A point-by-point breakdown of Michael Jordan's 'double nickel' masterpiece at Madison Square Garden

Bill Bender

A point-by-point breakdown of Michael Jordan's 'double nickel' masterpiece at Madison Square Garden image

Michael Jordan's legendary "double nickel" performance against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 28, 1995, still holds up 25 years later.

It's easy to remember the 55-point outburst just five games into the superstar's return to the NBA. Jordan, wearing No. 45, broke the record he previously set for most points by an opposing player at MSG. He scored 50 against the Knicks on Nov. 1, 1986.

You remember all that. You might have forgotten how the Bulls won that 113-111 thriller against New York.

MORE: That time a young Kevin Garnett talked trash to Michael Jordan

Jordan set John Starks up with a spin move, waited for Patrick Ewing to come in for the double team, then dished to Bill Wennington for the game-winning dunk with 3.1 seconds left.

"Hey, don't count on me to shoot it every time. I can pass," Jordan told Craig Sager in the postgame interview.

Yeah, but we'd rather talk about the points.

Sporting News rewatched that classic game. Here is everything you forgot about Jordan's legendary performance, which can be found here:

Bulls vs. Knicks score

March 28, 1995 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q Final
Bulls 31 19 32 31 113
Knicks 34 22 26 29 111

First quarter: Jordan quickly heats up

Bob Neal and Hubie Brown were on the call for this game, and remember the Knicks were 44-24 and the defending Eastern Conference champions. The Bulls were 37-33 and coming off a 99-98 victory against Atlanta in which Jordan hit the game-winning shot. He had 32 points in that game.

Jordan wasted no time tormenting Starks, hitting six of his first seven shots, and the Knicks were called for two illegal defense violations in the first six minutes. The Bulls used Jordan in the post, and the Knicks failed to adjust.

In a monster opening quarter, Jordan scored 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

A look at Jordan's baskets (time on video):

TIME PLAY PTS
5:11 Left elbow jumper over Starks 2
6:15 Left elbow jumper over Starks 4
9:53 Spin move left baseline over Starks, Charles Oakley 6
10:36 Turnaround jumper left baseline over Starks 8
14:06 Right elbow jumper over Starks 10
14:53 Free throws (made one) 11
17:51 Driving jumper left wing over Starks 13
26:22 Right wing shot over Starks 15
28:34 Right wing shot over Anthony Bonner 17
29:06 Right wing 3-pointer over Bonner, Anthony Mason 20

Second quarter: Knicks holding off Bulls

Jordan sat for a chunk of the quarter, and the Knicks built a 12-point lead.

When Jordan returned, he picked right back up where he left off. A fadeaway jumper over Starks (36:16 on the video) elicited a chorus of "Ooohs" from the Garden. Neal briefly lost track of how many points Jordan had.

He totaled 35 first-half points on 14-of-19 shooting, but the Knicks held a 56-50 lead.

TIME PLAY PTS
N/A Basket not shown 22
32:18 Runner in lane over Starks 24
34:20 Up-and-under layup (and-one) 27
36:16 Fadeaway jumper over Starks 29
37:17 Top of key jumper over Starks 31
38:00 Free throws (made both) 33
39:33 Free throws (made both) 35

Michael-Jordan-032895-GETTY-FTR.jpg

Third quarter: Bulls close gap

Jordan made just three of his six shots in the quarter, but he did hit a pair of 3-pointers.

The Bulls took a 79-78 lead at 1:43 left in the third quarter, and Starks picked up his fourth foul on a cheap call. Jordan made four free throws in the third on his way to 49 points, only one point away from setting a new record with a quarter to play. All tied up at 82.

TIME PLAY PTS
N/A Basket not shown 37
46:26 Layup over Starks 39
51:50 3-pointer uncontested 42
56:10 Free throws (made both) 44
58:04 Free throws (made both) 46
1:00:02 3-pointer over Mason 49

Fourth quarter: Jordan in the clutch

Sager interviewed Knicks legend Earl "The Pearl" Monroe before the fourth quarter and asked how to stop Jordan. 

"Well, first of all, I would make sure he didn't get off the bus to get into the building," Monroe said.  

Jordan started the fourth quarter on the bench and entered the game with 6:50 remaining. Ewing, who had 27 of his 36 points in the second half, kept the Knicks alive as the teams battled back and forth.  

Jordan hit the record-breaking jump shot, and Brown, who was the coach for the Knicks when Jordan scored 50, quipped, "It takes me out of the record book." Jordan scored his final basket on a jumper over Starks that was incredibly close to the shot he hit over Bryon Russell in the 1998 NBA Finals for a 111-109 lead with 25.8 seconds left. Starks tied the game with a pair of free throws, and that's when Jordan took the ball for the final sequence.  

The game-winning dish to Wennington followed, and the game ended with a backcourt violation after Starks slipped on an inbound pass.  

"It's starting to come back to me a little bit," Jordan said to Sager afterward.

TIME PLAY PTS
1:16:00 Top of key jumper over Starks 51
1:10:05 Left elbow jumper over Starks 53
1:26:35 Right wing drive over Starks 55

Bonus coverage

A few other things you need to watch: 

— Oakley technical foul alert! (16:53)  

— Scottie Pippen's dunk over Charles Smith does not get enough attention. (20:23)  

— Jordan tried to dunk over Starks and Ewing. That's one of those "best dunks that never happened." Ewing fouled Jordan hard, and Jordan laughed on the floor. (39:33)  

— Kobe Bryant and James Harden have both scored 61 points at MSG since Jordan's legendary performance. 

— Bill Murray was in attendance. Did this help him land a role in "Space Jam?"

Bill Bender

Bill Bender Photo

Bill Bender graduated from Ohio University in 2002 and started at The Sporting News as a fantasy football writer in 2007. He has covered the College Football Playoff, NBA Finals and World Series for SN. Bender enjoys story-telling, awesomely-bad 80s movies and coaching youth sports.