AIR JORDAN 11 RETRO WIN LIKE 82 SHOES HISTORY

“I’m back”, were the words that got basketball fans around the world excited in March 1995 as Michael Jordan announced his comeback to the NBA. After retiring from the Bulls in 1993 and an interlude in Minor League Baseball Michael figured that he still had something to give to the ball game.

MJ came back towards the end of the 1994/95 regular season and played his first games in the Air Jordan X. The Bulls made the playoffs and had no problems with Bostons Celtics in the first round. Expectations were high when they faced the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. The Florida based franchise had a young and talented line-up including the two All-Stars Shaquille O’Neal and Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway. For the highly anticipated series Michael Jordan had something special to offer. He showed up in brand new shoes:
The Air Jordan XI.

Jordan and designer legend Tinker Hatfield surprised everybody when the Bulls superstar entered the court with a shoe that was so radically different from anything you had ever seen before. Patent leather. On an athletic shoe. The radical difference made the “Concord” colorway with its mostly white upper and the innovative 360 degrees patent leather an instant classic. Needless to say, it was not in line with the NBA game apparel regulations which lead to a $5,000 fine.

In the final seconds of Game 1 Nick Anderson had his shining moment in the league. He stole the ball from Michael Jordan and a fast break followed that put the Magic up by one with 5.9 seconds left. In a cocky interview after the game Anderson said: “No. 45 doesn’t explode like No. 23 used to”, referring to Jordan’s new jersey number. After his comeback Jordan was wearing number 45 instead of his signature 23 because the Bulls already had retired his number the year before.

​​​​​​​Michael could not accept that kind of insult and so in Game 2 he shocked the crowd by wearing his original number 23 to proof that he could still live up to his earlier success. Once again, the NBA was not amused with the quick number change within the playoffs and fined the Bulls $25,000. The fans didn’t care though. They finally had their #23 back.