NBA 2K23 The Jordan Challenge will bring back the series’ celebration of Michael Jordan’s greatest adventures, adding five more games to the original set of 10. NBA 2K11 Offered 12 years ago.
“It was a passion project for me,” said executive producer Eric Boenish, a 20-year veteran of Visual Concepts, who has worked on all except three games in the series. “I wanted it to be head and shoulders up nba 2K11Jordan’s challenge in every possible way.”
Boenish and gameplay director Mike Wang worked hard to history and contextualize every moment of Jordan’s career, hoping to bring it to life for a new generation of basketball fans who might have never seen him play.
Jordan Challenge. will be available in all versions of NBA 2K23 , Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X – when it launches on September 8th. Here Are 15 Moments NBA 2K23The New Jordan Challenge, and the deep meaning inside each of them.
Photo: Manny Milne / Sports Illustrated / Getty Images
National Championship
March 29, 1982. Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans.
“Mike Jordan” was just the fourth freshman in North Carolina basketball history to start his first game for the Tar Heels. The 6-6 swingman from Wilmington Lan High School cracked the Tar Heel lineup that included future Hall of Famer James Worth and three-time All-American Sam Perkins. In the 1982 NCAA Finals against Patrick Ewing and Georgetown, Jordan buried an 18-foot jumper with 15 seconds to give UNC a 63–62 lead and Dean Smith his first national championship after six Final Four appearances. Jordan’s number 23 is one of seven numbers completely retired from service at Chapel Hill.
prelude to a dream
July 9, 1984. Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis.
The United States men’s national basketball team opened Indiana’s brand new Hoosier Dome against a team of NBA stars, including Hall of Famers Robert Parrish, Kevin McHale, and Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics. The crowd of 67,596 was the largest crowd to watch a basketball game in America at the time; President Ronald Reagan addressed the team and the crowd in a recorded speech played on the Arena scoreboard. Jordan scored 14 points in the game, which was won by the college players 97–82. He would reunite with 1984 Team USA teammates Ewing and Chris Mullin on the 1992 “Dream Team,” the largest gathering of talent in basketball history.
God in Disguise
April 20, 1986. Game 2, First Round of the Eastern Conference, Boston Garden, Boston.
The Chicago Bulls selected Jordan third overall from the 1984 NBA Draft, with the top five comprising future Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley. In 1986, the Bulls were 30–52 and seeded eighth against a mighty Celtics team heading for that franchise’s 16th NBA title. Although Boston led Chicago 135–131 in the second game of the first-round series, the Celtics had to survive Jordan’s 63-point barrage, which remains a record for an NBA playoff game. His in-between dribble and stepback jumper at Bird’s Face is still one of the biggest highlights in NBA history. “He was not Michael Jordan there; he was disguised as Lord Michael Jordan,” Bird said.
an all-star forever
February 7, 1988. NBA All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium.
A day after leaping from the free-throw line to defeat Dominic Wilkins in the Human Highlight film, in one of the greatest NBA dunk contests of all time, Jordan faced his own take on Magic Johnson and the Western Conference All-Stars. Dropped 40 points. home crowd. At the time, it was 2 points short of Wilt Chamberlain’s record for All-Star Game scoring.
shot
May 7, 1989. Game 5, Eastern Conference First Round, Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland.
You are probably already imagining this. Three seconds to go. Bulls are trailing 100-99. Brad Sellers inbounds the ball from midcourt. Larry Nance and Craig Ehlo form Jordan’s double team. Jordan kicks Nance out of the play and takes Sellers’ pass, causing Ahlo to run after him in a panic. Jordan jumps later on the foul line, waits for Ahlo to drift past, hangs in the air forever, and takes the shot down. Splash. Time ends. Ehlo collapses in grief, and Jordan throws four punches into the air, nearly embellishing Sellers in celebration of the Bulls’ first-round playoff win.
Shooting at ATL Coral
1990, Chicago Bulls v Atlanta Hawks.
It’s a Holdover from the Challenge NBA 2K11, and to showcase the scoring talent of Wilkins and Jordan and the rivalry at the height of their careers. It doesn’t recreate any of the games that actually happened. Jordan and Wilkins’ highest-scoring game, combined, came on January 19, 1990, when MJ scored 36 points and ‘Nick got 26 in a 92–84 Bulls win.
Good
March 28, 1990. Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland.
Jordan scored 54 points in an overtime win against the Cavaliers and started the 1990 season in Chicago. They met four months later in Cleveland for another breathtaking track meet. Chicago won again in overtime, 117–113, as Jordan played 50 minutes and scored 69 points on a 23-in-37 shooting. Her airiness herself considers it her finest performance. It also inspired one of the greatest postgame quotes ever in NBA history, when rookie teammate Stacey King (a Bulls broadcaster today) told reporters, “I will always remember this as the night when Michael Jordan and I scored 70.”
jordan rules
May 26, 1990. Game 3, Eastern Conference Finals, Chicago Stadium, Chicago.
