Thirty-four years ago today, Michael Jordan scored 63 points.
In the second game of the Bulls first-round playoff series against the Larry Bird-led Boston Celtics, the GOAT had one of the best performances of his career. At only 23 years old, Jordan broke the record for most points in a single playoff game. And while the Bulls ultimately lost in overtime, this game has firmly found its place in NBA history.
Last night, The Last Dance paid homage to the legendary performance with one of the best montages I’ve ever seen.
Feast your eyes (again):
The hardest two-plus minutes in the history of sports documentaries pic.twitter.com/XaTKbFXDRT
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) April 20, 2020
GLORIOUS (also, the person that decided to use LL Cool J’s “I’m Bad”deserves a pay raise).
Young MJ looks relentless as he carves up this Boston team in almost every way imaginable (except attempting a single three … psssh, who needs ’em). I honestly can’t believe no one on the Celtics chucked a chair onto the court out of utter frustration. I know I would’ve. Again, the Bulls ended up losing, but you know everyone in the Boston locker room was looking at each other with wide, petrified eyes like “what the heck just happened?”
I mean, Larry Bird said it best himself after the game: “I think he’s God disguised as Michael Jordan. He is the most awesome player in the NBA. Today in Boston Garden, on national TV, in the playoffs, he put on one of the greatest shows of all time.”
The Jordan allure started far earlier than 1991, and in only Jordan’s second year playing in the NBA, he already had the league’s best and brightest as part of his fan club. Only the GOAT could muster that.
If you want more fun stuff on this game, here’s a #ContentDump:
https://twitter.com/BN_Bulls/status/1252325669326991361?s=20
https://twitter.com/chicagobulls/status/1252243520955523072?s=20
On 4/20/1986 MJ scored 63 pts against the one of the all-time greatest teams. It was "God disguised as Michael Jordan"
My story on how special Jordan was, including some great stories from @SamSmithHoops and @readjack https://t.co/JBVUbX16Hc
— Will Gottlieb (@wontgottlieb) April 20, 2020
On April 20, 1986, Michael Jordan set the NBA playoff scoring record with 63 points vs Celtics.
There have been 10 playoff games in NBA history where a player has scored 55 or more points, Jordan had 5 of those games. pic.twitter.com/k1tEM7Mksn
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 20, 2020