Michael Jordan's CAREER-HIGH 69-PT Performance | 35th Anniversary

Michael Jordan is averaging 33 a game against the league, 44 a game against Cleveland. Of course, they're in town to see their Cavaliers battling for the playoff spot, but of course, they're here to see the guy in the middle of your screen and with the ball, number 23, Michael Jordan. Maybe for later in the game if it's close, so he'll have more energy to defend against Michael Jordan. And Pippen against Delo right away, takes it down a hole against Jordan, who's posted Bennett with the turnaround, and Michael Jordan says so much for that defense on my first possession, 2-0 Bulls. You're going to see a lot of half-court offense from this Cleveland Cavalier team. Here's the double team against Jordan. He pitches into Cartwright, reversing to Pippen, missing from long range, Jordan with a rebound, the basket, and draws the foul from Larry Nance. Well, Michael Jordan just does everything on the floor. Here's a rebound over Larry Nance. Scottie Pippen against Cleveland in the three ballgames this year, shooting 16 for 50. So he has not been a good shooter. It looks like that they're gambling off of him and forcing Scottie Pippen to shoot the ball from the outside. Michael got 54 against Cleveland early in the season. Kicked it out to Dougherty, who usually hit that 15-footer. Just the quickness and the acceleration of Mark Price to get inside. Pippen, open, 12 off the glass for Michael Jordan. Jordan wanted the three. Bennett backs off another step, he'll take it. He backed off another step, and Michael took him to the cleavers on the baseline. You know, you lose both ways. They say, I better play him at the three. There's a steal by Michael, and knocks it off B-Lo's leg. Poor Cleveland turnover. You know, Michael Jordan, how do you play him? Bennett said, I'll get up in his face. No, I'll give him the three. No. And by then, two are down. Grant from long range. Davis gets the rebound from behind Nance. Jordan goes and gets three. Well, a second shot opportunity. Charles Davis with a nice offensive rebound. And Michael Jordan delivering the three-point shot. Likes to take it into the paint instead. And B-Lo struggling early in this ballgame. Michael Jordan has a way of making him do that. Jordan sees a slight crack in the Cleveland defense and makes him pay. Jordan with 11. Mark Price says, I like to just watch Anderson dribble the ball. He's so good. High praise from a fine pro player, Mark Price. 13 for Jordan. About a one-second differential in the shot clock in the quarter. Five on the shot clock. Jordan gets E-Lo airborne, hits the basket, draws the foul. That's slightly reminiscent of the shot in the playoffs. A little bit. A little bit. You know, see, Michael loves a challenge. And there was a big article in the Cleveland paper today about E-Lo being an outstanding defender. Michael sees that and his eyes light up. You see the pump fake. There he is, hanging in the air. Price running at him, the bump. And the three-point opportunity. And Michael Jordan loves a challenge. You've got to just let him play his game without challenging him like that. Because he'll throw 50 at you. He's thrown 16 in the first quarter with three seconds remaining. Kerr will defend B.J. Armstrong. Morton is on Michael Jordan. He was on him for a moment. Then he slipped off of him. Well, I mean, he's driving to the basket. They go up and they wrap their arms around his waist. And he still gets the shot off. If you want to keep Michael Jordan shooting the ball, you better wrap your body around his arms and just not allow him to even get a shot off. But watch the strength there. Tree Rollins comes over. He grabs him. And Michael still makes the shot. And goes to the line for what would be, should he sink this, his 19th point in this game. And only the third of this quarter. Remember, he's averaging 44 a game versus the Cleveland Cavaliers, leading the league with 33. I don't know if I like John Williams and Tree Rollins back here breaking this press, but... Cav had trouble with it. Melo had to lob it to Rollins. I don't think Lenny Wilkins liked it a lot either. He's over there just yelling on the sideline. Another turnover. That was a bad pass there by John Williams. Nine Cleveland turnovers. Jordan clears Perdue out of the way. Takes it past Nance. Draws the foul. Will go to the line again. Hot Rod Williams had to step in and help out. Get this balance as Jordan goes to the line. Jordan has 19. Cartwright, 5. Grant, 4. Pippen, 4. Davis, 5. King, 1. How about that for balance? Well, Michael right now is carrying him until the rest of these guys can get involved offensively. That's the greatness of Michael Jordan. Which comes in 1994. The thing about Michael is he knows when he has to score. And tonight he feels it, that he needs to score points. Cleveland kind of says, beat us if you can. Jordan will hold everybody else down. And historically, Jordan has done just that. That's correct. See what happened there? It's another turnover. That's five turnovers in the quarter now by Cleveland. Only one by Chicago. Turnovers and carelessness starting to cost the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jordan goes up for the jump shot. Elo is all over it. Now those fouls are starting to even out as Michael Jordan has come back into the ballgame. He now has gotten to the free throw line three straight times. 21 points already. 