Michael Jordan: Encyclopedia II - Michael Jordan - Early NBA Career

Michael Jordan - Early NBA Career

After a fairly disappointing first NBA game where he only scored 16 points, Jordan quickly took the league by storm in his rookie year, scoring 40 or more points 7 times en route to a 28.2 PPG season. He also averaged 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 2.4 steals per game in his rookie year. He revived interest in a floundering Bulls franchise and became one of the most popular players in the sport. His accomplishments lead to a spot on the All-Star team and the Rookie of the Year award.

In the 3rd game of the 1985-1986 NBA season, Jordan sustained a foot injury that would cause him to miss all but 18 regular season games. Upon his return, Jordan was restricted to a limited number of minutes per game by Coach Kevin Lougherty and General Manager Jerry Krause. This soured his relationship with Krause for the rest of his career. In spite of his injury, the Bulls still managed to make the playoffs, where they were defeated in three games by the eventual champion Boston Celtics. Although they were soundly defeated, the series is best remembered by the 63 point performance of Jordan in Game 2, setting an NBA playoff scoring record for a single game that still stands.

The following season established Jordan as one of the best players in the league. Jordan scored 50 or more points 8 times during the course of the regular season, won his first scoring title with a 37.1 PPG average, and became the only player other than Wilt Chamberlain to score over 3,000 points in a single season. He finished as the runner up to Magic Johnson in the MVP voting. The playoffs ended as it had the year before, in a 3 game sweep to the Celtics.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Early NBA Career", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki