Michael Jordan - 49 points vs LA Clippers (Nov 21, 1997)

[zankou4]

Last thing... this was the most MJ scored that whole season!

[zankou4]

The crowd, including myself, was going insane! Another INSIDE INFO: The crowd was just as crazy when the Clippers made shots. So, imagine, at both ends the crowd was going crazy! It was such an amazing experience, one that I'd never forget!

[zankou4]

IMPORTANT INSIDE INFO about this game, what the video doesn't show. I was at this game!! The Bulls were down 3 points with a few seconds left at the end of the first OT. Jordan got fouled and went to the line. He made the first free throw, then missed the second on purpose, rebounded it on the right side and made a layup to tie it. Then the Clippers missed and it went to the 2nd OT!! It was unbelievable!!

[iriggs444]

I was at this game..as a die hard bulls fan that was a treat...I miss the chance to see him play in 1988 against the lakers..I .had vip seats at the fourm and couldnt go..So to get a chance to see him again..his last year with the bulls(although it was the clippers) and he had a performance like that was cool.... he was just on it...

[mediabench]

@evenmixer yes, but it's for Jordan specifically. It happened everywhere. Weird, right? lol

[Evenmixer]

It's me or the clipper's fan support the chicago bulls ???

[MyOtherFile]

Hey thats my birth date (exactly) on that game ... Awesome

[iriggs444]

man.. I was at that game.. that game was awesome... we were cheering cause it was money well spent..we got to see jordan drop 49..even tho the clipppers suck they played them tuff that game.

[houstonekid]

1:25 you know your team's defense sucks when they say luc longley was the best player of the first half.

[TyroneNBAFan]

Anyone else notice the jumper Kerr makes in transition at 0:55?

Guards NEVER do that anymore. The only guard I've seen do that effectively was Sam Cassell, and he's been retired for 2 years.

[bwink23]

This is 1 of 12, 49 point games in Jordan's career...he has hit 50+ points 39 times, (including playoffs), and within 1 basket of 50 points, 33 more times.

[Jumpman1989]

MJ looked so fresh and dynamic during his last two seasons, its hard to believe that he was 34 then. Kobe has now Longley-like speed comparing to Jordan

[Famous1MB]

Eww The L.A. Sports Arena???...Thats like garbage compared to the Staple Center!!!

[TiltBrook]

@Famous1MB I'd rather watch a game from an old L.A. Sports Arena than a nice new polished Staples. At the Sports Arena you could actually SEE the action from the upper deck. At Staples, you feel like you're looking down from the top of a football or baseball stadium, the players look like ants. Staples is also too corporate, the Sports Arena has some old school character to it!

[CJV619]

@Famous1MB No San Diego Sports Arena is even more garbage than L.A. Sports Area so I prefer L.A. Sports over ours xD

[ma7799]

Do you have the game between these two teams in Chicago from this season? The Bulls were losing the entire game, but blew past them in the final minute to win 94-89.

[ma7799]

I went to bed with the Bulls down 36-22. My father watched the end of the game, and woke me up so I could watch the end. I had to rest up for my driver's license test the next day and I passed!

This was the Bulls' first road victory of the season, and they were struggling without Pippen for a few months. The Bulls were a perfect 9-0 against the Clippers in LA during the 90's decade.

[marcwnelson]

I was a huge Jordan fan back then. I remember this game, it was my birthday! But... After reviewing this video.. As much as I DO NOT want this to be true it really LOOKS like he travels.. at about 4:11 It LOOKS kind of obvious.. as they review it about 4:22 through 4:27 I love Jordan but it would be kind of funny if no one else caught that..

[iishyxvietxboyii]

@marcwnelson

It wasn't a travel idiot!!

[politicalradio]

I was at that game. Jordon was awesome.

[victorlamb1855]

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Chicago Bulls @ LA Clippers | Nov 21, 1997: Jordan with 49 points

[boblloyd082]

jesus wtfffff. yooo kOrOne79, can you leap high enough to dunk? I finally can dunk now after learning it from (50 inch vertical [dot] com)

Chicago Bulls @ LA Clippers | Nov 21, 1997: Jordan with 49 points

[joecurry83]

kOrOne79 do you play basketball? you have to take a look at - (50 inch vertical [dot] com). You must take a look! I m 5 5 and started dunking quickly after 5 weeks of the training!

Chicago Bulls @ LA Clippers | Nov 21, 1997: Jordan with 49 points

[ranon81]

Saw the Bulls play the Spurs in the Alamodome where they sold out the place in March '98. Seemed like half the crowd were Bulls fans and they went nuts everytime Jordan scored and camera flashes went off like crazy everytime Jordan touched the ball. It was incredible.

