Was Michael Jordan Sick? “The Flu Game”

So picture this June eleventh, nineteen ninety seven. The NBA Finals is deadlined two to two with the Utah Jazz facing off against the Chicago Bulls in Game five is about to happen, and the greatest basketball player on the planet is Michael Jordan. But he is sick. He can barely stand, he's pale, he's sweating and in pain, and everyone is wondering will he play tonight or will the Jazz be able to steal a win in maybe a championship. We're going to take a look today inside the locker room, onto the court and this battle for a dynasty in a game that is so iconic it has its own name, as we're going to dive into the flu game of Michael Jorgan on Daily Sports History. Let's go. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reees, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge. So we come to nineteen ninety seven. It's the NBA Finals and the Utah Jazz, coached by Jerry Sloan, are representing the West and the Chicago Bulls are representing the East. Coming off a championship the previous year and winning and trying to make it two in a row on their way to a possible repeat and maybe three p again. And this truly was one of the hardest challenges in the Michael Jordan dynasty era for the Chicago Bulls because the Jazz were at the top of their game at this time. They had one of the best all star duos that's ever been in John Sockton, one of the greatest as sisters in NBA history in power forward Karl Malone, who was a scoring force. They had been to the Western Conference finals three times in the last four years and lost every single time, but they finally got over that hump as Karl Malone had an MVP season and they had a franchise record in sixty four wins, but they were facing the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan, who had a great season. They won sixty nine games that year, which was third best all time, but just short of their last year total of seventy two wins, and they would make their way easily through the Eastern Conference, losing just two games on their way to the finals, and then teams split their regular season matchups, so it was sought to be a very close game against two very good teams, and the Bulls took the first two at home and the Jazz won two games at their home, so the series was tied two to two, and at this time the series was a two to three two format, so the higher seed played two games at home, the lower seed played three games in a row at home, then the higher seed to play the final two games at home. So this was the last game in Utah, and if they could win this game, it would give them a lead in just one game away. And if the Jazz could win this last home game, it would give them an advantage go up in the series, being just one game away from their first championship. But there was another teammate they had that they didn't know about see. The night before this game, Michael Jordan fell ill at the hotel room in Salt Lake. By the morning, his condition got worse. He was pale, sluggish, throwing up, He was dehydrated, had a fever, but his doctors weren't really sure what it was. Now for years, it's been known as the flu game. He's been suffering from flu like symptoms, dehydrated, exhausted, difficulty breathing, so he might have the flu, but the way it came on so fast, they're not really sure that's exactly what it was. There's a theory out there that was food poisoning. See Michael Jordan got a pizza the night before and he was the only only one to eat it. He ordered the pizza and unusually, five men delivered the pizza. You only usually need one man. But you're delivering to the bulls, you might get to see an NBA player. I mean that seems likely thing to do, as lots of people were excited for the NBA at the time. But by two am, after he ate the pizza and he was the only one to eat the pizza, he was curled up in pain. And when you think he was actually had food poisoning, whether intentional or not. Something it was intentional, which would be more malice. They think that it was Utah fans giving him bad food to make him feel bad so they could win the next game. Okay, that could be it was five guys delivering it, but it could just be bad food and if any, if any of being in your thirties and eating a pizza late at night and he's gonna wreck you no matter what. But it seemed to stick around longer than food poisoning. Another theory is that he had altitude sickness. Now, Salt Lake City is forty two thousand and feet above sea level, and it takes a physical toll to play multiple days in that location that you're not used to. That could be now, Jordan's played in Utah before without issues, but usually not three games in a row, and he inserts himself a lot compared to other athletes. He is ball heavy, he's conditioning more than others, he's practicing more than others. It's a very good theory that he warrem himself out and got altituding. This whichever it is, we don't inherently know. We better title for what would be the sick game. Michael is sick. We don't know what it was, but he was sick of some type. But flu game sounds better than sick game. Problem was, no one even knew if Michael was going to play that day. The game was at night, so we had all day to get himself right. He rested, he got electrolytes, drink gatorade, drink water. Eventually they actually gave him five cups of coffee and that was right before the game started. That actually seemed to do the trick somehow, at least get him enough ready to dress for the game. Now he was the lead, but Scottie Pippen had come into his own. He averaged over twenty points and eight rebounds during this series, and that year when Michael Jordan was not on the team, he finished third in the MVP voting for the league, so he had a good running mate. It's not that if Michael didn't play that they couldn't win. They didn't just have Michael Jordan. They had Scottie Pippen, They had Dennis Robin, they had Tony Kukoach, so they could pull this out even if he couldn't play. But the game starts and Michael drinks his five cups coffee and he's ready to dress for the game. Even though he looks weak, he looks uneasy. Even broadcasters and fans are questioning if he even has the condition to make it through the entire game. But the game starts and the Jazz take a big lead after the first quarter twenty nine to sixteen. The home crowd is into the game and Jordan is struggling, but the whole team was struggling. It's a confusing thing for the team. Jordan really ran their offense, and in that first quarter he had four points and took him a while to maybe adjust how they were playing. And but the second quarter comes and Jordan starts to put things together, he starts to figure things out. So an adrenaline thing that can happen when you play sports that you are going through this, and he was able to eke out seventeen points in the second quarter and sele handedly brought them back into the game, and the Jazz only led by four points going into half. But the question was how is he going to come out of the half. He's feeling it, but would the break in halftime cause him to be sluggish because whenever Jordan sat down on the bench, he was not himself being up and alert. He was just like what you and me would be like if we were sick, like sitting back, not into whatever they were doing. And in third quarter he came out sluggish. He only ended up playing nine minutes, but Scottie Pippen and Luke Longley were able to keep them at least afloat, scoring twelve points between them and they were only down by five at the end of the third quarter. Then came the fourth quarter where Jordan shines. The Bulls were down seventy seven to sixty nine, and Jordan helped lead a ten point run, erasing the deficit and giving them the lead. Then with twenty five seconds left, the score was high, Scottie Pippen passed to a wide open Jordan, who drained a three pointer and put the Bulls up eighty eight to eighty five, and this was the really final dagger. The Jazz would go on the other side and Greg ostagg would be able to cut and score on dunk, bringing the game to within one point with eleven seconds left, and the Bulls would be pressured and passed the ball across court to Luke Longley, who would dunk the ball on his own, giving them a three point lead, and the Jazz would be fouled so they would not make a three pointer, and John Stockton missed the first one and made the second, making a two point game ninety to eighty eight, but they were not able to foul the balls in time, and that was the final score, and Michael Jordan collapsed into Scottie Pippin's arm in an iconic moment in NBA history and Michael Jordan said after the game, this was the hardest thing he ever had to do, and they were now up three to two in the series, and the game shifted over to Chicago, where in Game six, the Bulls would win out, winning back to back championships, the fifth of the nineties, setting up a chance for them to go three pete again. But this would be a rematch next year, as the Jazz would make it again to the finals facing off against the Bulls. Sadly, similar outcome would happen and they would lose out and the Jazz since have not won an NBA title. And it's heartbreaking to have two Hall of Famers at the same time in Karl Malone and John Stockton and not win it. But it's all bad timing as it came up against Michael Jordan Scottie Pippen in the nineties Bulls, who were one of the most dominant teams at the time. Sometimes it's all about timing. And the question is what made Jordan sick? Was it the flu? Was it food poisoning, altitude sickness, or something else? What do you think? I want to thank you for listening to Daily Sports History. If you like this Please make sure you like to subscribe wherever you're at. That really helps us grow, and the more we grow, the more I can give you daily sports history. We'll see you on the next one.