Three Years After His Death, Jackson's Legend Continues To Grow

CLEVELAND - It was one of the worst days in music history; a tragedy on a global scale that hit with such impact, that even the stability of the Internet was challenged. The event held such weight and generated such pervasive interest, that every major newspaper around the world featured the story as front page news the following morning.

Michael Jackson was dead.

Today marks the three year anniversary of that shocking Thursday that robbed the planet of, arguably its most accomplished and imaginative entertainer. Jackson was just two months from his 51st birthday when he suddenly died at the hands of his now incarcerated personal physician. More importantly to his legion of fans around the world, he was also less than two weeks away from embarking upon his first tour in a dozen years. That ill-fated, already sold out concert series was going to remind the world of MJ's significant brilliance as a stage performer and musician.

At least, that was the plan.

This year, two of Jackson's greatest accomplishments will be celebrated and re-appraised for the groundbreaking strokes of pure genius that they are; his Thriller and Bad albums reach important milestones in 2012. In the case of Thriller, November 30th marks the 30th anniversary of that iconic LP's release. For all intents and purposes, it was that album and its cutting edge trifecta of music videos that transformed Michael Jackson from star musician to one of the seminal entertainers in history. The worldwide obsession with Jackson reached a fever pitch in the spring of 1983 and persisted intensely until the end of 1984. That era, known as Michaelmania, was anchored by the chart domination of Thriller, which resulted in the then 25-year old megastar's unprecedented popularity and universal critical acclaim. MJ amassed dozens of awards and accolades during this period, and stood firmly at the pinnacle of not only his own career, but the music industry as a whole. When the dust settled on that album's performance, it had gone far beyond the realm of being just a great album; it became and remains a cultural touchstone of unfettered brilliance.

Then, there was Bad.

As the much ballyhooed follow-up to the Thriller freight train, Bad was destined to pale in comparison to its predecessor, if not in quality, then certainly in acclaim and cultural ubiquity. Released just two days after Jackson's 29th birthday on August 31st, the album has already kicked off a marketing push in recent weeks to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Since both records hold prominent status as two of the most revered in the annals of pop music, Jackson's singular talents and astounding achievements are just a fraction of the multitude of reasons that his stature and body of work continue to expand in his absence. Of all the musicians and entertainers in today's world, none of them even approach his resonance, significance and influence--not to mention his artistic craftsmanship.

June 25th will forever stand as a day of horror and grief for myself as well as Michael's millions of fans in every corner of the globe. In spite of that, the timelessness, innovation and breathtaking quality of his work will immortalize the man as a true giant in the world of music, dance and live performance.

He will always be with us.

Despite Recent Past, LeBron Now Worthy of High Acclaim

CLEVELAND - Ever since LeBron James bolted Cleveland for the sunny shores of Florida two years ago, my admiration and rooting interest for the man vanished quickly. But after he led the Miami Heat to a convincing 4-1 series victory and NBA championship over the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday night, I realized that my disdain for him needed to be placed on hold for awhile. In other words, I decided to salute James for his total mastery of this NBA postseason.

Mind-blowing greatness should be appreciated, period.

Heavily worshipped in the media as a super spectacular basketball whiz since the final two seasons of his high school career, LeBron joined the pro ranks in the fall of 2003, just six months after the great Michael Jordan ended his career forever in a ghastly blue and white uniform. James immediately garnered immense praise for his singular brilliance; he was a breathtaking playmaker for the team that drafted him, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and a stunningly proficient scorer. As the years added up and his across the board statistical feats increased, he began to come under heavy scrutiny for not leading his team to a league title. He authored shockingly great games both in the regular season and postseason, but always fell short in leading his team to a championship.

The negative whispers grew louder.

LeBron's callously executed departure from the Cavs following another postseason loss in 2010 transformed him from beloved hoops hero to basketball outcast and villain. Instantly, he was the subject of enormous bitterness across the NBA and especially in Cleveland, where his exit quickly returned the Cavs to their pre-LeBron irrelevance. Once he joined forces with Heat megastar Dwyane Wade and the newly acquired star Chris Bosh, James was seen as a shameless opportunist who tried to short cut success. He was derided by the general public as well as former NBA greats, all of which added to his new villainous reputation. When Miami loss the 2011 NBA finals to the Dallas Mavericks, many people across the country cheered and celebrated LeBron's failure, especially since he was a non-factor in the fourth quarter of multiple games.

Fast forward to this season.

Several times during the 2012 NBA playoffs, the Miami Heat looked like they were on the verge of collapse and elimination. Many people seemed ready to cheer again for James to tumble further down the ladder of public perception. However, the 27-year old superstar found another gear and enormous inner strength and focus to rescue his team from disaster. Beginning in their second round series against Indiana, LeBron turned in historically dominant performances, something that carried over to the showdown with Boston in the conference finals. His resolve, resiliency and flat-out superiority proved to be at an all-time high and sent the message that this season, his 9th as a pro, was going to end differently.

Boy did it ever.

