“I never panicked because I was like, ‘They got Mike’… It looks he came from the future, that’s not Bron” - Ryan Clark on Michael Jordan in his prime, says the difference between him and the rest was big
Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players ever, was known for being a fierce competitor.
Fueling Jordan's rise to greatness, he became possessed with the idea of getting to the NBA Finals and winning numerous championships. One of the reasons he's one of the greats is that he always seemed to rise to the occasion when it mattered the most.
On "The Pivot" podcast with Shaquille O'Neal, analyst Ryan Clark, who grew up as a fan of Jordan, talked about why Jordan was so dominant. Clark said Jordan had a killer mentality that he believes makes him the greatest, compared to other players, even LeBron James.
"When Mike really became Mike, I remember never having fear whether it was Utah, Phoenix, if it's Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals, I never panicked, because I was like, 'They got Mike.' ... and the separation between Mike and the rest of the world was so big and so vast it looked like he came from the future," Clark said. "That's not Bron."
Michael Jordan rises to become one of the greatest in NBA history
Michael Jordan won six NBA championships, cementing himself as one of the most legendary players the game has ever seen. Impressively, Jordan never lost when he got to a finals series. The Bulls were never forced into a Game 7.
After battling for years to get past a number of challenging Eastern Conference opponents, Jordan turned the Chicago Bulls into a dynasty in the 1990s.
“That wasn’t Michael Jordan out there. That was God disguised as Michael Jordan.” - Larry Bird
36 years ago today, a 2nd-year MJ did this in a Playoff loss to the Boston Celtics: 63 PTS (22/41 FG, 0/0 3PT), 6 AST, 5 REB, 3 STL, 2 BLK https://t.co/YsuglQW0Ci
A versatile scorer with freakish athleticism, Jordan had the ability to take over games and do so in convincing fashion. MJ had the mentality and drive to be one of the all-time greats, and that goes to show with his impressive accomplishments. For a player who had to overcome a number of challenging opponents, Jordan always seemed ready to take on any battle.
Jordan led North Carolina to an NCAA title as a freshman in 1982. He also helped Team USA to gold medals in 1984 in Los Angeles and 1992 in Barcelona (the Dream Team). The national college player of the year in 1984, Jordan was the No. 3 pick in the draft that year.
Jordan led the NBA in scoring a record 10 times and is the league's career leader in scoring average (30.12 points per game).