Chicago’s game against the Boston Celtics is remembered to this day.
Translation and adaptation by Evgeny Moroz
Note. The original article, written by journalist Ray Sons, was published the day after the game between the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls, April 21, 1986. A few days ago, the Chicago Sun-Times decided to remind its readers of the outstanding achievement of the legendary basketball player.
“Michael Jordan did yesterday with basketball what Michelangelo did with a brush. It’s not enough to just say that this guy scored 63 points, the best score in the NBA’s 40-year playoff history.
He did it in Boston Garden, a temple where all the championship banners testify to the wonders of the past. He did it on the same court where Elgin Baylor scored 61 points for the Lakers 24 years ago. He did it in front of 15,000 rowdy fans of the divine team, against what some people would call the best the NBA ever had. Jordan created his masterpiece on the Sistine Chapel basketball court, and he didn’t need a ladder to get up there. Michael can fly.
Even Celtics coach KC Jones after the game will say: “I’m glad I was there and could see it. There are no words to describe it.” After Jordan’s comparisons to Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, the Bulls’ rival mentor went beyond the sport with a Bob Hope monologue from a Frank Sinatra song.
The author of this text also had no words. It’s not clear why, but just to say that this was the best basketball performance I’ve ever seen would be too obvious. Hell, Jordan’s performance could have been the best basketball performance anyone could ever see. Some will shy away from this by saying that the Bulls didn’t win (131-135) and the Celtics won after two overtimes. Even Jordan himself will take their side.
“I would give all my points to win. I really wanted to win.”
Others will argue that he was greedy—Jordan had 41 shots in that memorable game against the Celtics, and the Bulls could have thrown even more if he had shared more. But anyone who has seen the performances of other basketball players in Chicago, and the way they threw, will say that Jordan had a much better chance. And the statistics after the game will say that he led his team and by the number of assists – 6 assists. “When you have a player like Michael Jordan, it’s very hard not to give him the ball,” says Danny Ainge, a participant in that match with the Celtics. “The rest of the players almost felt guilty about throwing the ball into the basket “.
Of the 41 throws on the entire team, 22 were on Jordan’s account, and some of them were almost impossible to execute. For these throws, he had to do two false swings, do a shoulder feint, use his hips before beating Dennis Johnson or Ainge, then fly up, pirouette, swing his opponent in different directions twice or three times, throw through the arms of Kevin McHale, Robert Parish or Bill Walton, like huge dangling cables.
“He threw eight-footers, which is much heavier than fifteen-footers or twenty-footers, to the very bottom of the basket. He played well in defense, pushed, played from one side of the court to the other. All in all, it was a fantastic performance.” KC Jones went on to praise the Bulls’ playing legend, saying that in his opinion Jordan “played 78 minutes.” But that’s just what it looked like. 53 minutes was long enough to rewrite history. Incredibly, the last 39 minutes, Michael generally played without a break. Was he tired?
“No, I wasn’t tired. In playoff games, you can’t get tired. I couldn’t even think about it.”
And this is the guy who scored 49 points on Thursday night before catching a viral infection that would just be called a cold. The medical department and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf were sure he couldn’t be counted on this year, publicly citing a leg injury that took months to fully recover.
The Celtics decided to take over and keep this ghost. Johnson was the first person to hold it. Then there is Walton. Byrd, Parish and Ainge played with five fouls, most of which were on Jordan.
The very confrontation between the fiery Ainge and the brilliant Jordan was classic. Ainge scored 24 points, all in the second half of the meeting. Although it ultimately fell on him to keep Jordan. In the last two and a half minutes of the third period, the Celtics player scored 11 points, largely thanks to a good coaching move: Jones intended to put Jerry Seachting into the game to give Ainge a break, but he replaced Johnson. “It turned out to be a great random move,” the Celtics coach would later say. The same Ainge in the first overtime equalizes the score (125:125), 12 seconds before the end. Jordan will blame himself for this.
“He walked right next to me. 90% of the mistakes I make are my fault.”
In addition, Jordan did not score an open shot from six meters, which would have helped the Bulls win the meeting in the closing seconds of the first overtime. “I remember that I missed one shot.”
Just to show that Jordan wasn’t perfect either: Michael, in addition to his game moments, also missed 2 of his 21 free throws. But all the craziness that was going on in the stands had absolutely nothing to do with it, says the Bulls legend. “No, I was completely focused.” He can be forgiven for missing these free throws when you realize that they were made in the most intense segment of the game, which already played on the nerves like a stretched piano string for three hours.
McHale fouled Jordan when he tried to land the last shot at the end of regulation – the Celtics were two points ahead (116:114). McHale clutched his head, not understanding how referee Ed Middleton could make such a decision. Even Jordan himself admired the nerves of the referee after the match. “I was very surprised. They broke the rules on me. Usually, in playoff matches, they don’t fix violations at the end of the game. ” As a result, Jordan managed to accurately send the ball into the basket twice, turning the game into overtime.
“I thought Jordan was one of the best players in the league before the playoffs,” says Ainge. But he was even better than I thought. And not only because he succeeds, but also because of the way he does it. His game is exciting. Sometimes you realize that you just look at him and say: “Stunned!”.
Ainge had an eye from the game itself on this miracle. 44 years later, the children who were in the stands at that moment will tell their grandchildren that they saw Michael Jordan. Hanging in the air without wings and only due to its skill.
PS Jordan’s record against the Celtics remains unbeaten to this day.
Source: Sportarena
