This is the sixth installment from Hall of Fame writer Sam Smith's new book "There Is No Next: NBA Legends on the Legacy of Michael Jordan."

CHICAGO — Michael Jordan came into 1987-88 determined the Bulls would be a serious challenger, and that he would be personally less dominant. Heck, it would be nine games before Jordan would score more than 37 points in a game, which was his average for the previous season.

That ninth game, of course, was against the Pistons, and Jordan had 49 points. He never would forget, and it would only get worse for Detroit later that season. That was when the Bulls were finishing a four-game road trip — three in the Western Conference — in six days, with the closer Easter Sunday in Detroit on national TV.

Forget the religious references. Larry Bird already had long famously declared it was "God disguised as Michael Jordan.

This was a movie idol Jordan as well. Jordan scored 59 points and hit two free throws with four seconds left to win that Easter Sunday game. Those free throws came when Jordan made a steal and was fouled by Bill Laimbeer. Afterward, coach Chuck Daly said, "No matter what we did or who we tried to put on him nothing worked. He's Superman. I don't know how he does it, where he gets that energy, the intelligence, instinct for the game. I'm telling the people of Chicago. You're seeing something here that only comes along once in a lifetime. Better enjoy him while you can."

Another of the great defenders of the era was Joe Dumars, who had come in a few years before and would be the defensive rock on the perimeter for the title Pistons. Though somewhat smallish at around 191 cm, years of helping his father throw 35-kg sandbags in a truck, day after day, Dumars was a physical rock as well.

Dumars: "From watching him at North Carolina and watching him the previous year before he got hurt, I thought, 'Wow this guy is great. This guy is a great player.'

"When I started playing against him, the first thing that changed was that I went from saying this guy is great to, 'Wow, I underestimated this guy; he is special.' I respected everybody else, but this guy here is different than anybody I've ever seen. He's not just great. This is something special. Exceptional, exceptional special athlete and special drive to be great, to try to win."

Bulls GM Jerry Krause had also quietly added Phil Jackson to the coaching staff. Jackson couldn't get an NBA job, in part, because of his iconoclastic ways. He had been coaching in Albany of the CBA.

Krause, usually excellent at spotting young coaching talent, always kept an eye on him. Krause had pushed to draft Jackson when Krause was a scout for the Baltimore Bullets. When Phil was coaching in the CBA, Krause would seek out Phil for scouting reports on league players. With no one in the NBA interested, Jackson eagerly aided Krause.

Krause had tried to get Stan Albeck to hire Jackson in 1985, but Albeck wasn't interested. Jackson had decided to leave basketball for good in 1987 when Krause called and suggested Jackson this time at least shave and wear a suit for his interview, which Jackson didn't do for Albeck. Jackson got the job over Butch Beard after assistant coach Gene Littles left for expansion Charlotte.

The Bulls started the 1987-88 season 7-1, and then lost in overtime to the Pistons despite 49 points, eight assists, and six steals from Jordan.

Sense any pattern there?

The Bulls headed out for an eight-game trip and won five of the first six to go to 12-3 as one of the league's hottest teams. It didn't seem that it would start that way, after an infamous Jordan meltdown in the preseason.

Jordan believed Bulls coach Doug Collins had changed the score in a practice scrimmage and Jordan's team lost. Jordan stormed out and left. "When you are a competitor, nothing is trivial," Jordan would explain a day later.

He had clearly overreacted, though no one could fully comprehend the magnitude of his competitive attitude. Collins apologized and he and Jordan literally kissed and made up a day later, and it was the top story that day in the Chicago TV news. But it would be the first fissure in Krause's relationship with the volatile and brilliant Collins.

Krause, after that, quietly changed Jackson's duties and brought him back from the road. He told Jackson he would be staying with the team now. Collins understood, and Jackson said his first day back that Collins grilled him with questions for several hours.

Jackson: "Krause had lost affection for Doug. Michael wasn't involved. He could care less, but it changed the chemistry."

