20 Years Ago Today: Jordan Clears 'Final' Challenge

CLEVELAND - Funny to see LeBron James in a position to win the first ever NBA title of his career, provided his Miami Heat win the final two games over the Dallas Mavericks (they better not). It's funny because the greatest basketball player in history won his very first championship 20 years ago today.

The one and only Michael Jordan.

Hard to believe but the young Chicago Bulls put the heavily experienced L.A. Lakers to rest on the Lakers' home court with a stirring 108-101 victory in Game 5 of the 1991 NBA Finals. Jordan, just 28 years of age at the time dominated the series in the most amazing of ways. He averaged his usual unstoppable high number of points; 31.2 ppg in the series, but his astounding 11.4 assists per game was unreal. For good measure, he also chipped in huge with 6.6 rebounds, 2.8 steals and shot a searing 55% from the floor.

Easy choice for his first ever Finals MVP award.

The game will forever be remembered for sharpshooting role player John Paxson's dead-eye shooting in the closing minutes of the game. But what I delightfully remember is how Jordan, the ultimate crunch time player and finisher continually drove into the lane, drew heavy defensive attention and kicked the ball out to Paxson for those huge 4th quarter baskets. MJ finished with 30 points, 10 assists and 5 steals.

Equally memorable was Jordan's post-game showing in the locker room. Flanked by his father and wife, the iconic hoopster was overcome with the emotion of his greatest professional moment. Through persistent tears, he remarked that it had been a "seven year struggle" and was very happy to be over the "stigma of not winning a title." What many forget now is that Michael had been a stupefyingly brilliant basketball maestro his entire career to that point. Illustrious accomplishments abounded, but he could never manage to lead his Bulls to a league title. He seemed destined to end his career someday with gigantic stats and breathtaking highlights, but no titles.

That never happened.

Instead, Jordan's immense mastery of the '91 NBA Finals became a springboard for a total of six NBA titles he would lead Chicago to by the summer of 1998. Though Earvin "Magic" Johnson submitted an awesome series performance (16 points, 20 assists in the final loss), Jordan proved that he was not only heads and shoulders above the rest of the game's stars, but he was also a winner.

20 years later, LeBron has yet to prove that.