An icon was born globally 22 years ago tonight.
Michael Jordan's ascension as the NBA's greatest player gained tremendous traction on June 5, 1991. That day, his Chicago Bulls defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the NBA finals.
The Lakers, winners of five world championships in the 1980s, had won the first game of the series, and the Bulls - making their first NBA Finals appearance, was in need of a victory to avoid going down two games to none.
Jordan led the Bulls with 33 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds to help Chicago pull away for a 107-86 victory.
The game was well in hand when Jordan took a pass from Bulls center Cliff Levingston at the top of the key. He drove to the basket for what looked to be a dunk over Lakers defenders Sam Perkins and A.C. Green.
Jordan, however, switched the ball from his right hand to his left in midair and made a spectacular layup to cap a run of 13 consecutive field goals that he made.
The Bulls went on from there to win four straight games from the Lakers to capture their first NBA title. Jordan, coach Phil Jackson and Chicago went on to win three consecutive titles from 1991-93 before Jordan's first retirement.
He unretired in 1995 and led the Bulls to three more championships from 1996-98. During that span, Jordan established himself as the best player in the world. He went on to have several memorable NBA Finals performances.
He connected on six 3-point shots during Game 1 of the 1992 finals against the Portland Trail Blazers. Jordan had 38 points, including the tie-breaking 3-pointer with 25 seconds left in Game 5 of the 1997 finals against the Utah Jazz.
Jordan's last memorable performance came in the series-clinching Game 6 of the finals against the Jazz when he stripped Utah's Karl Malone of the ball, then hit the game-winning shot over the Jazz's Byron Russell with 5.2 seconds left.
But the championship highlight reel began with Jordan's shot against the Lakers.
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