Jordan has many classic battles, and the "Flu Battle" is one of them. In the 1996–1997 Finals, the Bulls played against the Jazz. The Bulls have a 69-13 record in the regular season, the Jazz have a record of 64 wins and 18 losses in the regular season, the gap between the two teams is not large, and the Jazz also have the highest team-wide shooting rate in the league, which is a very difficult opponent.
In the first four matches, both teams won two games at their respective home games, the aggregate score became 2-2 draw, and the battle of Tennoyama became crucial. The fifth game will be played at the home of the Bulls, which is good for the Bulls, but Jordan feels that he has a physical problem before the game, and he is weak and weak, like he has the flu, but he knows the importance of this game and still insists on playing the game.
Jordan played 44 minutes from the field, shooting 13-of-27 from the field, 2-of-5 from three-point range, 10-of-12 from the free throw line, scoring 38 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, and shooting a fatal three-pointer at a crucial moment to help the Bulls beat the Jazz 90-88.
After the game, Jordan collapsed in Pippen's arms and needed Pippen's help to get out of the stadium, showing how tired he was. In that game Pippen got 17 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, Rodman got 2 points and 7 rebounds, Kukoc got 9 points, the Bulls did not have particularly good players except Jordan, if it were not for Jordan insisting on dragging his tired body to play, the Bulls would most likely lose the Battle of King Mountain, and the sixth game would be played at the jazz's home court, which was even more unfavorable to the Bulls, they were likely to lose the championship, and it was Jordan who relied on amazing willpower to turn the tide and have the 1997 championship.
This is the classic "flu battle", but Jordan said in the documentary "The Last Dance" that in fact, he did not suffer from the flu in that game, but food poisoning, which is very frightening - the third and fourth games of the series were played in Salt Lake City, the home of the Jazz, Jordan returned to the hotel after playing the fourth game, and late at night he felt hungry and asked the assistant to order a pizza.
Strangely enough, the assistant only ordered a pizza, but that night there were 5 people knocking on Jordan's room door, as if to confirm that the pizza was Jordan's order, at that time Jordan and the assistant did not think badly, thinking that it might be a fanatical fan who wanted to sneak a look at Jordan, but when Jordan finished eating the pizza not long after, he felt unwell.
He could only call his trainer Grover, and when Grover felt Jordan's room, he saw Jordan curled up on the bed, Jordan still had symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea and sweating, at that time he realized that Jordan had food poisoning, because no flu could appear so quickly, the Bulls' medical team immediately treated Jordan, but unfortunately Jordan still did not recover before the start of the fifth game.
At the beginning of the fifth game, Jordan's eyes were covered with blood, he bent over other people's free throws, with his hands on his knees, you can see that he is very tired, he is also very poor performance, but he has been trying to adapt to the rhythm of the game, in the second half, he finally adjusted, and became the omnipotent Jordan, leading the Bulls to reverse the Jazz and win the crucial Battle of King's Mountain.
In this extremely unfavorable situation, Jordan showed a strong mental willpower, and in Jordan's words, at that moment, he firmly believed that no force could defeat him, his eyes had begun to blur, but he knew that he could do it. He did, he's still jordan to be trusted by his teammates, he's still jordan to give his opponents a headache, and he's great because he's done a lot of things that we seem impossible to accomplish.
When we talk about Jordan, we often mention his bounce, his back jumper, his explosive dunk and anti-sky pull, but few people mention his willpower, in fact, willpower is the root of Jordan's legend. Barkley had trained with Jordan for a while, and then because of too hard to give up, he lamented that "no longer envy Jordan's talent", Barkley can not withstand the intensity of training, is Jordan insisted on many years of training intensity, he relies on strong willpower day after day to complete the high-intensity training content, in order to play easily in the NBA, only to defeat many superstars, become the first person in NBA history.
Barkley once said, "I'm the best basketball player on the planet, and as for Jordan, he's not an Earthling at all." "To hear such praise from a competitor, perhaps only Michael Jordan can do it."