Dro
05-08-2015, 05:16 PM
http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago-bulls/post/_/id/22086/joakim-noah-waves-off-fan-cardale-jones-run-ins
Matt Walks, ESPN.com
Twenty years ago today -- the same day Reggie Miller squeezed the life out of the Knicks with eight points in nine seconds -- Orlando Magic guard Nick Anderson accomplished something perhaps even more impressive.
He made Michael Jordan look foolish.
In March 1995, Jordan returned from his baseball sojourn and instantly rejuvenated a .500 Chicago Bulls team. Wearing No. 45, his older brother Larry's prep number, Jordan pushed the Bulls past Charlotte and into the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Orlando Magic.
Game 1 was a seesaw. With 18 seconds left, the Bulls were clinging to a one-point lead and the ball was in the hands of the world's best basketball player.
Then, it happened: Anderson, a Chicago native, poked the ball loose from Jordan. Horace Grant, a former Bull, finished with a fastbreak go-ahead dunk, igniting the O-rena and paving the way for a Magic win.
"No. 45 doesn't explode like No. 23 used to," Anderson told reporters after the game. "No. 45 is not No. 23. I couldn't have done that to No. 23."
With Jordan going radio silent -- the 32-year-old "flipped on his headphones and cranked up the volume of his portable compact disk player" to avoid reporters, Mike Wise wrote at the time -- talk swirled about whether Jordan had lost his edge.
In Game 2, his 23rd game back from baseball, Jordan caught the basketball world off-guard by reverting back to his old No. 23, effectively unretiring the jersey from the United Center rafters.
He played like the old Michael, too, scoring 38 points in a vintage Bulls win.
"We were shocked," then-Bulls guard and current Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said at the time. "The whole bench was shocked. Nobody knew."
The league, however, was not thrilled by the last-minute wardrobe change. The Bulls were fined $25,000 for not reporting the jersey change, plus another $5,000 for Jordan not wearing the right shoes.
"We can
Matt Walks, ESPN.com
Twenty years ago today -- the same day Reggie Miller squeezed the life out of the Knicks with eight points in nine seconds -- Orlando Magic guard Nick Anderson accomplished something perhaps even more impressive.
He made Michael Jordan look foolish.
In March 1995, Jordan returned from his baseball sojourn and instantly rejuvenated a .500 Chicago Bulls team. Wearing No. 45, his older brother Larry's prep number, Jordan pushed the Bulls past Charlotte and into the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Orlando Magic.
Game 1 was a seesaw. With 18 seconds left, the Bulls were clinging to a one-point lead and the ball was in the hands of the world's best basketball player.
Then, it happened: Anderson, a Chicago native, poked the ball loose from Jordan. Horace Grant, a former Bull, finished with a fastbreak go-ahead dunk, igniting the O-rena and paving the way for a Magic win.
"No. 45 doesn't explode like No. 23 used to," Anderson told reporters after the game. "No. 45 is not No. 23. I couldn't have done that to No. 23."
With Jordan going radio silent -- the 32-year-old "flipped on his headphones and cranked up the volume of his portable compact disk player" to avoid reporters, Mike Wise wrote at the time -- talk swirled about whether Jordan had lost his edge.
In Game 2, his 23rd game back from baseball, Jordan caught the basketball world off-guard by reverting back to his old No. 23, effectively unretiring the jersey from the United Center rafters.
He played like the old Michael, too, scoring 38 points in a vintage Bulls win.
"We were shocked," then-Bulls guard and current Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said at the time. "The whole bench was shocked. Nobody knew."
The league, however, was not thrilled by the last-minute wardrobe change. The Bulls were fined $25,000 for not reporting the jersey change, plus another $5,000 for Jordan not wearing the right shoes.
"We can