What made Michael Jordan so great? Was it his supreme athleticism? That probably had a lot to do with it, as did his finely tuned skill-set. But the biggest reason Jordan ended up as the greatest NBA player we have ever seen is his amazing competitive streak.

So on this Throwback Thursday, let’s look back at some of the stories that prove Jordan was the most ruthlessly competitive athlete of all-time.

That time he ruined MugGSy Bogues career

Per former Bulls assistant coach Johnny Bach:

“Johnny said physically Jordan and Pippen were about the same as defenders. But when you add in MJ’s ruthlessness and trash talk, that put him ahead of Scottie. When Johnny was coaching with the Hornets in 1995 they had a good team. Glen Rice, Mourning, Johnson. Series was tied at 2 and Hornets had a chance to win game 5 in Chicago. On the biggest possession of the game, Mugsy [sic] had the ball with the Hornets down 1. Jordan backed off of him and told him: ‘shoot it you f***ing midget.’ Mugsy shot it, didn’t come close. A year later Mugsy actually told Johnny Bach that he believes that single play ruined his career. His shot never recovered.”

THAT TIME HE RUINED A TEAMMATE’S CAREER

WHEN HE WON A $500 BET WITH A FAN AT A CHARITY GOLF EVENT

WHEN HE TOLD BYRON SCOTT HE’D DROP 50 POINTS IN A GAME THEN DID IT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhJky0BOr2U

WHEN HE WAS READY TO PLAY DAN PATRICK 1-ON-1 AFTER WINNING HIS LAST TITLE

WHEN HE SILENCED A YOUNG REGGIE MILLER IN A MEANINGLESS GAME

THAT TIME HE REPEATEDLY DUPED SCOTTIE PIPPEN OUT OF $100 BY BETTING ON PRE-RECORDED RACES

Per ESPN’s Amin Elhassan:

“There’s this story of Michael Jordan back in the old Chicago Stadium. He’d show up really early to get his shots up on gameday. If you show up to an arena early enough, you’ll see the gamehouse people basically doing a dry run through everything. Everything from the national anthem to the… One of the things they have is that thing where it’s like the three Bulls flying, and it’s like ‘who’s gonna win?’ So Mike is watching this and is like, ‘oh, so you guys already know [who’s going to win]?’ And the guy say, ‘yeah we know; it’s all pre-recorded.’ [Jordan says] ‘So you know who’s gonna win tonight, right?’ And he says, ‘yeah, the red one.’ Fast-forward to the game. Timeout. Phil is drawing up a play. Mike goes to Scottie and says, ‘Hundred bucks the red one wins.’ And then proceeds to do this for the rest of the season and Scottie never catches on.”

WHEN HE INTIMIDATED THE BULLETS BY SMOKING A CIGAR

Per Chris Webber, via Bleacher Report:

“One time we played in Washington. We played a five game series against the Bulls. It was the year they won 72 games. We lose all three games by a total of seven points. I saw Michael Jordan come into our locker room with a cigar, while it was lit, and said, ‘Who’s going to check me tonight?’ And we looked at Calbert Cheaney and we were laughing like little school kids knowing that Calbert Cheaney was going to get him, we knew it wasn’t a game for Mike. He was going to be there and he was going to be playing like he said. Game Three we get off the bus and Juwan (Howard) is from Chicago and used to workout there. I’ll never forget, Jordan was sitting on his Ferrari and Pippen was right there and they have a cigar lit. We get off the bus and we have to pass them with a lit cigar. You want to talk about posturing? Forget Phil Jackson. You got Michael Jordan there behind the scenes smoking a cigar before the game, letting us know that he’s the Red Auerbach before the game even started. It was almost like, ‘I lit the cigar. I’m celebrating already. This is just a formality, you guys getting on the court tonight.”

WHEN HE TAUGHT DIKEMBE MUTOMBO TO NEVER TRASH TALK THE GOAT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Vp5QfdA0Q

THAT TIME WHEN DUNKING ON JOHN STOCKTON WASN’T ENOUGH FOR ONE HECKLER

Via Yahoo Sports:

“The details are somewhat nebulous, but they make all the difference. The story goes something like this: Despite being an all-time great, Stockton only stands 6-foot-1, which is meager by NBA standards. A disgruntled Jazz supporter took this into account, yelling at Jordan to “pick on someone your own size,” or something along those lines. Jordan obliged. And poor Mel Turpin, Utah’s backup center, suffered the consequences. Turpin stood 6-foot-11, almost a foot taller than Stockton. As he ran back down the floor, Jordan turned to the heckler and mouthed, “Was he big enough?”

THAT TIME HE SHOT A FREE THROW WITH HIS EYES CLOSED

THAT TIME HE COUNTED DOWN ON STEVE SMITH AND THE HEAT