive championships.

But this seems to be a historical destiny. No matter what kind of strong team it is, the third championship will always be much more difficult. After the first two championships, there will always be various internal and external factors in front of you. From ancient times to the present, the difficulty of three consecutive championships has existed like a curse.

Therefore, after two consecutive championships, the Pistons are indeed at the forefront of history. The main players Thomas is 29 years old and Dumas is 27 years old. Both of them are at their peak, which is indeed worth looking forward to. Looking back now, if the Pistons really win the third championship in 1991, then the historical status of the team and Thomas and other players can naturally be further improved. But the reality is cruel enough. With three consecutive championships ahead, fans will naturally not pay attention to those who have won two consecutive championships.

It was in this context that Jordan and the Bulls began to climb to the top. Before the 1991 season, led by Jordan's extremely strong desire to win and lose, the Bulls team improved from psychology to technology in a comprehensive manner. Finally, in the Eastern Conference Final, they first smashed the Pistons' dream of three consecutive championships 4-0, and then grabbed the championship from the Magician. After seven years of reaching the peak, the Pistons, who had the chance, have been unable to recover anymore. They were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs the following year and missed the playoffs the next year. The Bad Boys Army quickly disappeared from the stage of history.

As for Jordan, his average number of 31.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 11.4 assists and 2.8 steals on the finals, and his shooting percentages in the three events were 56%, 50%, and 85%, respectively, which was a perfect offensive efficiency.

Two consecutive championships were achieved, and the tickets for the dynasty were obtained. It took seven years to work hard to get the hard-won championship. It was just the beginning for Jordan. If he could not complete the consecutive championships, he naturally would not have the opportunity to leave his name in history. After finding the victory formula, the Bulls won the 1992 championship again. Jordan not only won the scoring champion, regular season MVP, FMVP and other personal honors, but also led the Dream Team to promote the popularity of the NBA to the world in the same year, successfully taking over the responsibility of the league's signature from the Magician and Bird.

Lianzhuang FMVP can basically stand with most of the senior celebrities, because since the award was established in 1969, no player has been able to succeed Lianzhuang. Michael Jordan is the well-deserved first person.

Combining all the pressure, 1993 was an extremely important year for Jordan. It is no exaggeration to say that all the records he should surpass are basically concentrated in this year, and as long as he wins this championship, he will almost enter the GOAT ranks.

First of all, if three consecutive championships can be achieved, the Lakers and Pistons, who have won two consecutive championships, will be left behind, and their personal performance can also officially surpass the two legends of Magic and Bird.. Chamberlain's seven-game winning two championships in the first and seventh year respectively. If Jordan can win the scoring champion, championship and FMVP at the same time in the third year, it will be the seven-game winning champion, three-game winning champion, and three-game winning champion. From all aspects, the only one who can remain in the discussion is Tiangou Kareem, who holds six championships and six regular season MVPs.

According to the above-mentioned Jordan's third-year honor, there are two points that Jay Barr does not have:

first, Jordan has three consecutive championships and three consecutive FMVPs, while Jay Barr only won 2 FMVPs in 6 discontinuous championships, and he was not the best protagonist in the other 4 championships. The honor of FMVP is valuable enough, and it also includes the championship and MVP, which is the ultimate goal of players' dominance during the season.

The second and seventh consecutive scoring champions are under the team, and this achievement is enough to beat Jabbar.

This is also an intuitive comparison between Jordan and Jabbar: the highest mountain vs the longest river.

Jabbar's accumulated data over 20 years beat Jordan, but on the other hand, the achievements he had spent 20 years were put together by Jordan, who had only been beaten for 9 years. Although it is a matter of opinion for fans, from a comparative perspective, Jordan is generally inclined toward it.

As Jabbar himself said, he has maintained the top spot at the total score for more than 30 years, and no one has ever put him before Jordan on the GOAT rankings.

After the above brief description, we should be able to imagine how much historical pressure Jordan faced in 1993, and this opportunity to create a legend was also obtained for Jabbar, the Magician, Bird, Thomas and others as challengers, but they all missed the opportunity in the end.

Finally, it was Jordan who withstood the pressure and took all the above mentioned honors, and then proved that he successfully wore the GOAT crown. This trajectory seems to prove why three consecutive championships are the threshold for the dynasty team.

Because Jordan had a very difficult championship, after two consecutive championships, the tired Bulls only ranked third in the league in the regular season and lost their home advantage. In the end, they even stubbornly defeated the top and won the championship. Just after completing all this, Jordan announced his retirement at the age of 29, and this move shocked the entire league again.

According to news reports, many statements are that Jordan's first choice to retire was due to his father's death, but let's assume that if the Magician, Bird, Thomas and others had completed three consecutive championships before this, would Jordan choose to stay and strive for four consecutive championships before retiring?

But considering Jordan's competitive spirit, I still tend to stay and strive for four consecutive championships. Most fans think that Jordan chose to retire because he has proved everything, comparing the historical records and honor lists he has set, he has been able to stand firm in the throne of GOAT.

And his choice to retire proved his uniqueness, because there has never been a moment of loneliness in NBA history because there is only one person missing.

Overall, Jordan's second three consecutive championships is equivalent to the process of moving from "success" to "legend". From which perspective, the second three consecutive championships are definitely much more difficult than the previous one.

In these three consecutive championships, all the focus was on the sixth game of the 1998 Finals. Faced with all the disadvantages and disadvantages, the Bulls faced the disintegration of rumors, the Jazz held the home advantage, and teammate Pippen only played for 25 minutes due to a back injury, and no other teammates stood up.

Just when everyone thought the Bulls would be dragged into the seventh game, and even ended the dynasty by the Jazz, Jordan fought alone, turning the tide and winning more than half of the team's score. Then he staged a fatal steal and a century-long shot that reversed the score at the last moment, condensing all the marks of his basketball career in a game, and there was really nothing more perfect finale than this.

If there is any controversy between Jordan and Jabbar before, then the second three-game winning streak can basically end all the controversies.

When Jordan reached his peak and announced his retirement again, the fans' reaction was more satisfied than reluctant. After all, he might not think of what else he needed to do to embellish his basketball career.