ELItorial: ...Jordan was smart to go out on top

By Joey Ax

Rarely does a professional athlete retire from his sport in his prime, still basking in the glory of a championship. But Michael Jordan--perhaps the greatest player ever to don a pair of basketball sneaks--has done it not once, but twice.

MJ's retirement would be like Mark O'Meara calling it quits after sinking the winning putt in this year's Masters. Or Joe Carter hanging up his spikes after hitting the game-winning home run to clinch the World Series for the Blue Jays in 1993. Or Joe Montana throwing in the towel after tossing The Catch to Dwight Clark to clinch the 1981 Super Bowl for the 49ers. Unthinkable.

Jordan won five MVP awards and six Finals MVP trophies. He can't even fit all of his championship rings on one hand. He led the NBA in scoring 10 times, averaging an record 31.5 points per game, and 33.4 points in the playoffs. He was All-NBA first team 10 times and All-Defense first team nine times.

But what made Jordan the best player in the basketball world goes beyond the numbers. His determination and his unrivaled ability to lift the level of his game whenever upstarts (the Pistons, the Lakers, the Jazz) threatened made him the most feared competitor in the league. As a Knicks fan, I hated watching him win--but as a basketball fan, I loved watching him soar.

People often forget that Jordan was not merely a gifted player; he also worked as hard as anyone at his craft. When MJ returned from baseball and faltered in the playoffs, some wondered if Air Jordan had been brought back to earth by Father Time. No problem, said MJ. He perfected an unstoppable fadeaway jumper that offseason and came back to make everyone (read: Nick Anderson) who said he had lost a step look like a moron. When the news leaked that Jordan hadn't been working out during the lockout, many who knew him became certain that he was ready to walk away. MJ was that good because he worked that hard.

Of course, those of us who saw him play know that push-ups and mind games did not account for his spectacular moves; he could fly. Remember him in slow motion. Maybe you see him nailing the coffin shut on the Cavs' playoff hopes not once but twice on buzzer-beating shots. Or dropping 63 points on the Celtics in the `86 playoffs in a double-overtime loss, prompting Larry Bird to call him "God." Or scoring 38 in the '97 Finals against the Jazz despite looking as if he had caught Ebola.

And of course, any New Yorker knows that of all the teams in the league, MJ tormented the long-suffering Knicks most of all. In 1988, he denied the Knicks a playoff berth by scoring 47 points in the final regular-season game. In 1993 Jordan posted a triple-double to propel the Bulls to a critical Game 5 victory in the Conference Finals. Two years later--and only one week after his return from baseball--he poured in 55 points at the Garden and made the game-winning assist. Jordan and the Bulls knocked the Knicks out of the playoffs in five of the last eight full seasons he played. Every time the teams clashed, it seemed, the game would still be close in the final minutes, and I would watch No. 23 with an increasing sense of dread. It was Jordan Time.

Take Game Six of the '98 Finals against the Jazz. The Bulls were trailing by three points with 19 seconds left when Jordan drove to the hole for a layup. But Utah could run the clock down unless the Bulls fouled or stole the ball. Jordan was not interested in fouling. He stripped the ball from Karl Malone and dribbled upcourt. Every single person in the arena knew what was coming. With 11 seconds left, Jordan began his move. Driving hard to the middle, he suddenly crossed over 17 feet from the basket and found a clear look at the hoop when Bryon Russell slipped and fell. This was perhaps the last NBA shot he would ever take. 87-86, Bulls.

Jordan was right to retire. Although he could still outplay anyone on the planet, he knew another season--even a shorter one--would be taxing."Mentally, I'm exhausted. I don't feel I have a challenge," he said. Perhaps the NBA lockout affected his decision. Always a savvy marketer, maybe Jordan wanted to dissociate his image from the now-sullied league.

But I think there is another reason for Jordan's retirement. By walking away from the game, he can safely say that no one has ever defeated him. "When I lay my head down on the pillow at night, I'll know there was one guy I never had a chance to beat," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "That bothers me." No other can lay claim to Jordan's greatness, and no one can ever boast of topping him when it counted.

Photo courtesy of Tim Boyle, Newsmakers.

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