5.53 to go in the first half. 22 for Jordan. He's halfway to his average of 44 against these Cavaliers. I don't like that strategy to say, let's let Michael Jordan beat us if he can. Well, he can't. Their whole team changed this year. Right now, they're trying to get back what they did best going into the playoffs so they can make a run at maybe making a first round upset. Jordan with the double team. Kicks it to King. Back to Michael. What a beautiful play by Stacey King and Michael Jordan. He's got 25 and an opportunity to get 27. Jordan is down. He's all right. Nance draws the foul. He now has two personals. And Jordan, two free throws away from having 27 with just under five minutes remaining in the first half. You're going to see a little in-line out-of-bounds play. Michael Jordan popping off. And he's going to give it up to Stacey King and then cut right out of the double team. This is when he's so effective. When you double him, he gives it up and then cuts right out of the double team. Beautiful give-and-go. And then a careless inbounds pass. Chicago really hurting Cleveland with their full-court pressure defense right now. They've changed the course of this ballgame. They've got the game in the tempo where they want it now rather than to a half-court game. Milo's got 11. Michael's going into the post now, realizing in the penalty, he's going to try to drive it and get to the foul line. That's the pick from Purdue from long range. Jordan has 29. He's having fun. So you see Michael smiling. Now watch Michael get to the line here. They're going to really get mad. He got into the paint. Gets the two. And here come the boos. Michael with 31 points. Too shy of his league-leading 33. And we're a minute 12 away from the end of the first half. Chicago by two. Mark Price curling off the screen, kicking it to Doughty to Nance over Grant. Larry Nance shooting a lot of jump shots. This will be good. Ah, just a routine though. Here's Michael out running everybody with the basketball. You see his speed and his power as he takes the ball Chicago up by four. Price kicks it to Elo. This is a two-point attempt. Elo continues struggling from the perimeter. It's five for 14 now. Jordan with nine rebounds and 35 points. Remember we told you earlier in this game that Jordan is averaging 44 a game against Cleveland this year. Had 54 in the opener and a good chance to go beyond that. And by the way, Paxton has donut zero points. Jordan on the pass and the bounce. Jordan was cutting to his left turned around, hit a fadeaway shot moving laterally. That's Cleveland battling for that eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Jordan penetrating. Splits three guys. Gives it to Horace Grant for the jam. You think Lenny Wilkins has seen enough of Michael Jordan for the night? I mean, he said, I've got another 20 minutes I've got to watch this guy. This could be a four-point play. And the reason you see him at the line, it's not a technical. He goes to the line for the free throw. Then he gets the other free throw. Then the Bulls also get possession of the basketball. So it could be a four-point play here. Exactly. See, they put this rule in because the guy is being pushed in the back. Cleveland right now has got to stop him defensively. And Michael Jordan feels it and it's going to be awful tough to slow him down right now. Boom. Michael Jordan has 41 points. Jordan hit the first of the two technicals. There's the second. Jordan now has 43 points in the game. Misses the shot. Doesn't get a call. Crowd gets excited again. He is hole for five. Armstrong working for the baseline. He nails it. Crowd's into this ballgame. They're emotionally connected. Kicks it out to Grant from 18. Michael Jordan's doing it all at the moment. Bulls by nine. 325 to go third quarter. Into Jordan. Over Price. Jordan has 45 points in this game. Michael's going to go for 60 tonight, Bob. Michael will mark it down. He got Mark Price against Michael Jordan. They take him right in the post. That's what they've done. Price went for the steal. Jordan burned him. 47 for Michael Jordan. He's got a chance at 50. See, Michael recognizes Price on him in the post, so he just backs him down. Mark Price drives a circle to get the steal. Scottie Pippen with a nice pass, and Michael with a wide-open shot. Remember shooting the ball the way Michael is. That is like a dunk. Against Hot Rod Williams. Jordan. 49. Oh, man. Yeah. Well, maybe not exactly like a regular team. Jordan will go to the free throw line. Chuckie Brown getting that time. Everybody's had their chance at trying to hammer it. I tell you, we were sitting at lunch today, if you remember correctly, there was a big article on Cleveland today, and Michael talking about how much respect he has for Craig Gelo as a defender, and we knew that Michael was going to come out tonight, and we were talking about it at lunch today, that look out, because Michael loves these kind of challenges. I just happen to have that with me, being the journalism person here. Headline, what? Mission Impossible. Gelo to try to ground Air Jordan. Uh-huh. Cleveland on a roll right here, battling back in. Cogwood led by 15. Four on the shot clock. Paxton's got trouble. They get it to Jordan. He goes for the three. He gets the three. Oh my! Jordan has 54 points. That matches the 54 that he got against Cleveland in the opening game in overtime this year. Jordan six away from 16. Over on the left of your screen. Now out of the screen to the left. Winston Bennett just all over Jordan. There's Jordan. He got away from him from 17. Jordan has 53. Make that 56. 