The late Bill Walton shared an intriguing and lesser-known story about Michael Jordan:
“It was the playoffs of 1986, and we were playing the Chicago Bulls. Mike was 23 and far from the player we now know. It was his second year, and he was coming off a tough injury.
His own team didn’t want him to play, knowing they had no chance against us. Why risk his career? They were up against the Celtics in the first round, and we had one of the best teams in NBA history at that time.
In the first game, we heard that Michael Jordan was going to play. He felt good and wanted to go against us. The game started, and we were just rolling, playing great. The Celtics crowd at Boston Garden was over the top. It was fantastic. By the end of the game, after winning comfortably (Chicago Bulls 104 – Boston Celtics 123, April 17, 1986), Michael had scored 49 points.
After the game, in the locker room, we kind of shrugged it off because other guys had scored many points and still lost. We thought, ‘He will never do that again.’ But then, in the next game, Jordan came back and scored 63 points.
When we went back to the locker room after that game, we just looked at each other and agreed, ‘This guy is actually pretty good.’”
Bill Walton, who recently passed away, recalled this story to highlight the moment when they realized Jordan was not just any player, but someone special.
