Michael Jordan drew crowds wherever he went, but nothing could compare to the time a record setting 60,000+ fans filed in to watch him play.
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The date was March 27th, 1998 and the Chicago Bulls were all set to take on the Atlanta Hawks in regular season matchup.
The Atlanta Hawks played games in ‘The Omni’ up until the 1997-98 season which could hold around 16,378 fans for a basketball game.
However, the arena was demolished in the 1997 offseason, meaning that the Hawks had to play their games elsewhere. Their new home became the ‘Georgia Dome’, the home stadium of the Atlanta Falcons NFL team which could seat around 71,000 fans for a basketball game.
This meant that a much larger number of fans could file in to watch any game due to the increased capacity. However, nothing could match the record number of fans that Jordan drew in that day.
The reason this many fans poured in to watch Jordan this time? Well, rumors were heating up that Jordan would retire after this season, and so this would mark the last time he’d play in Atlanta ever.Jordan
Michael Jordan And The Bulls Dominate The Hawks In Front Of 62,000 Fans
The Bulls had themselves a good day playing in front of the absurd number of fans. Chicago would walk off with a comfortable win.
They never Atlanta get comfortable in front of their ‘home crowd’ as they walked off with an 89-74 victory. Jordan had himself an exceptional game, scoring 34 points to go along with 4 assists and 5 rebounds.
He was singlehandedly responsible for more than 40% of the Bulls’ point total that day. The win would bump Chicago up to 54-17 on the year.
The 1997-98 season culminated with an historic third championship as Michael Jordan completed his second three peat and moved to 6-0 in the Finals.
His iconic game winner in game 6 against the Utah Jazz would go down as one of the most legendary moments in NBA history as it solidified Jordan’s status as the NBA GOAT at the time.
#NBATogetherLive – @chicagobulls at @utahjazz: Michael Jordan (45 PTS) hits ‘The Last Shot’ to win Game 6 of the 1998 #NBAFinals and secure the Bulls’ 6th NBA championship! #Game6Live https://t.co/ScMzfC71Kf
— NBA (@NBA) May 19, 2020