6 Rings

Beat Magic Johnson and the Showtime Lakers to claim his first title after seven years in the league.

The switch-hands mid-air layup in Game 2 remains one of the most replayed plays in Finals history. He went up right-handed, switched to his left in mid-flight, and kissed it off the glass. Defenders had no answer because it shouldn't be physically possible.

Averaged 31.2 points, 11.4 assists, and 6.6 rebounds across the series. He was the best scorer, best playmaker, and best rebounder on his team — in the Finals.

Cried holding the Larry O'Brien trophy on national television. His father, James Jordan, was in the front row. This is the image that matters: the most competitive man alive, sobbing because he had finally reached the mountaintop, with the man who built him watching from ten feet away.

Game 1: Six three-pointers in the first half. Six. Jordan was not known as a three-point shooter. He decided, for one half of basketball, to become the greatest three-point shooter who ever lived. Because he could.

After the sixth three, he turned to the broadcast table and shrugged. The Shrug. As if to say: I am just as surprised as you are. He was not surprised. He was making a point.

Averaged 35.8 PPG in the Finals. The comparison between Jordan and Clyde Drexler — which had been a legitimate debate entering the series — was permanently, irrevocably put to rest.

The Blazers had no answer. Not for the threes. Not for the drives. Not for the mid-range. Not for the defense. Not for the fact that Michael Jordan had decided they would not win this series.

Averaged 41.0 points per game in the Finals. Forty-one. The highest Finals scoring average of his career. In the series where the pressure of a three-peat was at its heaviest, he played the best basketball of his life.

Charles Barkley had won the regular season MVP. He was the best player in the league that year. Then the Finals started and Barkley discovered what every MVP learns: there is the MVP, and there is Michael Jordan.

Dropped 55 points in Game 4. The Suns won that game. Jordan scored 55 and his team still lost. That is how hard Phoenix was playing — and it still was not enough to win the series.

John Paxson hit the championship-clinching three-pointer in Game 6 — an open shot created entirely by Jordan's gravity. The defense collapsed on MJ, he found Paxson, and Paxson buried it. Jordan made role players into legends by being so dangerous that the defense forgot other humans existed.

The 1995-96 Bulls went 72-10 in the regular season — the best record in NBA history at the time. Jordan was the engine. He won his fourth MVP. He had something to prove, and 82 games were not enough to prove it.

Jordan cried on the locker room floor after winning the championship on Father's Day. His father, James Jordan, had been murdered in 1993. The cameras found MJ lying face down on the floor, clutching the game ball, weeping. He whispered: 'This is for you, Daddy.'

It was the most emotional championship in NBA history. Jordan had left basketball, lost his father, played minor league baseball, come back, been swept by the Magic in the 1995 playoffs, and used every ounce of grief and rage to fuel the greatest single season any team has ever played.

Gary Payton's defense in Games 4 and 5 was the Sonics' only hope. Payton was the best perimeter defender in basketball. He slowed Jordan down for two games. Then Jordan adjusted and destroyed Seattle in Game 6. The Glove was great. He was not great enough.

Game 5. The Flu Game. Jordan arrived at the arena barely able to stand. His skin was gray. He was dehydrated, nauseous, and running a fever. The doctors said he should not play. Jordan heard the word 'should not' and took it as a personal challenge from the universe.

He scored 38 points. Thirty-eight. While the flu was trying to kill him. He hit a go-ahead three-pointer late in the fourth quarter and nearly collapsed into Scottie Pippen's arms walking off the court. The image of Pippen holding up a limp Jordan is one of the most iconic photographs in sports history.

Karl Malone won the regular season MVP. Jordan won the championship. When they asked if the MVP snub bothered him, Jordan smiled. The smile said everything the words did not.

Steve Kerr hit the championship-winning shot in Game 6 — off an assist from Jordan. MJ drew the double team, found Kerr wide open, and Kerr buried it. Afterward, Jordan said: 'I had great confidence in Steve. When he is open, he will knock it down.' It was the ultimate compliment from the ultimate competitor.

The Last Dance. The final season. Everyone knew it was the end. Phil Jackson called it the Last Dance from the start. The front office was dismantling the team. The pressure was suffocating. Jordan played the entire season like a man walking through fire to reach the other side.

Game 6. The final game as a Chicago Bull. Down three with under a minute left. Jordan drives, scores on a layup. Then he strips the ball from Karl Malone on the other end. Forty-one seconds left. The ball is in Jordan's hands and six billion people on Earth know what is about to happen.

He dribbles right, crosses over Bryon Russell, creates a sliver of space, rises, and drains a 20-foot pull-up jumper with 5.2 seconds on the clock. Then the pose. The follow-through held. The right hand raised. He knew it was over. Everyone knew it was over. The most perfect ending in the history of sports.

He scored 45 points in the final game of his Bulls career. Not 20. Not 30. Forty-five. At age 35. In the most important game of the season. The bigger the moment, the bigger the performance. Every single time.