There aren’t a lot of players who have managed to get the best of Michael Jordan. While there may have been those who had a good night against MJ, the very same players also lived to tell the tale of how Black Jesus ended up getting even the next time the two met. One such rare story is with Rex Chapman, who once got 39 on Jordan.
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Phoenix Suns legend Rex Chapman made an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show a few days ago. While on the show, Chapman shared the story of when he dropped 39 points on Michael Jordan during his Miami Heat playing days.
The 56-year-old narrated how the Chicago Bulls were in town for a game with the Heat and the entire Bulls team was out partying at South Beach. This was the year when the Bulls had only lost 10 games in the season. Rex, who was present there, left early for their matchup the next day.
Chapman went on a shooting spree scoring 39 points in a 113-104 win over the Bulls. As per Statmuse, he shot 9-10 from the three, and 12-17 from the field. Chapman also had 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals for the game. Jordan led the Bulls in scoring with a 31-point performance that night.
After the game, Chapman’s coach at the time came up to him and told him,
“When you let a player in this league get going, you got yourself an effing problem. So, I got going and there was nothing that them or anyone else could’ve done that night.”
As happy as Rex Chapman was, he knew that Jordan would find a way to get even, which is exactly what happened. A couple of weeks later, the Bulls met the Miami Heat in back-to-back games in the regular season.
During their first matchup, Michael ended up elbowing Rex in the sternum right after the jump ball. And in their second game, MJ went off for 40 points in three quarters and did not play the fourth.
While they could not beat the Bulls for another win, Rex Chapman was proud of the fact that he was the only player to have scored the most points on the 72-10 Bulls team.
Rex Chapman vs Michael Jordan
Rex Chapman was ecstatic that he was the only player to have scored the most points on the 72-10 Chicago Bulls team. However, what he may not know or remember is that he actually shares that spot with two other players. Glenn Robinson and Clifford Robinson were two other players who scored 39 points on the 72-10 Bulls team during the 1995-96 NBA season. But, Chapman was the last one to do so that year.
For the regular season, Rex Chapman averaged 14.3PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 2.3 APG in the 23 games, as per Statmuse, he played against Michael Jordan during the course of his career.
As for the playoffs, Chapman and MJ only crossed paths thrice where he averaged 9.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in the three games he played against Air Jordan.
While Chapman may have the 39-point game to boast about, his overall record against Michael Jordan out of the 23 games they played is 2-21. Unfortunately, he had no success against Mike in the playoffs, losing all three matchups against him. But the 39-point game is something that Chapman will always be proud of.
