Michael Jordan once missed 64 in a season. Despite that, he was ready for the playoffs and dropped a monstrous 63 against the Boston Celtics.
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Michael Jordan’s feats are legendary. In almost every aspect of the game, this guy performed unnatural things. Flashback to the time, when after a very successful rookie season, a young MJ suffered a foot fracture.
That injury sidelined him and led him to miss out on over 64 games in 1986. Despite his absence, the Chicago Bulls made the playoffs.
They had to face the Boston Celtics. The finalists from last year had a legendary team, featuring stalwarts such as Larry Bird and Bill Walton, the latter recounts an interesting story.
For the NBA 75 series, Walton looks back at the time a young Michael Jordan faced them.
Michael Jordan 1985-86 regular season (18 games, 7 started)
22.7 PPG | 2.1 AST | 3.6 TRB | .462eFG% in 25 minutes MPG pic.twitter.com/nszpw5L5rW
— dirty dan (@CowboysDaily20) April 27, 2020
Michael Jordan dropped 49 and then shrugged against the Celtics
Bill Walton narrates a story about Michael Jordan and how the Bulls did not want him to play, after all, he was just coming back from injury.
Playing against the Celtics is very tough and in Boston, they had heard about Jordan, the Olympic gold medallist, the player with a successful career in North Carolina. They didn’t care much.
The Celtics were stacked. In the first game they rolled the Bulls, and yet Jordan was there, he dropped 49 points. Bill Walton recalls “MJ had 49 and he shrugged. He thought there were other games when players had 49 and they lost”.
We thought he would not score 49 again. In the next game, MJ dropped a staggering 63 points, unleashing the full range of his offensive arsenal. The Bulls win. They eventually lost the series and the Cs went on to win the title.
Yet, Bill Walton and the gang thought “Okay, we have to admit, this guy is pretty good”
Michael Jordan missed 1985-86 season with foot fracture but came back for playoffs. He scored 63 points vs world champion Celtics. The overmatched Bulls almost upset Boston. MJ stayed sharp physically & mentally while he couldn’t play. This situation of ours will end. Stay sharp. pic.twitter.com/rwIxVejPhX
— EPHS Athletics (@EPHSathletics) March 23, 2020