“Of all the guys I play against, Dominique Wilkins made me rise to the occasion”: Michael Jordan on playing against the Hawks legend
Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins had serious battles in their prime
Both Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins were crowd pleasures in their prime. Michael Jordan was called Air Jordan for his “I believe I can fly” dunks. While Dominique Wilkins spectacular dunks gave him the name “The Human Highlight Reel”.
Both of them have competed in Slam Dunk Contests. Each of them has won the Slam Dunk twice. When it came to scoring, both of them put up high numbers. Dominique averaged 24.8 PPG, while Jordan averaged 30.1 PPG in their respective careers.
Jordon always went after Dominique since he was that spectacular. He said, “of all the guys I play against, there’s one who definitely makes me rise to the occasion.”
Wilkins added, “We love to play against each other, and it’s a thrill to watch him play. When we play against each other, we have some serious battles.”
Michael always had a better team than Dominique, which means Jordan always had an upper hand over Wilkins. They faced each other 45 times in the regular season. Out of which, Michael Jordan is 27- 18 against Dominique Wilkins.
The greatness of the Human Highlight reel
But nobody can deny Dominique’s greatness. He led the league in scoring in the 1985-1986 season average of 30.3 PPG. He was a 9-time NBA All-Star. Matter of fact, many fans were shocked when his name was snubbed from the 50 greatest NBA player list in 1997.
One of Dominique’s signature move was to put back his own missed shots. In an Open Court Dominique said, “I knew I would miss a shot. I knew when I would miss it.”
Wilkins continued,
“Sometimes I would shoot a shot to get a better shot. And so I knew the defense will turn to get the rebound. So once they turned, I went around them. So I shot and went at the same time”.
This shows how athletic and smart the Human Highlight Reel was on the court. No wonder Jordan loved to play against him.
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