Michael Jordan's Universe - Online Youtube Streaming Collection

1988 was the season when the core of the championship team of the Chicago Bulls of the early 90's had developed. The team had a successful draft lottery participation, adding 2 outstanding rookies: Scottie Pippen of the University of Central Arkansas (originally drafted by Seattle, but acquired via trade) and Horace Grant of the Clemson university. Both forwards possessed extraordinary athleticism, and they went under the tutelage of the already established superstars Michael Jordan and Charles Oakley to develop their game. Bulls coach Doug Collins, in his second season, set the target for the team to have a winning record for the regular season, hoping the fortunes of the previous year would change and Michael Jordan would not have to score 40 points on a losing team. And the Bulls would exceed all expectations, posting a 50-32 record, second in the Central Division behind Detroit, and the best record in 20 years for the Chicago Bulls. That also meant home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
	In terms of individual performance, Michael Jordan had perhaps his best season in terms of awards and overall recognition. His scoring had dropped slightly from the previous campaign to "only" 35 ppg, good enough for winning his second scoring title, but his assists (5.9) and rebounds(5.5) had gone up. He also got the official recognition for his defense, leading the NBA with 3.2 steals per game and all guards 1.6 blocks, which deservedly brought him the Defensive Player of the Year award. In the All Star Game on home soil, he won the MVP award after scoring 40 points, while also winning his second slam dunk contest in a classic battle against Atlanta's Dominique Wilkins. During the regular season, Michael also had 3 50 point games, including a 59 point outburst for an away win against future rivals Detroit Pistons. More than this, he was instrumental in key victories late in the season, one against the NBA champions Lakers and 2 against the mighty Boston Celtics (in one of them scoring 50 points and the other being the last game of the season). All this combined with the Bulls dramatic improvement brought Michael Jordan the greatest individual recognition any basketball player could dream of: the NBA Most Valuable Player award.
But all these awards meant nothing if the Bulls would falter in the first round of the playoffs for the 4th straight season. This time they managed to avoid the Celtics, but instead had to face another young team with which they would develop a rivalry that mark both franchises for years to come: the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs had a great floor general in Mark Price, also quality players like Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance, Greg Ehlo or Ron Harper. The Bulls' inexperience was a factor in the playoffs, as it became obvious that Michael Jordan needed to carry them every night including the decisive game. And he did just that, as he would set a record for most points scored by a player in a 5 game series, after dropping 50, 55, 38, 44 and 39 respectively. He also became the only player to date to record back-to-back 50-point games in the playoffs. The Bulls barely advancing to the next round, they faced a team that was on the verge of becoming the number one powerhouse in the East: the Detroit Pistons. It was around that time that the Pistons' coach Chuck Daly would institute the Jordan rules. Sick and tired of the monster games Michael had been having against the Pistons in the past few years, he designed a set of defensive principles that would allow his team to defend Jordan no matter where he was on the floor, sometimes requiring 3, 4 or even all 5 players collapsing on Michael when he had the ball. They simply dared the other Bulls to beat them. And for that season, the strategy proved successful. The Bulls would lose game 1 in Detroit behind Jordan's 29, but they would manage to win the next one, with Michael scoring 36. However, the loss toughened up Detroit, which rallied to win the next 3 games and clinch the series 4-1. Michael would score only 24, 23 and 25 points respectively because of the extra attention he was receiving, while the other Bulls proved too raw to for the task. That marked the ending of an overall successful season for the Chicago Bulls. They improved their regular season record, advanced to the next round of the playoffs and had a young and talented core with much potential for growth. Although they weren't at the level of competing for the title against the Pistons, Celtics or Lakers, they were closing the gap quite fast and were approaching the NBA elite. As for Michael Jordan, winning all the season's honors served notice that he was already considered the best player in the game and was quickly adding to the legend.