NEW YORK -- When he was introduced during last week's Patrick Ewing Night, Michael Jordan heard a strange and loud noise from the capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden.

Booooooooooooooooo.

Jordan had almost always received tumultous ovations from the New York crowd, including his final appearance as a Chicago Bull in the Garden in 1998. At first, he appeared stunned by the booing, but then he flashed a grin, as if to say, "You're right, I'm the enemy."

	Michael Jordan, left, never lost a playoff series to Patrick Ewing's Knicks.

On Sunday, he will be the enemy one last time in New York when the Knicks play the Wizards in the final regular-season meeting between the two teams at the Garden. No matter what happens, chances are he'll get an ovation in the end because New Yorkers have always appreciated Jordan's greatness. And for his part, Jordan has always put the Garden above all the arenas. Next to Chicago Stadium, his all-time favorite place to shoot a basketball, the Knicks' home court has always been his home away from home.

"It's the Mecca of basketball," he has said more than once. "You always want to perform at your highest level when you play in the Garden."

Lord knows, nobody did that better against the Knicks in the '90s than No. 23. Regular-season games or playoffs, he wrote his own chapter in the history of the great arena. Most observers point to his finest moment being his 55-point game in 1995, only 10 days after returning to the Bulls from his stint in baseball's minor leagues. However, Jordan's classic Garden games actually started long before that one.

On opening day of the 1986-87 season, the Bulls came to New York with a new coach, Doug Collins. Beforehand, Jordan assured Collins he wouldn't let him start his coaching career with a loss. True to his word, Jordan went out and scored 50 points in the Bulls' 108-103 victory. That remarkable opener started Jordan off on one of his landmark seasons, as he became the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to reach 3,000 points in a season.

As far as 50-point games go, Jordan reached that figure one other time at the Garden, in his celebrated comeback game late in 1995. That night, only 11 days removed from making his now-famous "I'm back" declaration, the Garden was electric from the opening tip and Jordan responded by hitting 21 of 37 shots from the field.

"It was like a playoff game," ex-Bull Bill Wennington recalled. "Michael was always big in New York, but that night was even bigger because he had just come back to the team. He always loved to play in the Garden and we all thought he would do something special that night. Of course, we also remember who scored the winning basket."

It was Wennington, who had averaged only five points a game that season. On the deciding play, Jordan drove, drew Ewing over and deftly found Wennington for a layup and a 113-111 win.

"That play typified Michael's greatness," said Knicks assistant coach Herb Williams, who was backing up Ewing that night. "Nobody could stop him from scoring. But instead of forcing a shot, he did what he had to do to win the game."

And in the playoffs, when the Bulls needed a big road win in New York, Jordan always seemed to get them one. As far as his Garden greatness goes, it actually started after Jordan hit his signature, game-ending shot against Cleveland in the clinching road win in 1989.

Two days later, the Bulls came into New York to start their second-round series against the heavily favored Knicks, who, under Rick Pitino, had won the Atlantic Division for the first time since 1971. In the opener, Jordan proceeded to steal the series with his first playoff triple-double, hitting for 34 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in a 120-109 overtime win. The Bulls, who had finished fifth in the Central Division, went on to win the series in six games.

	The Knicks, in a little known chapter of Jordan history, tried to bring him to New York as a free agent in 1996.

Four seasons later, Jordan notched his second and last playoff triple-double in perhaps the most celebrated Knicks-Bulls playoff game of all time. Under Pat Riley, the Knicks finished with 60 wins and the best record in the East when they met the Bulls in the conference finals. After going up 2-0, the Knicks came home for Game 5 tied at 2-2 but still had the homecourt edge. But with the game on the line, Charles Smith failed to convert three shots under the basket in the final seconds, with Jordan coming up with one of the blocks in what has gone down in New York history as "the Charles Smith Game."

Chicago went on to win, 97-94, and finished off the Knicks in Chicago in Game 6. To this day, it remains one of Riley's most darkest moments.

"We had a great team, probably my best one there, and we really thought we could break through against Michael that season," he recalled. "But we didn't get the job done in Game 5. When you look back, our inability to beat the Bulls was one of those things you see in this league. It was like when I was winning titles with the Lakers. Phoenix also had a great team back then. I remember (Suns coach) John MacLeod saying, "We came along at the wrong time.' That was us and Chicago because Michael would not be denied."

In fact, in five playoffs series against Ewing, Jordan never came out on the losing end. It was that reason, among many others, that the Knicks, in a little known chapter of Jordan history, tried to bring him to New York as a free agent in 1996.

"I always wanted to get Michael to come and play in New York, because he was the greatest player of his era and because the Garden was the No. 1 stop in the NBA," said Dave Checketts, the former Garden executive who held several rounds of secrets talks with Jordan's agent, David Falk, in the summer of 1996 before Jordan re-upped with the Bulls. "I thought if we brought Michael in, with Patrick still in his prime, we could win the title for the next two years. But we all know how it turned out."

Jordan stayed with Chicago, won two more titles and got cheers whenever he came into New York as the enemy.

Undoubtedly, the latter will happen again on Sunday.

Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.