Michael Jordan’s stint with the Wizards is not remembered all that fondly. Jordan returned to the NBA for the second time in his career, this time to play for the Washington Wizards. MJ was much older and didn’t have the same pep in his step. And one game, in particular, highlighted that fact very well.
On December 27th, 2001, the Washington Wizards faced the Indiana Pacers. In that game, Jordan had arguably the worst outing of his career. Jordan put up 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists against the Pacers, as he and the Wizards got blown out in a massive game. The critics came for Michael, questioning whether he still has it in him.
But Jordan was probably the hardest on himself. According to former Wizards player Etan Thomas, Jordan didn’t even leave the gym the entire night, staying up after the game getting ready for the next game. And that next game turned out to be historic, as Jordan proved the media wrong for doubting him.
“We saw how MJ had that drive, and how people changed on him when he didn’t have a good game. I remember one time in particular, he didn’t play well, we lost, he was bad. The headlines was like ‘is MJ too old?’… That very next game was when he had that amazing record. I don’t even know if he slept that night… He stayed in the gym and was just working out… He was ready for that next game. Just a day ago, they were all trashing him, saying he was terrible, he was old, he should have never came back. And 24 hours, now he’s back to being MJ the god. The media will tear you down in a minute if they’ll tear you down in a minute.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh-szbNsmHw
Jordan went on to have a spectacular performance the following game, scoring 51 points against the Charlotte Hornets, the team he would end up owning just a few years later. It was a way for MJ to send a message to the critics, and also make some history in the process.
Jordan became the first player to score 51 points in three different decades. Jordan’s stint with the Wizards ended quite badly, as he was fired as president of basketball operations by the team because the players didn’t want him back. MJ even threw away a $10 million compensation cheque. While that stint ended badly, for one night, we had the old MJ back to drop 51 points.
