LeBron: 32 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 6 turnovers, 11-26 FG, 9-12 FT

Jordan: 38 points, 10 rebounds, 5assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks, 3 turnovers, 13-27 FG, 10-12 FT

BY THE WAY…YES THIS GRAPHIC AND COMPARISON IS A JOKE!  On the initial tweet of the graphic with the question “More Impressive,” people were calling blasphemy and asking for my head.  It’s too bad more people don’t actually click on the link to the articles instead of just reading headlines. If they would of clicked on the link they would have seen that this post was just an excuse for me to praise Jordan.

THE FLU GAME  - STORY BY RICK WEINBERG OF ESPN.COM

It’s 4:30 p.m. when Scottie Pippen sees Jordan emerge from a side door of the Delta Center. “The way he looked, there’s no way I thought he could even put on his uniform,” Pippen would say. “I’d never seen him like that. He looked bad — I mean really bad.”

Jordan sequesters himself in a dark room adjacent to the Bulls’ locker room. He slowly lies his weak body down. He closes his eyes. He visualizes himself running, shooting, passing, rebounding, dunking. Soon, he emerges from the room, staggering slowly. He puts on his uniform and walks out to the court, weak and pale. “I can play,” he tells coach Phil Jackson. “I’ll let you know how I’m feeling as the game goes on.”

As the game begins, Jordan drags himself up and down the court, running at only 65 percent of his normal speed. He is so dehydrated and fatigued that he is sure he is going to pass out any second. Halfway through the quarter, during a pause in the game, Jordan bends over to rest, pulls on his shorts, closes his eyes and nearly falls over. He has no energy whatsoever.

Later in the first quarter, during a timeout, Jordan slumps into a seat on the Bulls’ bench, his arms dangling, his shoulders sagging. “He could hardly sit up,” Chicago center Luc Longley would say.

He is essentially useless in the first quarter, but in the second quarter, after Utah takes a 16-point lead, something happens to Jordan physically, emotionally and mentally. He begins running harder, running faster and making shots. Somehow, miraculously, he begins looking like the typically dominant Michael Jordan. He scores 17 points in the quarter. “It was all about desire,” he would tell the media. “Somehow I found the energy to stay strong.”

At halftime, Jordan is fed fluids and given cold towels. In the third quarter, fatigue and nausea return, dragging him down again, rendering him virtually useless. But early in the fourth quarter, when the Jazz go up, 77-69, Jordan somehow turns it on again, leading a 10-0 run that puts Chicago back on top with five minutes left.

He starts the Bulls’ burst with a 12-footer, then Toni Kukoc and Jordan both drill 3-pointers to tie the score at 77. MJ caps the run by putting the Bulls on top, 79-77, with an 18-footer over Bryon Russell. Jordan had 33 points at that stage, a staggering total for someone so ill and weak.

“In the third quarter, I felt like I couldn’t catch my wind and get my energy level up,” Jordan would say later. “I don’t know how I got through the fourth quarter. I was just trying to gut myself through it.”

With 3:07 left, John Stockton nails a three for an 84-81 Utah lead. Jordan quickly hits a runner in the lane to make it 84-83. Moments later, Jordan is fouled by Stockton. He makes the first free throw to tie the score at 85 with 46.5 seconds left, but misses the second. Kukoc, however, tips the miss, and Jordan, his instincts still amazingly sharp and his reactions still quick despite his flu-like symptoms, grabs the loose ball and sets up the offense again.

Clearly exhausted, clearly weak, Jordan looks for Pippen posting up Jeff Hornacek. MJ also looks for three-point specialist Steve Kerr, wide open in the corner. Jordan, his arms hanging like a piece of rope, makes a weak fake to Kerr, but then quickly fires a pass to Pippen. Russell quickly moves to double Pippen, 5 for 17 in the game, leaving Jordan open on the perimeter. Pippen quickly fires the ball back to Jordan. The clock shows 0:26. With Stockton’s hand right in his face, Jordan launches a shot from beyond the three-point line. The ball hits nothing but string. Bulls, 88-85. His 15th point of the quarter and his 38th of the night. “We never want to double off Michael Jordan in that situation,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan would say later.

Utah pushes the ball upcourt, and Stockton breaks down the defense and feeds Greg Ostertag for a dunk, making it 88-87 with 15.2 seconds left. The Bulls quickly inbound the ball and work the ball upcourt to Kukoc, who feeds Longley for a dunk and a 90-87 lead with 6.2 seconds remaining. One possession remains. Utah works the ball around and as the clock hits 0:01, Hornacek heaves a 3-pointer & and misses.

Jordan, who plays 23 of 24 minutes in the first half and 21 of 24 minutes in the second, doubles over, collapsing from emotion and exhaustion.

“That was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done,” he would say after the game. “I almost played myself into passing out just to win a basketball game. If we had lost, I would have been devastated.” Jackson was almost at a loss for words, but finally told the media, “Because of the circumstances, with this being a critical game in the Finals, I’d have to say this is the greatest game I’ve seen Michael play. Just standing up was nauseating for him and caused him dizzy spells. This was a heroic effort, one to add to the collection of efforts that make up his legend.”

