On this day in Chicago Bulls history, Michael Jordan scored a career-high 69 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It’s been a down year for the Chicago Bulls (clearly) so why not take some time to remember a bright spot in Bulls history?
Every Bulls fan – every basketball fan – is aware of what Michael Jordan could do on the basketball court. But on the anniversary of his career-high in points, we get to relive it.
On March 28th, 1990, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls traveled to Cleveland to take on Mark Price and the Cleveland Cavaliers. What the Cavaliers and their fans didn’t know was that they were about to witness history.
Michael Jordan exploded for 69 points to go along with a measly 18 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals. Jordan did this on an extremely efficient 23-37 from the field (62 percent). That’s insane. He even made 21-23 free throws.
What’s even more impressive is that in the era of the three-ball, it’s hard to picture a guy scoring that many points without making I’d say… I don’t know…. at least four or more three-pointers? Jordan only made two of them. That means he scored 63 points without the three-ball.
Since 1990, there have been 4 players to score 65 points or more in a single game: David Robinson, Devin Booker, Kobe Bryant (twice), and Michael Jordan.
With David Robinson being the only post player in this group to do it, we’re going to ignore him for three-point stats (he made one three-pointer that game).
Kobe made 7 threes in one game and 8 threes in the other, Devin Booker made 4 threes, and Jordan made only two. Jordan did most of his work from the mid-range which speaks to the variety of ways he could score. Can you imagine a guy scoring that many today without using the three-ball? (Okay – fine, Devin Booker kind of did it… but he made twice as many threes as MJ.)
Jordan also shot the second highest field goal percentage out of this group of players. David Robinson was the only player to shoot a better percentage – and it wasn’t by much. He shot 63 percent while Jordan shot 62 percent. Considering David Robinson was a post player and Jordan was a guard, I’d still say Jordan’s was more impressive – or at least equal?
Jordan was also the only one to record 18 rebounds and 4 steals. (Devin Booker matched his 6 assists.) Not only did Jordan put up these ridiculous individual stats, but he also played 50 minutes and led the Chicago Bulls to an overtime victory.
Next: LaVine has left the Bulls with more questions than answers.
Sometimes I think it’s easy to forget how different the NBA is now than it was in the ’90s. Can you imagine if this version of Michael Jordan had the floor spacing that today’s NBA has? It would be ludicrous, silly, ridiculous, absurd… I can keep going but I’ll let you choose how you’d describe it.