5 Illustrators Recreate the Magic of Michael Jordan's Most Legendary Moment

Five illustrators give us their take on the shot that changed the face of basketball.

Every sports mega-star enjoys a career-defining moment and for hoops legend Michael Jordan, it came in Game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference Playoffs against Cleveland Cavaliers.

After sweeping aside Jordan's Chicago Bulls in regular season games 6-0, the two teams met in the Playoffs, where it was a foregone conclusion to many that the Cavs would march on. 

Instead, a buzzer-beater from Jordan gave the Bulls a 101-100 lead in the final game of the series – it was a major upset and sparked the start of a Jordan-led Bulls dynasty.

The lasting image of this titanic moment is the emphatic celebration of Jordan leaping into the air while Cavs players crumple to the ground in despair.

To celebrate Jordan's greatest moment, Complex worked with a handful of talented illustrators to recreate the magic of 'The Shot'.

'The Outfit' by Limebath


"Any athlete is only as good as the stuff they wear and in this case, Michael Jordan was armed with the perfect outfit to break all kinds of records.


MJ rocked the classic Air Jordan IV against the Cavs in 1989 and this shot was one of the moments that made that model so iconic. Those shoes, along with the vintage #23 jersey, made MJ one of the most visually memorable athletes in history. I wanted to reflect that."

'Seal of Greatness' by Alex Williamson


"The Shot was one of the moments that made Jordan such an undisputed great and I wanted to pay tribute to his greatness by giving him the sort of honour that's saved for royalty – his very own postage stamp!


That game against the Cavs isn't something that any basketball fan will ever want to forget but just in case they do, I've included the date of The Shot as a nice reference point! I want this stamp to show that Jordan always delivered."

'The Game Changer' by Pedro Demetriou


"For me, Michael Jordan will always be the iconic figure of basketball. What he achieved in the game was incredible, and the way he went about playing his game at the highest level serves as a true inspiration for future generations. The fact that I had a chance to contribute to this monumental celebration of Jordan inspired me greatly to create a truly one off piece of art.


I wanted to illustrate that iconic moment after Jordan made the series winning basket hit in 1989 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. I felt it was important to try and capture the drama of this last second win, focusing on Jordan's immense celebratory leap, with the stunned crowd onlooking in a mixed sense of joy and disbelief. It was important for me to create an illustration with a strong graphical sense, ensuring that it was balanced with striking simplicity as well as subtle detail, so that I could convey what was an amazing moment in sporting history."

'Hero' by Butcher Billy


"I'm from Brazil and while basketball has always competed with soccer to be the most popular sport around here, the late 80s and 90s – my high school years – was filled with talk of Jordan. The fashion was basketball caps, clothes and sneakers. Kids wouldn't stop talking about the greatest player there was, Michael Jordan – he was basically the Pele of basketball.


Jordan is a hero to millions of people around the world and I felt it's time MJ had his own comic book. 'The Shot' was the equivalent of saving a plane from landing at the last second, he's the closest thing most kids at that time have ever known to a real-life superhero."

'All of the Lights' by Dan Leydon


"Jordan is in that exclusive group of athletes that have transcended their sport. Growing up on the west coast of Ireland, basketball was nowhere near as popular as the dominant sports of football, gaelic and rugby. However you still knew who Michael Jordan was, what his number was and who he played for. That's a great example of the universal reach he has.


As an illustrator who deals mostly with sport, I love getting to sink my teeth into an iconic character. It makes my job very satisfying and they don't come much bigger or iconic than Jordan. As always, I wanted to focus on a moment of tension and expand it. I love to take the audience on a journey. Obviously in a physical sense Jordan didn't fly away from Ehlo but in another he actually did. I wanted to embellish that. I take a lot of inspiration from films and I try to give these little moments of sporting tension the film poster treatment. Adding the flashing camera bulbs helped me give the sense that this was a moment deserving of being immortalised in time."

Check out this week’s latest Jordan drops here.

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