Michael Jordan : biography
Playoffs
|- |style="text-align:left;"|1985 |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |4||4||42.8||.436||.125||.828||5.8||8.5||2.8||1.0||29.3 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1986 |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |3||3||45.0||.505||1.000||.872||6.3||5.7||2.3||1.3||43.7 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1987 |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |3||3||42.7||.417||.400||.897||7.0||4.7||2.4||1.1||36.3 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1988 |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |10||10||42.7||.531||.333||.869||7.1||7.6||2.5||.8||34.8 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1989 |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |17||17||41.8||.510||.236||.799||7.0||7.6||1.7||1.8||29.1 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1990 |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |16||16||42.1||.514||.320||.836||7.2||6.8||2.8||.9||36.7 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1991† |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |17||17||40.5||.524||.385||.845||6.4||8.4||2.4||1.4||31.1 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1992† |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |22||22||41.8||.499||.386||.857||6.2||5.8||2.0||.7||34.5 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1993† |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |19||19||41.2||.475||.389||.805||6.7||6.0||2.1||.9||35.1 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1995 |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |10||10||42.0||.484||.367||.810||6.5||4.5||2.3||1.4||31.5 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1996† |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |18||18||40.7||.459||.403||.818||4.9||4.1||1.8||.3||30.7 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1997† |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |19||19||42.3||.456||.194||.831||7.9||4.8||1.6||.9||31.1 |- |style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1998† |style="text-align:left;"|Chicago |21||21||41.5||.462||.302||.812||5.1||3.5||1.5||.6||32.4 |- class="sortbottom" |style="text-align:left;"|Career |style="text-align:left;"| |179||179||41.8||.487||.332||.828||6.4||5.7||2.1||.8||33.4 |}
Player profile
Jordan was a shooting guard who was also capable of playing as a small forward (the position he would primarily play during his second return to professional basketball with the Washington Wizards), and as a point guard. Jordan was known throughout his career for being a strong clutch performer. He decided numerous games with last-second plays (e.g., The Shot) and performed at a high level even under adverse circumstances (e.g., Flu Game). His competitiveness was visible in his prolific trash-talkDeCourcy, Mike. , sportingnews.com, July 21, 2006. Retrieved January 16, 2007. and well-known work ethic.Jackson, Phil. , Inside Stuff, June/July 1998, available at nba.com. Retrieved January 16, 2007.Donnelly, Sally B. , Time, January 9, 1989. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
Jordan had a versatile offensive game. He was capable of aggressively driving to the basket, as well as drawing fouls from his opponents at a high rate; his 8,772 free throw attempts are the ninth highest total of all time., basketball-reference.com. Retrieved May 16, 2008. As his career progressed, Jordan also developed the ability to post up his opponents and score with his trademark fadeaway jump shot, using his leaping ability to "fade away" from block attempts. According to Hubie Brown, this move alone made him nearly unstoppable.Brown, Hubie. , National Basketball Association. Retrieved January 15, 2007. Despite media criticism as a "selfish" player early in his career, Jordan’s 5.3 assists per game also indicate his willingness to defer to his teammates. In later years, the NBA shortened its three-point line to 22 feet (from 23 feet, 9 inches), which coupled with Jordan’s extended shooting range to make him a long-range threat as well—his 3-point stroke developed from a low 9/52 rate (.173) in his rookie year into a stellar 111/260 (.427) shooter in the 1995–96 season. For a guard, Jordan was also a good rebounder (6.2 per game).