[dbruin85]

I don't see Kobe at 34 dunking like MJ did at 34/35 years old. "Air" Jordan forever!!!

[PolakoPolakoPolako]

I mean...it looks the rock band came to town....look at the crowd :S....my god.

can't believe something like this nowadays.....witn Cavs or Lakers.....

golden era.

[channing97]

hey cool this is the day i was born

[pennywisem22]

Clippers should move to Anaheim or something. I hate that they share STAPLES with the Lakers. Freeloaders!

[vfgjhj]

those muthafuckas

[BrownBrother27]

@pennywisem22

Wouldn't the team have to be renamed to Anaheim Clippers? I highly doubt the Clippers could keep the Los Angeles in their name let alone be named "The Los Angeles Clippers of Anaheim" a la the Angels.

[Famous1MB]

@pennywisem22 LOL Too funny but true!!!

[fender0strat]

lol the clippers fans are cheering at MJ... nice!

[BrownBrother27]

Well, what do you expect? Clippers aren't their inner city rivals

[noel8421]

haha and this is a road game??? loud as fuck! nice!

[4Show81]

He put his team on his back on offense and defense.

[NecroSexy]

MJ looks pissed off at 5:06

[dimedropper1992]

hello 13's!

[LaFor33]

i know him

[beaumiller81]

calizaky...u EVER say that about JEHOVAH himself,Ill unload a 2months worth load right to your forehead

[bigdplaya25]

thats alot lol

[LakersDynasty42]

Calizaky was saying that Jordan isn't God.

[calizaky]

Jordans NO God you stupid fuck

[jasonlathan1978]

He just wanted it more than everyone else.

[gbinct]

Staples Center going nutz for MJ. Love it.

[laa1664]

You idiot it's the L.A. Sport Arena...

[BrownBrother27]

I wonder why Sterling chose the L.A. Sports Arena as the home of the Clippers for the first 15 years.

True L.A. Clippers fan from Michigan!

Pistons vs. Clippers......Clippers ALWAYS!

[GREGNASTY]

LMAO.........

I thought the SAME thing:

Why the FUCK are these people cheering for the visiting team??

[PAZ0619]

He can care less about going for 50. It is all about winning for him.

[arkade2345]

that breakaway tomahawk jam was so beautiful! looked like the old MJ there!

no one did the tomahawk jam as good as jordan!

[chyna98]

Peep the crossover at 4:06.

[Cwm368]

MJ don't who he's playing against he always plays hard, the guy's work ethic we all could learn from!

[vidaa82]

what in the world?! clippers crowd cheering for jordan? thats something. oh yeah those black jerseys are sweet too?

[kaliaelizabeth]

true....... where in the world u''l see other player's jersey in miami! only MIKE

[norsemustang]

49 points = just another day in the office for His Airness.

[blast2blast]

Unbelievable the lift Michael still had on those legs at age 34 to pull off those smooth fadeaways

[DCI74]

amazing, the crowd sounds like they're playing in Chitown

[heffyz]

ohhhhh me ohh my

[bigmoose213]

i was @ this game. go clips!!!!!

[jaboo82681]

so was I, I was one of the many people rooting for the Bulls

[taytizz]

greatness def: when the fans of the home team are screaming and cheering for the player of the opposing team. as a chicagoan it was a privilage having jordan play for the bulls...the best years ever to be a chicagoan.

[toucheyang]

this is hilarious the clippers are cheering for Jordan

[enriq747]

he's no doubt d God in disguise!! i just dun understand y d Clippers cant stop him!! perhaps His Airness is unstoppable!!

[optimusprime03]

MJ is certainly the living legend of NBA!

the people are cheering on him even his playing on opponents court.. where in the world u will see a player like that?

he is simply the best..

[Tom87O]

The second dunk was quiet cool for a 34 year old . Mike will always be the greatest!

[ForEmily23]

Jordan's jumper is the most beautiful thing in the history of sport.

[yoreich]

how can some1 say jordan only dominated against weak teams?? i think out of his 39 50pt games only a few were against teams with a less then 50% record... he brought his real a game when he had to. in the playoffs he was always bette, and especially when he had 2, thats y he never lost a finals series...

