Chicago Bulls: Feb. 26 was Michael Jordan’s day to shine
It was not a fun day for opponents throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s to have to face the Chicago Bulls all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan. Although there was never really a good time to oppose the likes of Jordan and Hall-of-Fame forward Scottie Pippen, Feb. 26 seemed to be the worst of the bunch in this month.
There’s only four times in the NBA’s modern history (since the mid-1940’s) that a single player has registered at least 50 points in a game on the date of Feb. 26. And two of those four 50+ game outings from any player on the date of Feb. 26 belonged to Jordan, during his long run with the Bulls.
The first of the two occasions where Jordan registered at least 50 points in a game on Feb. 26 came against the New Jersey Nets, early in his career, during the 1986-87 season. The Bulls notched a a commanding 128-113 at what was then Chicago Stadium, to move their record to 28-25 on the season.
In that game, Jordan registered 58 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocks. And he shot 16-of-25 from the field and an insane 26-of-27 from the free-throw line.
Try to match that James Harden.
The advanced metrics for Jordan in that game were even more special. He registered a whopping 24.5 box plus/minus rating, 159 offensive rating, 103 defensive rating, 42.2 percent usage rate, 1.080 free-throw attempt rate, and a 78.6 true shooting percentage.
Jordan’s Feb. 26 dominance for the Chicago Bulls continued
Scoring 58 points in just 37 minutes on the floor is something truly special that very few players were able to do. And Jordan was able to do all that while maintaining a stellar two-way presence at the two guard.
Moreover, Jordan was solid for the Bulls the following season once again on Feb. 26. The second of Jordan’s 50 point outings on Feb. 26 came during the 1987-88 campaign, in what actually amounted to a loss at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers. The Bulls fell short in that game to the Blazers by the final score of 104-96.
Jordan wound up getting more than half of the Bulls points as a team on Feb. 26, 1988. But it was Portland’s star shooting guard Clyde Drexler who registered 42 points in helping his team to knock off Jordan and the Bulls.
In that game, Jordan registered 52 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, and three blocks. And he shot 21-of-34 from the field, 0-of-2 from beyond the arc, and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line. What really got Jordan and the Bulls in this game was an insane eight steals from Drexler.
All in all, despite Jordan and the Bulls going 1-1 in the two games on Feb. 26 in two straight seasons where he registered at least 50 points, they were very special. The way that Jordan showed out in these games was part of a bigger point that he is likely the most gifted scorer in NBA history.
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Throughout the history of the Bulls franchise, there was no other player that could do what Jordan did. But at least the Bulls did break the franchise’s four year All-Star nod drought when star shooting guard Zach LaVine received the call on the night of Feb. 23.