{"id":152230,"date":"2025-07-06T23:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T23:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/152230\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T23:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T23:37:11","slug":"i-lost-the-only-game-when-michael-jordan-questioned-his-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/152230\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I lost&#8217;&#8230; The only game when Michael Jordan questioned his &#8216;confidence&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Michael Jordan is regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, and one key reason behind it was his overwhelming confidence.<\/p>\n<p>This immense confidence helped <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/michael-jordan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Michael Jordan<\/a> lead the <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/chicago-bulls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Chicago Bulls<\/a> to six NBA Championships in six tries during the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>Even today, many give examples of Jordan\u2019s incredible mentality. But one may wonder, was there a time when even MJ doubted himself? Well, yes, there was.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"868\" height=\"627\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-51583885-868x627.jpg\" alt=\"Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls (R) passes the ball off under pressure from Orlando Magic center Shaquille O'Neal (L) during the 1995 NBA Playoffs.\" class=\"wp-image-170077\" \/>Photo credit should read VINCENT LAFORET\/AFP via Getty ImagesMichael Jordan lost his \u2018confidence\u2019 during the 1995 NBA Playoffs<\/p>\n<p>From 1991 to 1993, the Jordan-led Bulls won three consecutive NBA titles. However, after that run, Mike surprisingly <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/vernon-maxwell-says-he-doesnt-want-to-hear-what-people-often-say-about-michael-jordans-retirement-in-passionate-rant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">announced his retirement<\/a> from the league.<\/p>\n<p>But it didn\u2019t take long for him to make a comeback to the league. MJ returned to the team in the middle of the 1994-95 NBA season.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of which, in the 1995 NBA Playoffs, the ever-so-confident Jordan lost his confidence against the <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/shaquille-oneal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Shaquille O\u2019Neal<\/a>-led <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/orlando-magic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Orlando Magic<\/a> in the second round.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the reasons why I was there was to help finish the ball game. In trying to do that, I made a critical error that changed the overall momentum of the series,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DFKNFSpx5QC\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Jordan said<\/a> of his Game 1 turnover. <\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cThey came to play, and we were there in the first place to win the game; put them on their back heels, and we could\u2019ve easily taken that series, and yet, in one moment, it changed all over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After taking a 1-0 lead vs the Bulls, the Magic sat in the driver\u2019s seat for the entirety of the series as Jordan was not his usual self.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom that point forward, I was trying to do a little more than I should\u2019ve. Because at the end of that game, I lost my confidence,\u201d Mike admitted.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Jordan bounced back the next season<\/p>\n<p>In the 1990s, seeing Jordan lose a playoff series was a rare occurrence. Evidently, Jordan ensured that fans wouldn\u2019t witness another meltdown from him like the Magic series for the rest of his Bulls tenure.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan did so by leading the Bulls to three more NBA titles before retiring for a second time in his career in 1998.<\/p>\n<p>Stats1996 Playoffs1997 Playoffs1998 PlayoffsPoints30.7 PPG31.1 PPG32.4 PPGRebounds4.9 RPG7.9 RPG5.1 RPGAssists4.1 APG4.8 APG3.5 APG<\/p>\n<p>During that stretch, MJ averaged 31.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game while shooting a solid 45.9% from the field. He also led the league in points per game during the regular season and the playoffs each year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>  <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Jordan is regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, and one key reason behind it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,920,919,329,3824,1409,935,6,4106],"class_list":{"0":"post-152230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bulls","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bulls","12":"tag-chicagobulls","13":"tag-eastern-conference","14":"tag-michael-jordan","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-legends"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114808923730407205","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}