56 for Jordan. Go by four. It's playoff intensity here in this game. Jordan has 58. The next two-pointer by Jordan will give him 60. For his 59th and 60th points. He's got him. 60 points for Jordan. Now see, I still, even if Michael makes this shot, I don't like a three-pointer this time unless it comes out of the flow. Because there's still plenty of time to foul. It's a three-point Chicago lead. Jordan has 61. Jordan. You gotta come double-team him right now. Get it out of his hands. Jordan from 13. Jordan has 63. Matching his career high. Set back in 86 versus Boston in two overtimes. Folks are watching. Jordan with 63. Tying his high set in 86 versus Boston in two overtimes. Nance went out on the foul. He's fouled out. That's obviously significant as Bennett, Doherty, and Williams are at the front line now. Michael Jordan just set his career scoring record of 64 points. See now, what happens again with being in the penalty now, the severity of that, is that every time Michael puts it on the floor and is fouled, he's stepping up and shooting two free throws. With a game of this importance, to put a Michael Jordan on the foul line. That's 66 points for Jordan. I hope you folks have seen this from the beginning. Michael Jordan has been spectacular. Cleveland has mounted a courageous effort trying to beat Chicago here. Cleveland has eight wins in a row here at home. They're trying to move into that eighth and final playoff spot of the Eastern Conference. Interesting substitution now. Lant is in the ballgame. Watch Michael Jordan against Chucky Brown for this rebound if there's a miss. Misses. Rebound Jordan past Chucky Brown. You heard Doug Collins call it. Unbelievable. He stole the rebound from Chucky Brown. And the reason Chucky Brown was in there is because Williams went to the bench with his sixth personal foul. See, Chucky Brown did not get, you know, Michael Jordan locked him up underneath the basket and pushed him. And, you know, you've got to be very, you know, you can just see it happening. And now Michael Jordan with two free throws will seal the game. And about a million rebounds for Jordan tonight also. That was his 18th rebound to go with 67 points. And he's not finished. He's going to probably end up one short at the 70 mark. But this will tie him with Pete Maravich. Right there, Pete Maravich had 68 along with Wilt Chamberlain. Maravich scored his 68 in 1967. In 1977. Cleveland is absolutely shell-shocked right now. They can't believe that Michael Jordan can continue to do this to him. It's been unbelievable. 69 points for Michael Jordan. Pippen's just going to hold on to it. It's been a beauty at Richfield Coliseum. A tough loss for Cleveland. The Bulls get a four-point overtime victory. Michael Jordan with 69 points. And you saw him walk past the defender, Craig Elo. Remember what he said. The front page sports story here in Cleveland was Elo, tough defender against Jordan. Jordan said, yes, he's good. I consider it a challenge. We'll be right back to Richfield. Tonight, just a sensational performance. I understand that you really weren't feeling that well before the game. Well, I got a little cold. But I came out tonight and got myself going. I started hitting a few jump shots. You know how that can do. Once I got going, no one else could get going. It seemed like no one else could get the shot falling except for me. I think they rolled my back a little bit. Finally, some help came in the third quarter. We gave up our 18-point lead. Then down the stretch, I held them together. I think that's what a leader is supposed to do. Michael, when you look at your team this year, you talk about Scotty has really emerged. He's starting to play much better basketball. Still, when the chips are down, they get the ball in your hands. Tonight, you were just sensational. I think, Doug, as a leader of the ball club, you always got to feel that the team can rely on you at any point in time. Hopefully, you can respond to that. That's what it's been this year. I've got some help from Scotty and other players. I really hadn't had to take over like this throughout the course of the game. Tonight is one of those cases where I just had to show my leadership and do whatever I had to do. The last thing you really want to do is challenge Michael Jordan. I had the opportunity to be with you for three years. Today, I thought it was very interesting. The headlines, Mission Impossible, in the paper. You talked about that you were ready to meet the challenge with Craig Elo. I think you did that tonight. It's always a challenge whenever I face Elo, any defensive player. It just improves me, I think, as an offensive player and certainly arouses my competitive juices. How do you feel at this stage of the season now? You've got about ten games to go. You're getting ready for the playoffs. It looks like you're going to have the second best record in the East. What do you feel about your chances going into the playoffs? I think we have a good chance. I think the guys have really matured a lot. They're playing very consistent right now. Hopefully, we can maintain. You know how it was last year in the last ten games. We kind of got relaxed and lost our head a little bit and lost seven of the last ten. It really gave us something to look forward to in the playoffs. This year, I think we can change that around seeing that we've been playing very good basketball and certainly finishing second in our division and second best record in the East is always an incentive. Michael, on behalf of all the people in the NBA, it was a real pleasure to be able to announce this game tonight. A tremendous performance and just congratulations. Thanks, Doug.