Michael Jordan’s greatness persists to this very day. Those who were lucky enough to witness his greatness first-hand cherish every moment. Even Marv Albert stands squarely amongst this group. Recently, the legendary sports announcer spoke about arguably the greatest highlight of the Chicago Bulls legend, and put into perspective how mesmerizing of a sight he had the pleasure of seeing.
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On the Come and Talk 2 Me podcast alongside Mark Jackson, Albert described Jordan’s iconic layup where he switched hands mid-air with immense detail to try and emphasize just how difficult the play was.
He then even admitted that while the players today have achieved some incredible feats, they don’t quite measure up to the play in question, in his opinion at least.
“That’s [Jordan’s layup is] one of the all-time moves as far as I’m concerned, at least in my days of doing the NBA. Just to see him propel himself and make that switch from one hand to the next… The crowd went crazy, we couldn’t believe what we saw! I mean there’s so many incredible Jordan moves. And these days with guys just making even more fantastic moves, you see things that are close to that, but not what Michael did.”
32 years ago today, Michael Jordan hits this iconic layup. #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/yW4p6aeEwn
— TodayInSports (@TodayInSportsCo) June 5, 2023
To say that there has not been a move that even rivals MJ’s layup to this day is a bold take, to say the least. After all, there have been many who have switched hands mid-air but perhaps didn’t get nearly as much air under them as His Airness did. And even if they did, the move wasn’t quite performed with the same level of grace as the Bulls legend.
Better yet, the stage that Jordan did this layup on was nothing to sneeze at, either. After all, he was on the road to winning his first-ever ring in the NBA.
Michael Jordan pulled this move off during the 1991 NBA Finals
The Chicago Bulls legend may have won six championships during his time in the NBA, however, the first one will likely always be special to him. At the end of the day, not only was the first time he finally reached the goal he had been striving hard for, but he defeated his idol, Magic Johnson to do it.
At the time, however, Jordan would have been forgiven for feeling all the pressure in the world on his shoulders. And still, he pulled off such an incredible maneuver, especially when it mattered most.
In MJ’s massive, massive book of mind-blowing plays, this chapter is likely the most special of all. Perhaps even the man himself sometimes looks at the highlight with a little smile on his lips.