[blackadam06]

31 of MJ's 50 PT games were against .500 or "BETTER" teams. 9 of kobe's 22 50 PT games were against .500 teams. MJ "ONLY" had "1" 50 PT game in his "CAREER" below 50% shooting & he shot 48% in that one (15-31). LITERALLY half of KB's 50 PT games R below 50%. It's not hard to see the disparity between both players & who does what to who & in what situations..

[Generalisimo27]

The man's playing away and they're cheering for him! HE's the man!

[maskriderrx]

YUp!! Man!! I would like to said this same things too!! Hooo.... must b really enjoyed watching the whole game!!

[winhawk23]

Just because Kobe scored 81 doesn't make him the best. David Robinson once scored 71. David Thompson once scored 73. Are they considered the best?

[jordanunbeatable2345]

i meant #1 guard, sorry!

[jordanunbeatable2345]

jordan is the fucking greatest, I don't give a fuck if nba player be scoring 100, 70, or even 81! Jordan will always be mention as the 1# second guard hundred years from now.

[madddvids]

This is the second comment I've made on how MJ dominates the pathetic teams so badly, he has the other teams home crowd cheering for them. At 2:12 when he throws it down the Clippers home corwd is cheering for mj. Sad sad.

[kOrOne79]

Actually, most of Jordans high scoring games came against winning teams, when it was absolutely necessary. Hoops posted the stats in one of his video comments.

The crowd cheered for MJ because it was widely seen as his last season. Every town cheered for him in 97/98.

[madddvids]

That's very true didn't think about thst.

[delfra70]

@kOrOne79 Exactly, a great deal of MJ's big scoring games came against either championship contenders or playoff teams. Sometimes when you get flakes who don't know what the hell they're taliking about, people like yourself and i have to school these fools. Unlike a lot of players who rack up high scoring games against mediocre teams, MJ did his damage against the best teams, he did'nt have to pat his stats against weak squads, he was usually on the bench with 20-30 point leads.

[zendo09]

@madddvids pathetic team huh? look it went to OT ... lol ...

[inlovewithi]

@madddvids Jordan usually typically scores his highest points total against elite teams, so I was actually quite surprised when I saw that he scored 49 points, but after watching the video I saw that it went to double overtime.

Actually, I did see some statistic and most of Kobe high scoring games have come against scrub teams. I wish I knew how Lebron compares.

[sfhguibnbhq]

That was hilarious when the Clippers almost beat the Bulls. I'm not sure if it was this game, but the worst team in the league almost beat the best team in history in the middle of a winning streak.

[uberathlete]

But wasn't Pippen and Kerr out for this game? And 'almost' winning doesn't mean shit cuz you still lost.

[rsx2]

yeah the bulls were injured this season. pip was not in this game. missed almost half the season and Mj still carried the bulls with his 34yr old legs.

[upao676]

no one will be as good as mj...

[kernerschreiber13]

Go Klips.....!))

Once a Klippa, always a Klippa !!

[jkib87]

is that a K?

[kernerschreiber13]

Indeed, it is definitely a "K".....; the most beautiful letter of the whole alphabet.....!!

[glr311975]

loved the way he just turned on that switch and took over.man,i remember there were soo many kats that tried to be like mike on the playgrounds and the rec centers.he gave me a reason to try and watch every game.the NBA just aint the same.

[uberathlete]

lol, you'd think it was a home game for the Bulls.

[det916]

Hahaha damn dude, I edited the same game the other day, I was just waiting to upload it. Ah well, you got there first... I might still put mine up at a later time.

Props, I love this game.

[kOrOne79]

Lol, that happened to me before, but what can you do.

I'd like to see your edit, just put it up :)

[jordanlover23]

Someone below said that he slipped, which would make sense. Like I said, you almost NEVER see him take an off-balance shot like that, buzzer-beater or otherwise.

[IrinaDerevkoLives]

I really have to wonder if jordan threw that first buzzer beater up that way on purpose. I have never seen him shoot a ball that fast and that off-balance on a buzzer beater.

[kOrOne79]

No way, Jordan wasn't like that. He wanted the win, nothing else.

[bonezy627]

I was there and it was my first time watching THE ONE in live action. Thanks for posting this vid man...it's bringing back so many memories. I forgot how athletic he was even at that age.

[soleja1boy]

I meant the XIII's!

[kOrOne79]

My favourites together with the black XIV from the 98 Finals :)

[rrTale]

AJ XIV is my all time fav. He looked so cool with them in the '98 Finals. the XIII though i dislike and ironically they're the only AJ's i ever bought lol. I mean if they are red and black i like'em but i bought B&W

[soleja1boy]

Those Air Jordan XIV White/Red were sick!!