Photo: Manny Milne / Sports Illustrated / Getty Images
Chuck Daly’s “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons made no apology for their brutal game plan, which irked Jordan for tight contact any time he went to the basket. They were called “The Jordan Rules”, which was also the title of Sam Smith’s 1991 book about the Bulls-Pistons rivalry. “Whenever he went to you, you had to nail him,” Daly told Sports Illustrated in 2012. “If that was coming off a screen, nail it.” The sport he played was as physical as it was psychological. Jordan and the Bulls prevailed in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, but not before Detroit steamrolled them on their way to NBA titles in 1989 and 1990.
show time
June 2-12, 1991. NBA Finals, Chicago Stadium, Chicago and Great Western Forum, Los Angeles.
Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, The Bulls and the Lakers inaugurated the NBA’s Decade of Appointment Television, with the five-game NBA Finals ending in Jordan’s first championship. The Lakers stole the opening game at Chicago Stadium 93–91, but from there, it was all the Bulls. The highlight of the series came with Jordan’s mind-boggling switch-hands layup in Game 2, his 13th consecutive field goal of the evening, en route to 33 points, leading all scorers. Jordan was the runaway choice for NBA Finals MVP, his first of six; No other player has won more than four.
Shrugo
3 June 1992. Game 1, NBA Finals, Chicago Stadium, Chicago.
“Here’s Jordan for three – yes!” Marv Albert said on the NBC broadcast. “Did you see that look? Michael, giving a hint… He can’t believe it!” Image: Visual Concept / 2K Sports
Even 35 points was a mundane total for Michael Jordan at the height of his career – but not when 35 points were scored in the first half of the first game of the Bulls’ second straight NBA championship. After burying his sixth 3-point basket of the half, Jordan turned to NBC play-by-play announcer Marv Albert and said, as if to say he didn’t know how he did it, either.
double nickel
March 18, 1995. Madison Square Garden, New York.
Jordan’s father, James Jordan, was murdered in Lumberton, North Carolina on July 23, 1993, as Jordan and the Bulls celebrated their third consecutive NBA title. In his grief, Jordan retires from the NBA stating that he no longer wishes to play basketball, and wants to pursue his childhood dream of playing professional baseball. After a year of riding the buses in the minor leagues, Jordan returned to a listless Bulls team with a two-word announcement, “I’m back.” After a four-game tuneup, he went to New York and The World’s Most Famous Arena, lighting the Knicks for 55 points.
father’s Day
June 16, 1996. Game 6, NBA Finals, United Center, Chicago.
It really wasn’t one of Jordan’s better games: 22 points, five turnovers, seven assists on 5-of-19 shooting. In addition, the 72-win Bulls took a 3–0 series lead over Gary Peyton and the SuperSonics before losing their focus in 4 and 5. But it was still Father’s Day, and the Bulls won their fourth match that day. World Championship – and for the first time since the death of James Jordan three years ago.
flu game
11 June 1997. Game 5, NBA Finals, Delta Center, Salt Lake City.
Photo: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE / Getty Images
With the Bulls’ series against Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz tied in game two, Jordan caught some sort of stomach virus at the team hotel two nights before Game 5. The Jazz were a perfect 10-0 on their home court in the playoffs. up to that point. Although the athletic trainers told Jordan there was no way for him to play, he got out of bed less than an hour before tipoff and resumed the game. Jordan made a 38-point effort and scored a game-winning 3-pointer; Chicago won its fifth NBA title two days later. “No matter how sick I was, how tired I was,” he told fans after the championship parade, “I felt an obligation to go out and put in the extra effort, both for my team and the city of Chicago.”
passing the torch
December 17, 1997. United Center, Chicago.
New to the 2023 Jordan Challenge is this meeting, between Kobe Bryant in his second year and Jordan in his last season with the Bulls. In this opening season’s matchup, Bryant came off the bench to score 33 points on 12-of-20 shooting. But Jordan scored 36, and the Bulls ended up with a 104–83 victory for the Lakers, absent injured big man Shaquille O’Neill.
the last Dance
14 June 1998. Game 6, NBA Finals, Delta Center, Salt Lake City.
Nathaniel S. Photo by Butler / NBAE / Getty Images
It should have ended here. Jordan’s last shot for the Chicago Bulls was, again, 87–86 on the game-winner, Brian Russell and the Jazz, with 18 seconds remaining after Jordan’s steal from Karl Malone. Jordan retired the following January – and in 2001, returned again for two forgettable seasons with the Washington Wizards. but NBA 2K23 Closes the door properly with MJ’s final great moment and his sixth world title.
