Michael Jordan had many great games, and one memorable one was when he dropped 69 points in the Chicago Bulls’ overtime win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in March 1990. It was a huge scoring splurge from “His Airness,” who made minced meat out of anyone who tried to put the clamps on him.
The Cavs that night tried different players to defend Mike, but none of them could slow down the Bulls’ guard. One player that Cavaliers head coach Lenny Wilkens assigned was Craig Ehlo, someone Jordan admitted he defended miserably.
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“Ehlo had to come up on me or else just back off. He didn’t know how to play me because I had everything going,” Jordan said after that game via the Washington Post. “When you see a defender going back on his heels like that, it’s a great feeling.”
The Cavs failed to adjust defensively
At the time, Jordan did most of his damage, driving to the lane. Teams would prefer he take the outside shot rather than go inside, aware that this was a lower percentage shot. The Cavs’ defensive effort was horrible in the game. MJ made them pay with his streaky shooting and even got trips to the charity stripe.
Looking at the stats of that game, Mike went 23 of 37 from the field, 2 of 6 from the three-point region, and sank 21 of 23 free throws. That stat line alone shows how impossible it was to stop the North Carolina product, especially when he got his groove going.
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“He just got going,” Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. “I just said, ‘Let’s see if he’s still hot, and let’s just ride him.'”
MJ’s performance left Jackson torn
Beyond Jordan’s magnificent performance, the important thing is that the Bulls won that game. But for Jackson, it was not something to be happy about. For the “Zen Master,” the main thing for the Bulls is to get everyone involved. He had nothing against Jordan having a superb game. But for Phil, it took his teammates out of the game.
“It’s not my favorite thing to do, to go to a player that often because it takes (his teammates) out of it,” Jackson explained. “But as an individual performance, it was sparkling. He had everything going for him.”
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After Jordan, the only other player to finish that game in double figures was Horace Grant. He finished with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Other players like Scottie Pippen and John Paxson performed woefully in that victory.
Although the Bulls were able to advance to the playoffs, their run was halted in the Eastern Conference Finals by the eventual champion Detroit Pistons. As expected, Jordan was the anchor of the team, averaging 32.1 points.
Regarding player contribution, the Bulls’ bench failed to match the Pistons’ output in that series. The “Bad Boys” had four players averaging 9 points or more to help their main guns, compared to Jackson’s squad, which only had three players who chipped in offensively.
Jordan let his teammates find their identity
Being the Bulls’ top star at the time, most expected Jordan to guide his teammates to get better. Instead, the third overall pick of the 1984 Draft let them figure that out on their own. He felt that the desire to become better should be there to be a good player.
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“I don’t hold a gun to my teammates’ heads and tell them to be better. They have to have the desire to become better themselves. It’s a matter of them wanting to be better,” Jordan quipped via NYT.
Hence, with Pippen, Grant, and the rest stepping up, the 1990-91 season saw a resurgent Bulls team. They rolled through the regular season with a 61-21 win-loss record and marched to the 1991 NBA Finals.
The Bulls defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in five games, claiming their first championship in franchise history. Jordan remained the focal point on offense at the time. However, with guys like Pippen, Grant, and Paxson showing their new grit, the Bulls finally came out of their shells to become legit NBA contenders.