Hey guys,
Have you heard recently about what MJ said? In promoting NBA 2k11 he was asked the biggest difference between today’s game and when he played. His response? “It’s less physical and the rules have changed, obviously. Based on these rules, if I had to play with my style of play, I’m pretty sure I would have fouled out or I would have been at the free throw line pretty often and I could have scored 100 points.”

Certianly raised some eyebrows. Being the biggest MJ fan around, you might be a bit surprised to hear my opinion. Do I think MJ is the best player to ever play? Yes, I do. Do I think he is the greatest scorer ever? Yep. The greatest competitor? No question. He was once described as an assasin in shorts. This is the guy who wold literally make up stories in order to motivate himself (if you’re interested, let me know, I’ve got a million of them). Do I think he could score 100 points in a game? Depends…

Let’s take Wilt, the only player to ever accomlish this feat. First thing to remember is that Wilt was a 7 footer playing against centers who at the time were typically 6 ft 7. Imagine Shaq in his prime playing against Steve Nash (a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point). Remember growing up when you had a nerf hoop on your door and you could just turn and dunk on your little brother at will? That was Wilt, except against grown men. Here was Wilt’s stat line that night… 36-for-63 from the field and 28-for-32 from the foul line. Played all 48 minutes. Astounding. Why? First, 63 is an absolute load of shots. 2nd, Wilt was a career 50% free throw shooter (roughly). On that night, he shot 88%. 3rd, by the end of the third quarter, his teammates were doing nothing but feeding him the ball in order for him to reach 100. What’s the point? Things were beyond normal that night. Some say the end of the game became a “farce” for various reasons and even if he shoots just over 50% from the line, that would subtract roughly 11 points, leaving him at 89.

So let’s talk about the guy how has the second most in NBA history. Kobe. That legendary night where he scrored a still-amazing 81 points. His line from that night against the Raptors (one of the worst teams in the league that year)…28-46 from the field (7-13 from 3) 18-20 from the line, 42 minutes. Staggering! 81 points in 42 minutes???? What sticks out here is obviously that he shot 48 times. An absolute must to score that many points. Keep in mind, the Lakers were a bad team that year, Kobe averaged over 35 a game, and ths biggest difference between this game and the Wilt game was that the Lakers were losing in this game for a good while (Wilts sixers were up 19-3 and never looked back). So Kobe’s points actually came in the flow of the game (and they needed each and every one of them in order to win). Mind-blowing for sure. Kobe is just about as good a scorer as the league has ever seen, and he the game of a lifetime, and still found himself 19 points short.

Which leads to Jordan. The rules HAVE changed drastically since his playing days. Remember how much the Pistons and Knicks used to beat him up physically? Not even remotely allowed today. They removed hand checking years ago, and this is where the debate stems from. If MJ, the games singular greatest all-around talent, wasn’t allowed to be touched and bullied? Maybe he could. Let’s look at some of his stats. MJ’s greatest scoring average in a season was 37.1. Kobe’s was 35. However, dig deeper and you see that Kobe averaged over 30 only 3 times total. MJ? 8. Anyway, I’m getting distracted and comparing MJ to Kobe (sorry Mike, didn’t mean to disrespect you). Ok, so the flip side is that Jordan’s best game was “only” 69 and he needed OT to do it (sorry Cleveland… again). In order to get to 100, and be a “normal” size like Mike or Kobe, you would have to have just about a perfect game. I think a stat line for a guard would look something like this…. 35-49 from the field (11-15 from 30) and 28-31 from the line. Crazy? Insane? Well yeah, it’s a lot of points!!!! Let me explain these numbers (and for those of you that have added that up, yes it equals 101. Do you think MJ would get to 100 and stop without getting the record??? Come on). Ok, keep in mind, this is the game of a LIFETIME, so things must go well. 49 shots? Hey, Wilt took 63 and Kobe 46, so not unreasonable. Made 35? Let’s break that down. The hardest part would the 11 three’s. The record all time is Kobe and Donyall Marshall at 12. So let’s drop it down one and say being on fire he makes 11 (remember when he made 6 in a row against Portland??). Remember, this is an ALL-TIME game, on fire like never before, so cut me some slack! So that’s 11 threes for 33 points. Which leaves another 24 2-pointers. He still misses ten 2’s. Not unreasonable either. How about the free throws. MJ is a career 84% shooter. In this game he shoots 90%. Guess who holds the record from most free throws made and attempted in one half. Yep, Mike (20-23). 28-31 not so far-fetched now huh? Keep in mind, this is MJ in his prime, attacking the basket with reckless abandon where no one could stop him.

Not one of these is record breaking, not the shot attempts, not the shots made, not the 3’s, not the free throws. So here’s the kicker. It would have to be a competitive game. That’s the hard part. It would require a game more like Kobe than like Wilt. Wilt admitted to being slightly embarrassed by the way his game ended. MJ would have none of it. But if the game was on the line and he was feeling like this? In the zone of all zones?? Hotter than a thousand suns? One last question…

Before you say no way, consider this. What didn’t he accomplish on the court? MVPs? Plently (regular season, finals, all-star, you name it). Championships? More. Scoring titles? Uh huh.  Defensive player of the year? That too. Most team wins ever? Yes sir. More killer, jaw-dropping and astounding big pressure moments than anyone in history? Correct.
It is admittedly improbable to put together a game like I drew out. That being said, of all people that ever laced up a pair of kicks, would you doubt anyone less than MJ?

Not me.

bt