Three-point contests back in the day used to be very different. Unlike the modern-day players, the 90s era of basketball stars didn’t practice shooting from long distance a lot. As a result, even the likes of Michael Jordan struggled in the three-point contest.
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Tim Legler, a former three-point contest winner and now an ESPN analyst, was making his way into the arena for Game 4 when he was asked a fun trivia question: ‘Who has the least amount of points in a three-point contest in NBA history?’ Two players are tied for the record, one of them being the Bulls legend.
He correctly guessed Michael Jordan, “I know for a fact Jordan did horribly, right? He’s one of them.” He was stunned to find out MJ shares the record with Detlef Schrempf. The number? Just five points. Detlef set the record in 1988, and MJ equalled him during the 1990 three-point contest.
Now, Legler isn’t just any NBA analyst. He won the 1996 three-point contest. So naturally, the next question was: has he ever flexed that win over arguably the greatest player of all time? He said, “No…He’s always gonna have the ultimate trump card if I get into that kind of conversation.”
Six rings, five MVPs, an unbeaten Finals record, and more, it’s tough to argue against that.
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MJ never wanted to be a great three-point shooter. He was clear on what his strengths were and believed that focusing too much on shooting from a distance would take a lot away from his natural game. He said, “Three-point shooting is something that I don’t want to excel at because it takes away from all phases of my game.” So, it’s no surprise that he did so poorly in the 1990 contest.
Michael Jordan never allowed Tim Legler to relax
During a conversation with JJ Redick on The Old Man & The Three podcast, Legler said that he played against a lot of Hall of Famers and overall great players. But even after facing the likes of Reggie Miller, Clyde Drexler, Mitch Richmond, and more, he endured most trouble when he faced MJ.
He said, “He was the only guy, Jordan, that I ever played against, that at no point could you relax…Because he was that voracious in wanting to attack, always.” He explained the difference with a Reggie Miller example. Legler said that if he chased him for five minutes, at some point, the ball was going into someone else’s hands with a scoring opportunity.
But in the case of Jordan, the Bulls’ offense was crafted in such a way that MJ remained the centerpiece, and he would eventually find a way to score.