After MJ’s epic performance, Pippen would say, “He’s the greatest, and everyone saw why tonight.” 

You  know the saying “The Whole World is Watching?”  It’s a common chant used by politicians and demonstrators that are against something.

Well, last night it seemed as if most of the world was watching game 6 of the NBA Finals as evident by a 19.8 peak rating and a 14.7 overnight rating for ABC and if you were on Twitter you probably saw the tens of thousands of Jesus and LeBron mentions from fans and a bunch of other NBA players tweeting minute by minute commentary.  One NBA player that wasn’t watching was Dwight Howard who told TMZ  last night “I’m not watching…I’m not playing so ain’t no need to be” and then added “I don’t want to see nobody win a championship.”

See you in Houston, Dwight!

Source:  TMZ

The NBA is not rigged but it’s play like this that give the Oliver Stones conspiracy theories to talk about.  Bosh clearly had all ball at top but there was body contact below which would usually result in a foul.  Jeff Van Gundy said he liked the no-call but admitted it would absolutely be a foul during the first 46 minutes.

Miami traffic does suck and US1 in Miami is one of my least favorite roads in the US but unless the Heat are down by 10 with 1 second left, i’m not leaving a game early especially if it’s in the NBA Finals.  Well, a bunch of Miami fans that deserve to be interviewed on the Jimmy Kimmel show left early to “beat the traffic” and what they missed was their home team beating the Spurs to force a game 7 that I hope they don’t have tickets for.

Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie posted the following Tweets from Miami ABC news reporter Victor Oquendo who was upset at the “horrible, drunk, quitting fans desperately trying to get back in.”

When I met Robert Horry I said “Do you know who are the two people I hated the most in mid 90s?” and he replied “Me and who else?”  I said “Nick Anderson” and Big Shot Rob of the 95 NBA championship team laughed.  The reason why I hated the two is because I was an Orlando Magic fan and those are the two players that broke my heart the hardest during the 95 NBA Finals between the Magic and Clutch City Rockets.

The scene of the crime was Game 1 where the Orlando Magic blew a 20 point lead but still had a 3 point lead with 10.5 seconds on the clock and Nick Anderson at the free throw line.  All he had to do was hit 1 of 2.  He missed the first.  He missed the second but was lucky enough to get the offensive board and go back to the charity stripe for 2 more shots at redemption.  He ended up missing both of those.  That divine intervention gave the Rockets a chance and Kenny Smith came through with another  3 pointer to put the game into OT.   In OT, it was a back and forth affair that ended with a game winning tip-in by Hakeem Olajuwon. The demoralized Magic would lose the next 3 games.

Shaq would miss the majority of the next season with an injury which allowed Penny Hardaway to become 2nd to only Jordan in popularity. It would be Jordan’s Bulls that knocked off the Magic in the playoffs that year too and then came the end of the Batman and Robin team in Orlando.  Shaq would leave Orlando to join his new Robin in LA while the Magic franchise struggled to recover.  No player struggled to recover more from that game than Nick Anderson.

“It affected the way I played,” he said. “It affected the way I lived. It played in my head like a recorder – over and over again.”

Nick “The Brick” Anderson went from a 74 percent free throw shooter to a 40 percent free throw shooter.  He played a few more mediocre years including a very forgettable stint with the Kings and Grizzlies.

Nick is now back with the Magic organization and also serves as a commentator for Fox Sports Florida.  I’m sure he was watching Game 6 of the Finals last night and watched the Spurs players clank free throw after free throw near the end of regulation that would of sealed the NBA championship for them.  Now the demoralized Spurs are facing a confident Miami Heat team in a Game 7 on their home court and feeling the pain that Nick Anderson and the Magic felt.  I just hope Kawhi Leonard doesn’t lose his confidence the way Nick Anderson lost his.

95 FINALS GM1 – ROCKETS VS MAGIC FULL GAME

On a day where Yeezus was praised by critics and panned by the average hip hop fan, it was Jesus (Shuttlesworth) that gave more people joy and others a broken heart when he hit a clutch 3 pointer to put the game into OT.

Bonus Video: He Got Game (King James Version)

This post originally said “Congrats to the San Antonio Spurs for surviving game 6 and winning the 2012-2013 NBA Championship vs the Miami Heat.”  That was before LeBron and Ray Allen hit clutch 3 pointers at the end of the 4th quarter to force an OT.   After a nerve racking overtime, the Miami Heat came out victorious and forced a Game 7.

Check out the best pics and videos from one of the best playoff games of all-time.  We had big performances, big shots, big flops, bad refs, “bad girls,” headband drama and OT drama.

Blame Dwyane Wade for Tim Duncan’s great first half performance.   Midway through the first quarter, Wade played the role of Durant in the Gatorade commercial where the player that gets dunked on wakes up from a nightmare.  At the half, Duncan has 25 points and 8 rebounds.