We all know how competative Michael Jordan was. We’ve seen ESPNs “The Last Dance”, read countless articles, seen a thousand videos of ‘His Airness, so if you think Jordan didn’t want to win an NBA Slam Dunk Contest, you don’t know him. What many people forget is Jordan was in the 1985 Slam Dunk Contest but would lose to Dominique Wilkins in the finals. In 1986 Jordan would be injured and could not compete. The Year was 1987. Jordan who was 23 years old didn’t need to be crowned NBA Slam Dunk Champion for the fans to know how great he was. Jordan lead the league in points per game (37.1), finish 2nd in MVP voting (Behind Magic Johnson) and the Bulls would make their first playoff appreance since acquiring him.But we all know how the spotlight and winning in the spotlight meant to Jordan. Jordan needed to win this competition not for us, but for himself.
Unfortunately Former Dunk champion Dominique Wilkins was out with an injury,we would have to wait one more year to see Jordan vs. Wilkins rematch. Defending champion Spud Webb wasn’t competing so the path was set for Jordan to show the world what he was capable of was wide open.
Jordan would actually begin the contest a bit on the slower end. His first few dunks where nothing too spectacular. But in true Jordan fashion, as the game went on and the pressure mounted, Jordan would kick it up a gear and take it to another level. Jordan would go on to defy gravity with side-ways dunk, 2 handed floating windmill dunk, and one of his famous dunks to date.
It was here where he did his “Dunk from the free throw line” for the first time in the semifinal round (1st Dunk). Even though I personally liked his 1988 Dunk from the Free Throw better, you can’t deny what impact this dunk had for Jordan and the NBA. The card pictured is also from this contest, it occurred in the Semifinal round (2nd Dunk). Jordan would go on to beat Jerome Kersey in the finals and MJ was finally crowned “Air Jordan”. Just imagine how great todays NBA Dunk Contests would be if they had competitive drive to win everything like Jordan and other NBA greats from the past had.
