Episodes 9 and 10 (final two episodes) of “The Last Dance” documentary, which will be aired on Neflix on Monday May 18, 3 p.m. Manila time, will include Michael Jordan’s “Flu Game” in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.
Jordan nonetheless put together a sensational game in the Chicago Bulls’ victory. But was it really a “flu” that sickened MJ?
According to Jordan’s personal trainer Tim Grover (whom Kobe Bryant would also hire in the 2000s as the LA Lakers won five titles – from 2000 to 2002 and two more in 2009 and 2010 with MJ in real retirement) – that it was two slices of pizza that Jordan, from his room, asked him to buy from an open food vendor in Park City, Utah on the eve of Game 5 that did MJ in.
In short it was food poisoning that hit MJ and not the flu. Why call it a “flu?” Because declaring it a “flu” would have sounded better than “food poisoning.”
“100 percent it was food poisoning. 100 percent,” Grover said. “But obviously it just sounds better to be the ‘Flu Game’ than the ‘Food Poisoning Game.'”
Basically the stories in the 10-part “The Last Dance” documentary series on Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls season that is currently aired being aired on ESPN and Neflix came from the hardbound, bond paper-sized book “For the Love of the Game – My Story by Michael Jordan” that came out in October 1998 or just months after the Bulls won their 6th NBA title. The book is heavy with colored photos.
For the record, Jordan played 44 minutes and collected 38 points (13-27 FGA), seven rebounds and five assists and scored the winning basket in the Bulls’ 90-88 victory for a 3-2 series lead.
That set up the series-clinching Game 6 in Chicago where the Bulls beat the Jazz, 90-86, and clinched their 5th NBA title.
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