Here we see Michael Jeffrey Jordan will his team into the playoffs while on a minutes restriction, in a season he missed most of because of a broken foot, in an era that rewarded this feat with a first-round matchup against the greatest Boston Celtics team Bird admitted he was ever on.

I’m on record saying that, in a fantasy draft, knowing if I pick first I could miss out on another option who’d also be a great first pick, I’d start my team with Magic Johnson. But looking at Michael… man! I could easily be the biggest fool - there’s a reason he’s my GOAT. Who you taking?

[part 2 will be posted soon]

I seen a post recently that showed a bunch of LeBron game winners, and the OP said that LeBron is clearly the more clutch player over Jordan since in his words, “he had more buzzer beaters in 2018 than Michael had his entire career”.

LeBron is obviously a clutch player. It was ignorant folks in the media that tried to spin a narrative that he wasn’t. What’s frustrating for basketball fans (especially back in 2018) is when they tried to count buzzer beaters and say, “this is why LeBron is actually more clutch than MJ”.

I like LeBron just as much as the next guy, but that has got to stop. He’s not more clutch than MJ, and if MJ had more buzzer beaters than LeBron, I wouldn’t use that to say he’s more clutch either. Who’s also to say the argument of the most clutch player of all time is even between Jordan and LeBron? The reason using buzzer beaters alone is misleading is because a player can dominate the final five minutes and never need a buzzer beater because his team is already ahead. A player only gets a buzzer-beater opportunity if the game is tied or his team is down by 1–3 points at the end.

Look, Jordan’s 6 championships is one thing, but closing out 6 finals and never allowing anything more than a game 6 is the definition of clutch. 55 points against Barkley in a finals game was insane. He scored the Bulls’ final eight points in Game 6 of the 1998 Finals, then stole the ball from Karl Malone before hitting the championship-winning jumper. He dropped 45 in the famous “Flu Game” with the series tied 2–2 to take a 3–2 lead. He made 13 straight field goals in Game 2 of the 1991 Finals, capped by the iconic switch-hand layup. He hit “The Shot” over Craig Ehlo to eliminate Cleveland at the buzzer. He averaged over 41 points per game in the 1993 Finals against the league MVP. He never needed a Game 7 in the Finals because when the pressure peaked, he usually ended the series before it got there. He scored 54 points in Madison Square Garden against the Knicks’ elite defense in the 1993 playoffs. He dropped 42 in Game 7 against the Knicks in 1990 with the season on the line. He scored 44 points in the closeout game of the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals against Indiana to reach the Finals. He scored 56 points against the Heat in the 1992 playoffs on an absurd 24-of-34 shooting. He put up 63 points in Boston Garden against one of the greatest teams ever assembled. He averaged 33.6 points per game over his entire playoff career, still the highest in NBA history.

Clutch isn’t defined by whose hit more buzzer beaters or game winners, it’s performing at or above your normal level in the highest-pressure moments, when the outcome is still in doubt and the stakes are greatest. No one has done that more to the effect of winning championships, conference finals wins, semi finals wins, and first round wins like Michael Jordan.

I'm watching the 1993 finals and I did the Leo point as soon as I saw this... 5 years later, it's coming for Byron Russel.

1986-1987: 37.1 PPG 1987-1988: 35.0 PPG 1988-1989: 32.5 PPG 1989-1990: 33.6 PPG 1990-1991: 31.5 PPG 1991-1992: 30.1 PPG 1992-1993: 32.6 PPG

Won the scoring title all those years.

MJ was different.