Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson was the driving factor behind Michael Jordan’s famous ‘shrug’ game.
Michael Jordan had a plethora of skills in his bag, which he used to win six NBA Championships with the Chicago Bulls with a flawless 6-0 record in the finals.
However, the best skill up Mike’s sleeve was undoubtedly his scoring prowess. Evidently, Jordan had a wide array of phenomenal scoring games during his career.
Speaking of which, today marks the 33rd anniversary of Jordan’s famous ‘shrug’ game against the Portland Trail Blazers during the 1992 NBA Finals.
In 1992, LA Lakers legend Magic Johnson had already announced his retirement from the NBA. While Magic and Jordan were rivals on the court, they were friends off of it.
Johnson once revealed how he played a role in Jordan’s famous ‘shrug’ game when he caught fire from the three-point line.
“The night before he hit all them 3s against Portland we’re playing [cards] at his house, his dad and I, we tore him up,” Johnson said.
“I’m calling the game, Michael is so competitive when he loses, he don’t want you to leave, I say no, I’m going home to the hotel.”
He added: “Remember he shot and he made 4 or 5 in a row. When he made that last one he turned to the scorer’s table, he was turning to me.
“He was so hot that night. He owes me a lot. I’m the one that he was mad at, that’s why he took it out on Clyde Drexler.”
The ‘shrug’ game happened in Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals. Jordan finished the contest with 39 points, 3 rebounds, and 11 assists while shooting 16-of-27 from the field and a phenomenal 6-of-10 from the three-point line.
Of course, Jordan also dropped one of the most iconic celebrations of all time after going off from the three-point line.
There are hardly any players in NBA history who can be viewed as equal to Jordan. However, when Jordan was still an active player in the league, he was consistently compared to the Trail Blazers’ Clyde Drexler.
Knowing Jordan’s competitive nature, he seemingly took offense to this. In fact, Mike once admitted that his motivation behind the ‘shrug’ game was to end the comparisons between him and Drexler.
“I wanted the people to know the difference between me and Clyde. It was always a comparison and I didn’t want it to be a comparison,” Jordan said.
He added: “I wanted to be totally different. I wanted people to see that on the highest stage.”
Jordan scorched his matchup throughout the series as he led the Bulls to a 4-2 series win over the Trail Blazers and won the second NBA Championship of his career in 1992.
