The Life and Times of Michael Jordan Quiz

Answer: Patrick Ewing

Jordan's North Carolina team faced Georgetown in the championship game, with Ewing the star on Georgetown's roster. The game ended 63-62 to North Carolina, with Jordan scoring the game-winning drop shot. Jordan described this moment as a "major turning point" in his career.

Answer: 50% shooting

While Jordan impressed during his first two years in Chicago from 1984 to 1986, he truly became one of the league's best in the 1986-87 season. Jordan scored 3041 points, becoming the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to achieve this feat. He also became the first player to record 200 steals and 100 blocked shots in the same season.
Jordan fell just shy of the 50% mark, scoring on 48.2% of his field goals.

Answer: Cleveland Cavaliers

The Bulls defeated the Cavaliers in five games. During this series, Jordan had two 50-point games, a feat that was not replicated until Allen Iverson did so in 2001. The Bulls were eliminated by the Detroit Pistons in the second round.
Boston and Washington also lost to the Pistons in that year's playoffs, while Milwaukee lost in the opening round to the Atlanta Hawks.

Answer: 55-27

The Bulls posted the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. 1989 was a turning point for Jordan and the Bulls, with Phil Jackson promoted to head coach and the emergence of Scottie Pippen as an All-Star level player. In the playoffs, the Bulls defeated the Milwaukee Bucks and the Philadelphia 76ers before eventually losing again to the Detroit Pistons, this time in seven games.

Answer: 1975

In 1975, the Bulls won the Midwest Division, giving the team its first division title. The Bulls had to wait 16 years until they won their second. The team coasted to the division, winning 61 games to finish eleven games ahead of the Detroit Pistons. Interestingly, Jordan's Bulls only won the division in years in which the team went on to win the NBA Finals. (1991-93, 1996-98).

Answer: New York Knicks

The Bulls and the Knicks met in the Eastern Conference semi finals, with Jordan and Knicks star Patrick Ewing renewing their rivalry. The Bulls also defeated the Heat and Cavaliers during their championship run, beating the Heat 3-0 in the first round and defeating the Cavs 4-2 in the Eastern finals. (Game 3 of the Bulls-Heat series is remembered for Jordan scoring an incredible 56 points).
The Bulls retained their championship in the 1992 NBA Finals, defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 4-2. Jordan again won Finals MVP.

Answer: Hakeem Olajuwon

Jordan finished tied for second in the voting, receiving nine first placed votes, matching the votes earned by San Antonio Spurs center Robinson. Rodman earned three votes while Ewing earned just a single first placed vote. Olajuwon dominated the ballot, earning 73 of the 98 votes cast.

It is rather mysterious why Jordan did not win as many Defensive Player of the Year awards as he could have. Despite being named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team nine times (1988-93, 1996-98) he only won the award once, in 1988.

Answer: Ongoing MLB strikes

Due to a breakdown in relations between MLB owners and players, no MLB games were played between 12 August 1994 and 2 April 1995. Jordan was concerned that he would be asked to replace the striking players and announced his return to the NBA with a press release that simply read "I'm back."

Jordan's father was murdered in 1993, shortly after Jordan led the Bulls to the 1993 NBA title. His father always envisioned Jordan as an MLB player, so Jordan followed this career path as a tribute. While Jordan and the MLB have had gambling issues in the past, Jordan's troubles were more problematic for the NBA than the MLB. A rumour still persists to this day that Jordan's "retirement" in 1993 was actually a suspension for excessive gambling.

Answer: 13

With Jordan fully motivated and the arrival of Dennis Rodman in free agency, the Bulls had arguably the finest season in NBA history. After starting the season 41-3, the team eventually finished the regular season with a record-breaking 72-10 record. (This record was eventually broken by the Golden State Warriors' 73-9 record in 2015-16).

In the playoffs, the Bulls swept both the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic, also defeating the New York Knicks 4-1. The remaining two losses came in that year's NBA Finals, when the Seattle SuperSonics took the Bulls to a six game series. Jordan won his fourth NBA title and his fourth Finals MVP.

Answer: 5

The Bulls' 1998 playoff run began with a 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Nets. This was followed by a 4-1 series victory over the Charlotte Hornets, a team that featured guard/forward Glenn Rice, who received seven points in the ballot and came 11th in the MVP race.

In the Eastern finals, the Bulls won a seven-game series against the Indiana Pacers that contained MVP candidates Reggie Miller and Rik Smits, who came joint 16th. In the Finals, the Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 4-2, featuring John Stockton (tied for 13th) and Karl Malone, who was runner-up to Jordan in the MVP race.

Answer: All-time leading scorer in the NBA All-Star Game

Jordan still put up impressive numbers even as he turned 40, averaging 20 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. This was enough to be nominated for his 14th NBA All-Star Game appearance (1985-93, 1996-98, 2002, 2003). During the game, Jordan improved his overall points tally in All-Star games to 262, beating Kareem Abdul Jabbar's 251. Jordan's record would soon be broken by Kobe Bryant.

Washington failed to make the playoffs during Jordan's tenure, going 37-45 in each of his seasons there. While Jordan incredibly featured in all 82 games in 2002-03, he did not start them all. He made 67 starts. Washington would not win a divisional title again until 2017.

Answer: Croatia

The team was known as the "Dream Team" due to the enormous star power that the team had, with members including Jordan, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson and Jordan's team mate Scottie Pippen.

The US won 117-85 against Croatia in the Gold medal game. Previously, the USA dismantled Lithuania in the semi-finals by a 127-76 scoreline and had beaten Puerto Rico 115-77 in the quarter-finals. Spain finished at the bottom of Team USA's group in the group phase, winning just one of its five games.

Answer: 3

The team has generally struggled during Jordan's time as owner. While the Hornets made it to the second round of the playoffs four times between 1993 and 2002, the team has had just three playoff berths since and has never won a playoff series under Jordan's ownership.

The team was swept in the 2010 and 2014 first round by the Orlando Magic and the Miami Heat respectively. The Heat also defeated the Hornets in the first round in 2016, this time winning in seven games.

Answer: Babe Ruth

Baseball legend Ruth was given the top spot. Ali and Gretzky both made the top five, with Ali in fourth place and Gretzky in fifth. Olympic gold medallist and NFL player Jim Thorpe finished third. Owens ranked eighth on the list. Still, Jordan's place as the highest ranked basketball player solidified his position as the greatest NBA player ever. Fellow NBA legends Wilt Chamberlain (10th) and Bill Russell (16th) also made the top 20.

Answer: David Thompson

Jordan chose Thompson due to his impressive performances in college basketball. While Thompson was an elite NBA player, Jordan chose him due to his performances with the North Carolina State Wolfpack between 1972 and 1975. While Jordan played for the rival Tar Heels in college, he was a fan of the Wolfpack as a child. Even though they did not personally induct him, fellow teammates Pippen and Rodman still attended Jordan's induction.