Michael Jordan 1998 Playoffs: Gm 3 Masterpiece Vs. NJ, 38pts

This is one of my favorite performances from MJ. This was MJ portraying his complete mastery of the game.

35 year old MJ had his Bulls up 2-0 against the young and athletic NJ Nets. With his year-long shooting hand injury, MJ was shooting a 'poor by his standards' 44% in those two games (although he was averaging 35.5ppg). With NJ facing a sweep, they were determined to play hard, scrappy and desperately. But MJ lived for these moments and elevating his game during these times was his trademark. Facing a 'closing' situation, MJ chose to lock into his Yoda mode - yet again.

It wasn't the fact that MJ shot 73% on 16-22 here to finish the series on 53% shooting overall that grabbed me. It was that he displayed yet more poker cards hidden up his sleeve that further separated him as the greatest there ever will be: style, control and mental intimidation. With his jumper on guided-missile control, MJ knew that he could have dropped 40-50 in the first half alone. But he picked his spots and toyed with the game. The mere threat of him anywhere near the ball provided him with the mental dominance that made the Nets scramble with nervous energy. Meanwhile, MJ looked like he was barely sweating during a scrimmage game. In contrast to the scurrying Nets, it appeared as if he was playing in slow-motion with everything coming too easy for him. Calm and cool, he didn't even need to shift gears and attack the rim. The finesse jumper was on, the ability to take over the game was on and his legend took over.

But MJ's mental mastery of the game was what dominated this game. He chose only to shoot 22 shots and only enough to provide the knockout punch. Sometimes, the threat of scoring 50-60 on 75% shooting is even more powerful than actually doing it. Like a master surgeon who only needs one cut to get it right, that was all that was needed. This was truly a masterpiece from MJ's mature, perfected game.