|
Jordan’s
injury adds to comeback Attention professional basketball critics. It has been a little over a week since Michael Jordan had successful arthroscopic surgery in his right knee. But Jordan, 39, wasn’t even underneath the knife before skeptics began questioning whether the NBA legend has made a second successful comeback. When he made his first comeback in 1995, Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to three consecutive championships, two regular season MVP honors, and a season where the Bulls had the best record in NBA history. So when His Airness came back for the second time, he faced a two-edged sword. On the one hand, he was expected by some to live up to the expectations of his past with a supporting cast that was hardly the caliber of his past Bulls teams. Then were those who assumed Jordan would be overwhelmed by the new breed of talent that has swarmed the NBA over the last few years. Mission Impossible? After 11 games it looked that way. Sitting at 2-9, Washington was looking much like a sinking ship, with Jordan helplessly captaining the boat. The Wizards then proceeded to win 16 of their next 21, even in a stretch where second-leading scorer Richard Hamilton was sidelined with an injury. In that stretch, Jordan averaged 23 points and 6.4 rebounds on 35.1 minutes per game. Washington now sits in 9th place in the Eastern Conference, one spot away from making the playoffs. With 23 games remaining, they stand at 29-30, which is already 10 more wins than the Wizards had the entire season last year. And what about MJ? Sitting on the injured list, Jordan is leading the team with 24.3 points and 6.0 rebounds a game. He is averaging 5.4 assists and 36.7 minutes, and has scored at least 40 points five times this season. Despite these accomplishments, Jordan’s biggest feat may be how he has elevated the games of the players around him. Throughout his career, MJ has made a living of average players feed of off him to provide crucial roles. Hamilton, who led UCONN to a national championship, had many people wondering if he would ever live up to his high draft pick expectations. He is the team’s second leading scorer and has stepped up his role as a leader. There is also the solid inside play from the likes of Jahidi White and rookie North Carolina Tar Heel Brendan Haywood. Then there are the role players like Popeye Jones, Hubert Davis, and Courtney Alexander, who have elevated their games to a level never seen before. Sure, Jordan is not the same dominating player that he was in years past. However, when you look at his performance with the situation given (and at 39), Jordan would be my choice for MVP. Mission Accomplished. Danny
Gillham |
|
|
TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
||