These games were getting ridiculous. Against the Cavs on Feb. 22, 1987, Michael Jordan scored 43 points and had eight steals and six assists.
Jordan then hit the Nets for 58 points on Feb. 26, a regular-season franchise scoring record as Jordan was 26 of 27 from the free throw line. Jordan also had eight rebounds, and when he broke Chet Walker’s team scoring record of 56 points, he asked to be taken out of the blowout win with about three minutes left despite the home crowd screaming for 60.
“I did want to break the Bulls record,” Jordan said. “But I didn’t want to go any farther than that. I was happy with what the team was doing.”
Players were now beginning to mutter about not being able to touch Jordan without being called for a foul. But few players took as much contact as the games with the Pistons demonstrated. And no one was as quick.
Looking back, it’s surprising the NBA not only allowed the Pistons to get away with that nascent brutality, but eventually turned it into a marketing ploy. In the excellent “Bad Boys” documentary shown in the spring of 2014, it was clear commissioner David Stern admitted it was a mistake by the league to have let so much of that brutality go on for so long.
Then it was the Pistons again. And as much as they loved to go after Jordan, he was thrilled with the challenge and answered like few ever have. How about this: 125-120 overtime win in Detroit with the Pistons playing then in the Silverdome in early March; Jordan with 61 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals. To get the Bulls into overtime, Jordan scored 26 points in the fourth quarter.
No one, really, had seen anything like this. Wilt Chamberlain had scored more — and only Wilt — but not from the perimeter, as Jordan was doing. So much for that team record of 58 points, which didn’t last long. Jordan tied the game at the end of regulation and then stole the ball to prevent a Pistons chance at a regulation winner.
Then-Bulls coach Doug Collins: “That was the beginning of the Jordan Rules, when Michael had that game. After that game is when they came up with,’If we play them in the playoffs we’ve got to do something.’
“The one thing that always used to stand out to me with Michael is Michael always wanted some kind of challenge to drive him. We were going to play the Phoenix Suns in St. Louis in an exhibition game. That’s the year they drafted Dan Majerle and you know how (former Chicago Bulls GM) Jerry Krause loved Dan Majerle (always telling Jordan how good a defender Majerle was).
“So we are getting ready to play the exhibition game. I remember Michael getting on the bus eating a 20-piece Chicken McNuggets and we got in the locker room, he walked over and told me he wanted to play the whole game tonight. ‘Don’t take me out until I ask you.’
“It’s preseason. And so he was like a rabid dog with Dan Majerle. You know how Mike would back pedal. I think he had 50 in the exhibition. And then his verbal onslaught on the bus that night as we were going to the airport to Jerry: ‘How do you like Dan Majerle now? Hey, Jerry, tell me about Dan Majerle.’ I thought this guy is relentless.”
The Bulls returned home from Detroit and lost by a point to the Knicks as Jordan had just 27. But he also had eight steals and eight rebounds. The man never rested.
The games with the 76ers were of greater significance to Jordan because it was the final season for Julius Erving. Jordan, clearly, had become the heir to Erving’s throne as something of the spokesman of the game given his popularity and exciting style.
In Philadelphia on March 11, Jordan had 49 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four blocks. Jordan was just letting Dr. J know he was ready.
The Bulls continued to hang around .500, a few above or below all season as they left on their final Western trip. From a season-high five over .500, they lost six of eight heading into Portland to conclude the trip. Jordan had 46 points.
March 24th was another historic night in the Chicago Stadium, as it was Erving’s final appearance in Chicago. There have been few more gracious men in the history of the game, and Erving couldn’t have been more complimentary of Jordan.
One of my favorite “Doc” stories was a telephone interview I had set up with 76ers before an All-Star Game. It was for 2 p.m. and on the chime, the phone rings and it’s Erving.
We talk a few minutes and I’m hearing all this noise in the background. What was it? Erving didn’t much know me. He said it was traffic. He had gotten stuck on the highway in traffic.
So he pulled off and was at a public phone booth. Maybe it was one reason he never quite became like Jordan. Or even Bird. Too nice.
I remember the famous time Erving began a fistfight with Bird, shocking everyone. It was 1984, and Erving was being phased out. Charles Barkley was drafted and the 76ers actually listened when the Clippers offered Terry Cummings in trade for Erving.
Bird was torching Erving and letting him know, “42-6 Doc, 42-6.” Erving had enough. Promoter Don King would later send them telegrams offering to promote a bout.
Erving was embarrassed. Bird may have been considering it. I recall Erving that night in Chicago saying how much easier it was for him to retire knowing Jordan was there to carry the torch forward for the league. Jordan wouldn’t disappoint, as he led the Bulls to a 93-91 win with 56 points, eight steals, and seven rebounds. For you, Doc.
The Bulls had fallen below .500 and Jordan was pushing for a winning record. With the team 38-40 after a loss at Philadelphia, how about this — Jordan closing kick in consecutive games: 53 points and eight assists in a win against the Pacers, 50 points and nine rebounds in a win at Milwaukee, and then 61 points and 10 rebounds in a loss to Atlanta.
That 61 in the last home game of the regular season was a memorable shootout with Dominique Wilkins, who had 34 points and finished second in the league in scoring, more than eight points behind Jordan, but banking in a shot that night to beat the Bulls. It was the first time since Wilt that anyone scored at least 50 points in three straight games. In a run starting in the second quarter, Jordan scored 23 straight points.
Wilkins: “You don’t see that much in this era, where guys relish going at each other like that. I think the thing is, when you play against guys like Michael you want to see where you stack up. You want to see if you’re the best, and the only way you can know if you’re the best is to play against the best.
“He wanted to play against the best players to show how good he was. That’s what his attitude was. His competitiveness, almost like he was evil. That was the way he competed.
“How many guys do you know in any sport could win three championships, retire to play another sport, come back and win three more championships? It has never been done and it never will be done.
“I had 34 (in that game) but he had 60 and I’m like, ‘Who is guarding this guy?’ He did stuff that I’ve never seen anybody do. When he would go the basket and you think he’s going to dunk and a guy challenges him and he changes hands in the air. And flips it up on the other side sometimes with his body turned the opposite way. Who does that?
“I never knew Michael to be a big talker with me. But I remember one thing he did. We were playing in Chicago, and before the game he walks into our locker room and says to Randy Wittman, ‘Lace up your f——— shoes. It’s going to be a long night.’ He’s in his full dressed clothes, street suit!
“Did he really just come in our locker room and do that? I said it to myself after he did it: ‘Did he just walk into our locker room and do that?’ That tells you what kind of confidence he had.”
