There was a ton of talk on Wednesday morning about Lebron and the "cramp game" as they called it. People were calling it heroic, courageous and amazing. It also got everyone reminiscing on the most infamous injury/sickness/health issue game in the history of sports, Michael Jordan's "Flu game."
With the series tied at two in the 1997 NBA Finals and the Utah Jazz coming off back-to-back victories, the Bulls entered Game 5 in "must win" mode. While they did have two games up coming back in Chicago, they felt as though this was going to be the swing game that decided the series. Jordan hadn't played that well in the previous two games only going for 26 and 22 in Games 3 & 4. With Jordan having "flu-like" symptoms it looked like the world was really crashing down for this Chicago Bulls dynasty in its quest for title no. 5. MJ, on the other hand, thought differently.
Jordan looks like absolute death throughout the entire game and yet he's still there making shots, still has the active hands to pick off passes and the killer instinct to hit a three pointer with the game basically hanging in the balance. This performance is probably one of the greatest performances we've ever seen in the history of sports, not because he scored 38 points, had a few assists and steals, but he played exactly like the best basketball player of all-time even with the flu. There was no drop off in his game. If you didn't know the context of the situation you would just have looked at MJ's stat line and said "Classic Mike."
The picture above is so stunning. Never in your life you would ever think you would have seen Jordan leaning on anyone else. MJ never leaned on anyone. He was the Mariano Rivera and he was the C.C. Sabathia. It always started and ended with him. But he was so drained that he needed to be carried off of the court, saddled with towels and soothed with ice bags. Yet even in Jordan's darkest hour, he still rose above the rest and finished what he started.
It's moments like this that should keep us from ever comparing anyone to him. No one, I repeat, no one would able to pull this off, not Magic, not Bird, not Lebron. Jordan never played in Game 7 in the Finals, but that's because he already beat all his opponents in Game 6. He's also the only player ever to have a 6-to-6 NBA Championships-to-NBA Finals MVP ratio, absolutely astonishing. There will never be another Micheal Jordan, and there will never be another "Flu Game."
So while we are about to exonerate Lebron for finally winning his first title let's never compare him to Jordan. He's already lost two titles, Jordan lost none.
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