Michael Jordan's Universe - Online Youtube Streaming Collection

The 1991 season began with high expectations for the Bulls. They had been knocked out of the playoffs in 7 games the previous year by the Pistons, and they knew they needed to have a strong regular season in order to have the home court advantage in the battle against Detroit. Pippen and Grant were maturing, Cartwright and Paxson were as good as ever, which meant the team had all the pieces, so the challenge Phil Jackson faced was putting them together and installing the confidence that this season they could finally go all the way. But they couldn't have started worse, picking up 3 defeats in the first 3 games of the season. However, a 20 point blowout victory at the Boston Celtics marked the beginning of the rise for the Bulls, who slowly started to climb up the rankings.
	Michael Jordan's statistics were not quite as impressive as they were in the years past, due to the fact that the team was performing better and there were less gaps to fill. He also started playing more and more into the Triangle Offense. He didn't score 50 points in the regular season, a rarity for Air Jordan, but he did manage to have 11 40 point games. He would finish the year with 6 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 31.5 ppg, earning his 5th straight scoring title. As the season was nearing the end the Bulls would compile a 61-21, second best in the NBA and best in the East, good enough to ensure home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Subsequently, Michael Jordan had been awarded the MVP award for the second time in his career. All this combined with a team-effort win against Detroit in the last game of the regular season, gave the Bulls the feeling that this was indeed their year.
The playoffs started against the New York Knicks. The Knicks team was confident that it could pull off an upset in the first round, the same way they did a year earlier when they knocked off Boston. But it wasn't to be, as the Bulls dispatched them in 3 straight games. Michael Jordan would score 28, 26 and 33 respectively, including the famous dunk over Patrick Ewing at MSG in game 3. The second round would bring Charles Barkley's Philadelphia 76ers. The two teams had met in previous year's playoffs, with the Bulls winning easily. It wasn't much different now, as the Bulls won the first 2 games in Chicago, on Jordan scoring 29 points in each. The 3rd game in Philadelphia proved to be a challenge for the Bulls, as they found themselves down and despite Jordan's 46 points, they would lose their first game in the playoffs 99-97. However, they would win the last 2 games, including a spectacular 38 opint-19 rebound performance by Michael Jordan in game 5. This meant that the Bulls were advancing for the 3rd consecutive year to face the defending NBA champions Detroit Pistons the Eastern Conference Finals. The Pistons looked as confident as ever, even without their home court advantage and having several players carrying injuries. So the Bulls knew that the key to winning was keeping they poise and focus in their execution. And they would do just that. Using a balanced attack, they would beat the Pistons in the first 2 games of the series, holding the lead virtually every minute of the contest. The Pistons tried to come back in the 3rd game in Detroit, only to find that their patented defense and physical play were unable to slow the Bulls down, losing to Chicago 113-107. Michael Jordan would score 33 in this game, after scoring 29 and 35 respectively in the first 2 games. Game 4 became a do or die situation for the Pistons, but the Bulls hot shooting in the first half kept them in the lead. Not even a series of thrash talk and flagrant fouls were able to slow the Bulls down. As Chicago's lead progressed to 20, Detroit coach Chuck Daly took his starters out of the game with minutes remaining, conceding to the Chicago Bulls. It was the first time Michael Jordan had effectively beaten the famous "Jordan rules" in the playoff series, which meant the Bulls would advance for the first time in the NBA Finals. Waiting for the Bulls were the great Los Angeles Lakers, the most successful NBA team of the 80's. Even if Pat Riley was no longer the coach and Abdul Jabbar was now just a memory, the Lakers still had enough to make it to the Finals yet again: Magic Johnson, Vlade Divac, Byron Scott, and Michael Jordan's teammates from college James Worthy and Sam Perkins. However, as expected, the media focused on the duel between Jordan and Johnson, the players which had won the MVP awards in the NBA the previous 5 years, a duel between the ultimate playmaker and the ultimate scorer. Game 1 proved that the Bulls were nervous about achieving the Finals level, while the Lakers were calm and collected. While the game went neck and neck, it was Sam Perkins' shot that gave the Lakers the lead, while Michael Jordan had the chance to win the game, but his shot rolled out, being unable to cash out a 36 point spectacular performance. Game 2 would be much different for the Bulls, as they would storm out of the gates and never look back. Michael would score 33 points, 13 assists and made 13 consecutive field goals, to give the Bulls an acclaimed 107-86 victory. The next 3 games would be played at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, the place of so many Laker victories in the past. And the Lakers seemed to blow out the Bulls in the 3rd quarter, only to find them back in the game late in the 4th. With Scottie Pippen out with 6 fouls, Michael would score with 5 seconds left a pull-up drive over center Divac, forcing overtime and also injuring his toe in the process. Playing 52 of a possible 53 minutes, Michael would score some spectacular baskets in overtime and make some key defensive plays, bringing the Bulls an unexpected victory. The jammed toe would be reason for concern for the Bulls in game 4, as Michael opened the game with a cut shoe in order to relieve the pressure, but he would soon change it back to a normal shoe and play through the pain. Despite all this, he would have some great dunks, propelling the Bulls to another convincing victory over the Lakers. Game 5 would prove to be the last game of the Finals, as the dispirited and depleted Lakers lost Byron Scott and James Worthy to injury, so everything fell on Magic to try and bring victory to the Lakers. And even if he would use some 3 point bombs to keep the Lakers in the game, Michael Jordan took over in the 4th quarter and scored or assisted on almost every possession, to finally seal the win and the championship for the Bulls. For Jordan, his performance in the Finals illustrates everything about how important his role was in the team as an all-round player: 31.2 ppg on 54% shooting, 6.6 rebounds, 11.4 assists (beating Magic in the department), 1.4 blocks and 2.8 steals. The 1991 season meant the end of a 7 year struggle for the Bulls to rise to the level of and NBA elite team and finally win the NBA championship, the first of many to come.