The delicious NBA finals match-up with the Thunder afforded basketball fans the chance to witness a marvelous rivalry-in-the-making between the league's two pre-eminent players; James and Kevin Durant. OKC was favored to win the series based on their dominance of three straight Western conference powerhouses as well as their young and awesome star-laden team. Durant and star guard Russell Westbrook were outstanding in the series, but James was in another galaxy with his all-around play. He dominated the rebounding, made countless pinpoint passes to teammates for easy baskets, hit huge shots and free throws himself in crunch time and repeatedly scored in the lane. All of that brilliance came as a result of LeBron operating from the low post, something he rarely did in the past, but was always capable of.

The result? LeBron's first title and the second in seven seasons for Miami.

Without question, another factor in the Heat's 2012 breakthrough was the bitter pain they endured collectively (and James in particular) after last season's meltdown. LeBron's historic dominance of these playoffs is worthy of extensive praise, no matter how much he screwed up his own reputation by being such an arrogant brat after leaving Cleveland. He reformed that aspect of his persona this season, at least publicly, and took an all business approach from Day one of this lockout shortened campaign. These are all contributing elements as to why he now sits as a once-in-a-lifetime player who is also an NBA champion.

And he did it the hard way.

15 Years Later, Jordan's Drive Still Standard of Excellence

CLEVELAND - More than ever, it seems, questions get raised about NBA superstars and their "performance in the clutch." This past season alone, ESPN.com launched a comprehensive analysis of both Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and assessed their reliability in crunch time. The studies revealed Bryant to be a horrible crunch-time shooter, despite his reputation to the contrary. As for James, he has long been the subject of ridicule for his passivity and non-attacking style of play in the final minutes of close games. All of this can be blamed on Michael Jordan.

True story.

It was 15 years ago today that the basketball legend authored arguably the gutsiest performance of his illustrious career. It was Game 5 of the 1997 NBA finals, a tough match up between Jordan's Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz, who were still in their John Stockton-to-Karl Malone glory days. As a matter of fact, the Jazz had spent the previous two games squaring a series that had threatened to turn into a Bulls cakewalk. Stockton himself highlighted his team's Game 4 victory with a steal from Jordan on a spin move into the lane, then threw a long outlet pass to Malone for a dunk on the other end. That play energized Utah the previous game and deadlocked the Finals at 2-2.

Game 5 of any series is usually seen as the pivotal game, especially if that series is tied at two going in. The Bulls were looking to get back on track and regain control of the series, and the Jazz were aiming to put the Bulls in a hole that seemed all but impossible just a few days prior. Raising the degree of difficulty for Chicago was Jordan's health status prior to the game. It was first disclosed on the NBC pregame telecast that the legendary hoopster had taken ill; the victim of a violent stomach flu (though initially reported as a case of food poisoning) and had been vomiting consistently since the early morning hours. Even still, Jordan's insatiable competitiveness and unmatched will to win guaranteed that he would be in the starting line-up for this ultra-important game.

Utah got off to a roaring start in the game, running up a 29-16 lead after one quarter. Jordan, meanwhile, had a very sickly tint to his skin and looked miserable. During timeouts, his body language was very slouchy while he wore agony on his face and often covered his head with a towel. However, with the Jazz off to such a great start and threatening to put the game out of reach in the second period, MJ shook off the debilitating effects of his illness and rallied the Bulls by scoring 17 audacious points to pull Chicago to within just four points at halftime.

The uneventful third quarter gave way to another offensive burst from Jordan in the fourth. Pulling loads of energy and resilience from the most distant areas of his inner soul, the 34-year old headliner poured in another 15 points in the final frame. Included in Michael's closing flourish was a backbreaking three point jumper that put the Bulls ahead with just 25 seconds left in the game. Even though they were only up by the slimmest of margins, the cold-blooded shot infused Chicago with a psychological edge over the pesky Jazz. Utah's precise execution and ever increasing confidence needed to be curtailed if the Bulls were going to win this game, and with the reality of MJ's pivotal basket, the tables had turned Chicago's way once again.

When the buzzer sounded and the scoreboard publicized a Bulls 90-88 triumph, Michael Jordan was near collapse and famously crumpled into teammate Scottie Pippen's arms from utter exhaustion. A simple and brief on-court interview with Ahmad Rashad was about all MJ had to say about this game in its immediate aftermath, but none of that mattered. He'd already said it all during his excruciating 44 minutes in battle; his transcendence was never more obvious, especially when Jazz star Karl Malone's lackluster performance is taken into account. Malone had just 19 points and 7 rebounds--pitiful numbers for a superstar (and that season's joke of an MVP) of his caliber in a home game of this magnitude. In spite of Malone's marginal numbers, there is no need for an excoriation of the man. Instead, we should salute the heroic and phenomenal excellence of Jordan, who once again proved himself to be the master of the crunch-time moment. Just a week and a half prior to this game, MJ knocked down the game-winning, buzzer beating jumper to lead Chicago to a Game 1 victory. Two days after this Herculean effort in Game 5, he drew a double-team from John Stockton in the closing seconds of Game 6 and passed to sharpshooting specialist Steve Kerr for the championship clinching jumper.