There are a lot of great players. But it takes more than talent to grab the public's attention. It takes charm and enthusiasm and a transparency that not only are you having fun, but you get the joke and understand it's still a game at its base level.

Muhammad Ali understood that even if his was a lot more serious. The truly great ones always did and let you in on the joke. You could see amidst the fury and determination the kid in there having a great time and inviting you to enjoy the ride.

So it was on that Western Conference circus trip that Jordan enjoyed one of his famous days, scoring 47 points in a win over the Jazz to go to 12-3 and hamming it up in the process.

Collins: "We were in Salt Lake City and he posts up Stockton and he scores and somebody behind the bench (Jazz owner Larry Miller, as it turns out) says, 'Pick on somebody your own size'. It couldn't have been two minutes later he gets a steal and (213-cm center) Mel Turpin's back and he takes off and does that sideways thing of his and blows through (and dunks over) Turpin. Dunks the ball, comes down, points to him and says. 'Is he big enough?' And just ran down the floor."

The Bulls would be on the way to a 50-win season for the first time since 1973-74.

Jordan's official coming out party that season was the All-Star Game in Chicago. It was a brutally cold weekend even for Chicago with actual temperatures close to -30 C.

The Bulls were 27-18, and Jordan was hot as well. He put on a show for the slam dunk competition, winning his second straight with another flying, hanging Dr. J dunk from the free throw line, though some said it was a Chicago political fix and Dominique Wilkins should have won. There were no doubters on Sunday as Jordan had 40 points in the East win.

Wilkins: "We talk about this all the time now. The dunk contest really wasn't about us, but we competed so hard for the fans that particular weekend. We wanted to know who the best dunker that year was, and we wanted to give the fans the best show. That's the way we thought about things then. Go out and prove yourself. These dunk contests could have went either way. They were that close. Guys understood back then.

"The league was a little different back (then). What happened regarding dunks is that Dr. J, David Thompson, they set a high bar. And so we wanted to try to reach that bar. Michael, myself, and Clyde (Drexler)—we wanted to see how good we were doing those dunk contests. We wanted to see if we were on the same level with the Dr. Js, David Thompsons. Michael and I set the bar a little high after our dunk contest so nobody really wanted to compete on that level."

The Bulls stumbled some coming out of the All-Star break, though Jordan got on a scoring run yet again with 49 points against the Kings, 46 against Cleveland, 39 against Seattle and 52 in Portland in a shootout with Drexler, who was tiring of all the talk that the Trail Blazers should have taken Jordan.

The Bulls finished strong with 10 wins in the last 13 games to end the season 50-32. The highlight of that closing kick was April 3, in Detroit, that Easter Sunday at the end of that road trip. It was the Pistons again and Jordan had become the godlike figure in basketball.

The Bulls had that 112-110 victory, with the 59 Jordan points. To make it that much sweeter, Jordan blocked an attempted Isiah Thomas game-winner with the score tied at 110, recovered the ball, was fouled, and made both free throws for the victory.

Bulls managing partner Jerry Reinsdorf had a policy of not renegotiating contracts, but it was clear to Reinsdorf that no prior precedents applied to Jordan. Jordan had signed a seven-year, $6.3 million contract as a rookie in 1984. There was much talk at the time of Magic Johnson's $25 million deal covering 25 years, which later was renegotiated to fewer years.

Reinsdorf contacted Jordan's agent, David Falk, and the two quickly agreed to a then-record eight-year, $25 million renegotiated deal for Jordan. It was announced April 8, just before Jordan went out and got 40 points and eight steals to beat the Knicks.

It would start yet another marvelous closing kick with Jordan scoring 44 points against the Bucks, 47 against the Knicks and 46 on the last day of the season over Boston, all in victories.

Sam Smith covered the Chicago Bulls for 25 years with the Chicago Tribune. He is the author of the best-selling book "The Jordan Rules."