Greatest Moments in NBA Finals History: “The Shrug Game”

The greatness of Michael Jordan is measured by the countless number of memorable moments on the biggest of stages. Even he would tell you that during some of these occurrences, there was no explaination as to how it was happening; it’s almost like an out-of-body experience of being in the zone.

Enter June 3, 1992, now referred to as "The Shrug Game".  Chicago was hosting Portland in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.  With the Blazers starting off on fire making their first seven shots and jumping to an eight point lead, Michael decided to turn the tide and take matters into his own hands.

Jordan would go on to set an NBA Finals record for points scored in a half (35) and 3-pointers made in one half (six). After the sixth trey, Jordan turned to the midcourt TV camera and shrugged as if to say, "I guess everything's going in."  It would be one of the most efficient offensive performances in Finals history, scoring 39 points on 16-of-27 shooting and handing out 11 assists. He had only one turnover and was needed only for 34 minutes because the Bulls ran away to a 122-89 win over Portland.

 

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