Defending champion Chicago won the 5th of their eventual six NBA titles after that shot.

Looking back on Michael Jordan's classic Game 5 effort against all odds in the '97 finals, we all have the benefit of 15 years worth of perspective. However, nothing changes the fact that MJ epitomized basketball genius to the highest degree; he was a singularly gifted megastar with the white hot confidence of a rising sun. Not to mention the fact that he also possessed the indelible leadership qualities that augmented each of his teammates' contributions. Can Kobe and LeBron lay claim to those attributes? So, far they haven't...but that's fine.

Jordan was always in a class by himself.

Three Points To Prove: Jordan's '92 Finals Opener, 20 Years Later

CLEVELAND - Michael Jordan first crafted his astounding hoops reputation from his breathtaking ability to expertly penetrate defenses and finish spectacularly at the rim. It's what earned him the nickname "Air Jordan," since his forays to the basket were of the high altitude variety. But on a single evening in the final weeks of spring in 1992, the then 29-year old basketball demigod dramatically added another chapter to his iconography.

Long distance shooting.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Game One of the 1992 NBA Finals, the indelible game that showcased Jordan at his brazen and coolly electrifying best. MJ drilled six consecutive three-point baskets in a 9:22 span of the first half which ended with the MVP having scored 35 mind-boggling points. When taken at face value, the game, a match-up between the Chicago Bulls and Portland Trailblazers, was incredible enough as it were. But when context is added to the discussion, it immediately becomes clear that Jordan authored a singularly historic moment in the annals of basketball history that proved definitively his unassailability as a basketball mind-game master.

Going into the ballyhooed series, the media relentlessly played up the aerial match-up between MJ and his Western conference counterpart, Portland's Clyde Drexler. During the 1991-92 NBA regular season, Drexler's brilliance led some in the media to label him as the possible league MVP. He certainly enjoyed a spectacular season as he averaged 25.0 points per game along with 6.6 rpg and 6.7 apg. He was a high-scoring, high-flying shooting guard with highlight reel ability and outstanding defensive prowess. Because all of these attributes defined Chicago's Jordan as well, the match-up was seen as an eye-popping showdown between the two best all-around players in the game.

It had become a popular opinion in some NBA circles to label Drexler as "the best player outside of Chicago." There was also the famous opinion that Jordan was better at everything than Drexler, except three point shooting. For the hyper-competitive Jordan, this was seen as a subtle indictment of his perimeter shooting ability. Statistical evidence proved that neither player was a great three-point shooter; Drexler shot about 34% from the arc that season and Jordan stood at a meager 27%. Perception may have been inspired by the huge difference in makes that Drexler had over Jordan. The Portland star made 87 more threes than MJ that season, largely because he shot 4.4 per game to Jordan's 1.3.

"[Drexler's] a better three-point shooter than I choose to be," said a calculating and quietly seething Jordan, prior to the series opener. Since the Bulls were the defending NBA champions, and the prohibitive favorites to repeat in this series (after a dominant 67-15 season), and Jordan was the recently crowned league MVP for the second consecutive season, Chicago and its megastar were loaded with swagger and devoid of humility.

Anyone that knew what Jordan's offense game entailed immediately noticed that the man was clearly on a mission as the first quarter of Game One got underway. He uncharacteristically spotted up behind the three-point line as either Scottie Pippen or John Paxson brought the ball upcourt. He fired off two attempts from long range in the first few minutes and missed them both. Portland though, ran up a 15-5 lead and seemed poised to extend it further.

Until Jordan laid down his rules.

Soon, MJ's masterful offense was firing on all cylinders. Pull up mid-range j's and post up fadeaways were all falling for the 6-time NBA scoring champion when he suddenly rose up from the arc and nailed his first trey in three attempts. This was at a point in his career where he was still young, energetic and athletic enough to physically overpower other teams and bend them to his will psychologically. As Jordan's offense went into overdrive, so did the Bulls' trademark suffocating defense. Soon, the Blazers had lost all poise and focus and ended the first half staring at a 15-point deficit. Jordan had rang up a transcendent half, nailing 14 of his 21 attempts for his silky smooth 35 points. The second half was a mere formality, but featured two jaw dropping plays from the legendary MJ. He mostly dished off to teammates in that half and wound up with a 39 point, 11 assist slice of excellence to add to his overflowing basketball resume. The Bulls won in a rout, 122-89 and Drexler never looked as inferior to MJ as he did on this night. He wound up with a pedestrian 16 points on 5 of 14 shooting.

By time the 1992 finals ended 11 days later in a 4-2 series victory and a 2nd straight Bulls championship, MJ had proven without any doubt the level of superiority he possessed over Clyde the Glide. He would later reveal that he wanted people to understand the difference between him and Drexler and he felt that he accomplished it in that series. "Coming into this series, I thought [Jordan] had 2,000 moves," said Drexler. "I was wrong. He has 3,000."

For Jordan, his transcendence was never questioned again.