“When Michael Jordan realized his teammates weren’t just moving mannequins for jerseys”: Bulls head coach Phil Jackson instilled the championship mentality in MJ

The 1991 NBA finals are one of the best-remembered finals in the semi-modern era, for many reasons

Michael Jordan won his first championship in 1991 – the Chicago Bulls breezed past a strong Lakers team 4-1. Jordan learned two things in that series – He was going to take over the reins from Magic Johnson, and his teammates could make for good scorers too.

Phil Jackson made him understand that if he was being double-teamed, someone on the court was wide open. If it was a younger Jordan, he would have wanted to push through the block and score himself. But he knew this was his chance to win a title, so he let go of his ego. He saw John Paxson was being left open on all plays and passed it to him. The shot kept going in, and MJ had his lightbulb moment.

The Last Dance made the younger generation sit up and take notice of Michael Jordan. They knew him through his sneakers, but now they had an outlet to know him as a person and a player. The Dance had many memorable moments, “And I took that personally” becoming one of the most famous ones.

Documentaries like it make for good viewing – the people who grew up in the 90s get to relive their moments, and their kids get to see what their parents saw.

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The 1991 NBA finals was a history-defining series in many ways – The era of Magic Johnson was coming to an end and MJ was ready to take over

It took Michael Jordan seven years to win a championship – the arrogance of him wanting to do everything by himself held him back quite a bit. He saw the likes of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson do things their way, and was enamored by their ability to pull off miracles out of nothingness. The competitive spirit was commendable – the necessity to do it on his own, not.

It required Phil Jackson to come in and explain to him that a team sport could not be won individually – however great one was. His radical coaching methods showed Jordan, not everything needed to be hero ball. It needed to be multiple championship-winning plays stitched together. He decided to let the ball go to Paxson because he trusted Phil more than himself.

After winning his first ring, Jordan remained that supremely confident athlete. Now his confidence was he also could win titles, and not just be a great player on an underachieving team. What transpired after the 1991 NBA finals are carved into the annals. Nothing can change that, and MJ deserved every bit of praise for the athlete he was.

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