LeBron James may have won the MVP for the In-Season Tournament as a whole but he wouldn’t have won the final game against the Indiana Pacers without Austin Reaves and Anthony Davis. The former in particular set the tone for the Los Angeles Lakers in the first half with 22 points and finished with 28 points on 9/15 shooting from the field. To make his performance even more impressive, it was reported prior to the game that AR-15 was expressing flu-like symptoms.
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Despite battling the flu/ non-COVID illness, Reaves outplayed quite nearly every player on the Pacers. Following the end of the game, LeBron couldn’t contain his excitement over the win and the man who led the first half charge for them as he would go on to compare Reaves’s game to Michael Jordan’s iconic ‘Flu Game’ from the 1997 NBA Finals in Game 5.
“Who had the better flu game: AR or MJ [Michael Jordan]? It’s up for debate!”
LeBron James in the background: “Who had the better flu game: AR [Austin Reaves] or MJ [Michael Jordan]?! It’s up for debate!”
Reaves: “I’m gonna let LeBron keep talking and I’m gonna continue to talk about the game.” pic.twitter.com/D34EWLlqFs
— Oh no he didn’t (@ohnohedidnt24) December 10, 2023
This of course, is a rhetorical question. Comparing Reaves’s performance tonight to what Michael Jordan did in a crucial NBA Finals game that ultimately led to the Bulls winning an NBA Championship is simply not something James or anybody of sound mind would do.
Michael Jordan’s flu game was like no other
With the release of the Last Dance docuseries, it has become apparent that a local Utah pizzeria was responsible for Michael Jordan’s flu game in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals. Whether the pizzeria had nefarious intentions behind this or not, is something that will never 100% be proven.
Battling bouts of vomiting and diarrhea, MJ woke up at 5:30pm to head to the Delta Center to play in a game that was starting just 90 minutes after. He missed warmups and clearly looked out of it.
Jordan took center stage for that Game 5 and dropped 38 points while struggling with intense flu-like symptoms that reportedly had him awake nearly the entire night. With the series tied at 2 a piece prior to the 90-88 Game 5 victory, it was imperative that MJ suit up that night.
It all worked out in the end for the Chicago Bulls that series as they would win Game 6 as well and go on to make themselves 5x champions, not knowing that they’d win yet again the following year against the same team in the same number of games.
