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1988 Michael Jordan Eastern Conference Semifinals Game Worn & Signed Air Jordan III Sneakers....
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Description
Consigned by Detroit Pistons ball boy with his letter of provenance!
1988 Michael Jordan Eastern Conference Semifinals Game Worn &
Signed Air Jordan III Sneakers."I hated 'em. And the hate carries even to this day."
Before finally locking the Larry O'Brien Trophy in a teary embrace in 1991, Michael Jordan had seen his path to glory blocked by the Detroit Pistons three years in a row. While that fact surely added to the antipathy that the young Bulls superstar felt toward the Motor City's notorious "Bad Boys," clearly the story was more complicated than that. Jordan didn't respect that rough style of play, and when the Bulls finally turned the tables during the Bulls' first NBA Championship season, Isiah Thomas led his Pistons off the court without a handshake, dumping gasoline on the fire of Jordan's rage.
But the achievement of downing his hated rivals was the equivalent of Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon--there was no going back now. Jordan would preside over six NBA Championship seasons in Chicago, etching his name into the highest slab of granite in the sport's pantheon. Once the obstacle of the Pistons had been solved, only glory lay ahead.
So any relic linking Michael Jordan to his greatest postseason nemesis carries enormous collecting intrigue and a lesson that one finds our greatest strength in adversity. This pair of Air Jordan III's appears in its namesake's most celebrated colorway, worn as the Bulls fell to the Pistons in five Eastern Conference Semifinals games.
Our consignor cannot recall in which of the three Detroit home games the shoes were worn, but we can be certain that Jordan led all scorers in that game, notching 29, 36 and 25 points in Games One, Two and Five respectively. Like most sneakers of this advanced vintage, the rubber soles have experienced significant degradation, but the leather uppers present perfectly, each adorned at exterior ankle with a strong black ink autograph. Letter of provenance from Detroit Pistons ballboy. LOA from Heritage Auctions. LOA from Beckett (autograph).
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