After a standout career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' Nasional Championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bull in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contest, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball.In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993-1994 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1992 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.
The art of backboard shattering starts with a towering big-man with the pure dunking horsepower comparable to an elephant stampede and ends with a silence from the crowd and a Steve Urkel-esque ‘Did I do that?’ from the man responsible for the mess of glass shards. It’s like watching two grand slams in one inning (what-up, Fernando Tatis) or back-to-back kick-off returns for TDs in that both feats are still very much possible, but highly unlikely due to improved structural design of hoops, better special-teams defense, and not allowing Chan-Ho Park to pitch for that long.
Michael Jordan is, of course, remembered for his six Championship Titles and the countless game winners, but somewhere far down that list of “Stuff MJ Did” is the time he swooped into the paint and dunked mercilessly against a professional Italian basketball team during an exhibition game in Italy. He ended up showering the very men he just posterized in a downpour of glass, the backboard now an open window after it was picked clean by the resonating thud of Jordan’s slam dunk. The cherry on top was the Michael did this wearing a pair of the Air Jordan 1s – which surely had Nike salivating at the mouth. The game was played on August 25th, 1986, and was never televised but later surfaced during a sports highlight show on a Spanish television station, an odd coincidence which only adds to the mystique, so continue reading for the rare footage of Jordan shattering the backboard and let us know if you’ve seen any better from Shaq, Darryl Dawkins, Darvin Ham, or anyone else who has victimized the rim.
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