[rrTale]

Great job kOrOne, love the game, love the replays, very generous. The shot at the end of the 4th dam..he slipped but it still was close

[kOrOne79]

Thanks. Look at it this way - if he hadn't missed at the buzzer, we wouldn't have his overtime heroics either. So I'm fine with that :)

[hPeAiUdLe]

yeah that was really a slip.

[jordanlover23]

That shot he missed at the end of the 4th is one of the RARE times you'll ever see Jordan take an off-balance shot where his legs aren't under him and he's not fully squared to the basket. In fact, out of over 300 Bulls games I have, I've only seen it one other time: in a game vs. Miami in the '97 playoffs where he changed directions several times and threw up a terrible shot. Two times in over 300 games where he took an out of control shot. Amazing.

[kOrOne79]

The last two games of that series must be the worst consecutive shooting games he's ever had. But he followed that with one of the greatest Finals in his career, so it's all good ;)

[mnkhan2020]

kOrOne79.......thanks. Great MJ game as usual. Classic example that further solidifies MJ never ever played for 'stats' alone to have as many 50 pts games as possible. There are tons of MJ 47,48,49 pts games that could have easily be converted to 50 pts for the sake of personal glory. But MJ just lets Harper walk the ball up the court & let the clock expire. GREATNESS IS NEVER EVER MEASURED IN THE 'QUANTITY' OF THE POINTS BUT RATHER 'QUALITY' OF POINTS. Kobe fans are you listening?

[xkssxrrocks]

look at that pump fake at 4:55. plain sick.

[starks23]

Great game, great edit kOrOne79. 26 of the 49 points came in the 4th and overtimes.

[sherlocktian]

People always say that when jordan was at his prime in this era, he would be more scary.... there is a point for that, but i do believe that when he was 33 - 35, he had more understanding to the game, which is y he was dominant during 90s

[zopoundsakpase]

that drive at the 4:55 mark was sick the way he did his little hitch move blew by the moron defender and when they came over to double in the lane he stepped through the defense for that sick lay up and to think thats old man jordan right there he would of killed this league in this day and time if he was younger

[kOrOne79]

My thoughts exactly. A 26-30 year-old Jordan would murder in todays NBA.

[StewartLucrative]

He would murder in any era NBA, he is Jordan

[craz4]

Great vid. Mj dominated and did what was necessary! Thanks for posting and looking forward to the next one..

[ericwayneyi]

so many bulls/mj fans in the clipper's stadium..

[kOrOne79]

I love it. He deserved that kind of respect. And it wasn't only in LA, every city was cheering for him.

[accordboy]

I remember this game. Early in 97-98 season the Bulls were playing without Pippen and Jordan had started the season rather slowly because of a torn ligament in his shooting hand. This game against the Clippers early in the season, the Bulls had yet to win a road game and Jordan was determined to get one. That particular year, Jordan took the ball more to the hoop because of his injured hand and he had more dunks than the previous year. He was 34-35 years old.

[kOrOne79]

Good memory there. I liked how Jordan and the Bulls adjusted their play without Pippen as the season progressed. Rodman went crazy on the boards, truly remarkable. I have two or three games where he got 20+ rebounds and Jordan got his usual 40+ points. Very nice.

[romans6thru8]

kOROne79 My guarantee; you are the only person to show: Jordan to Rusty LaRue for three twice; Jordan missing then fouling at the end of the fourth. Haven't seen that since '92 in triple O.T. on Jeff Malone in Utah. (the foul).

You build the action up nicely!

Peace and God Bless

Know Him John17:3

[kOrOne79]

You know, missed shots are part of the game. Even Jordan couldn't hit every one of them, in fact he said that in one of his commercials.

But he is still the best clutch player in NBA history. His percentage of last second shots must be somewhere between 60-70%. And overall he's easily the best 4th quarter player I've ever seen, on both ends.

[jaboo82681]

Thanks for bringing this game back, I remember it well cause I was at this game. MJ went crazy in the 2nd half

[jonathanmigan]

who is the guy that made the stop and pop 3 pointer at 55 sec???

[kOrOne79]

That's Rusty LaRue. He was signed as a free-agent by the Bulls I think. I don't know what he's doing now but I remember him playing for Utah a couple years ago.

[jxn23]

That's Rusty LaRue - he played for the Bulls in 1997-98 when they were battling all of there injuries. Quite a good spot up shooter and I think he was a call up from the CBA?

[jxn23]

Great edit! I love how you show MJ's defense as well as his offense.

There is a great MJ story to this game too. The bulls were down by 3 and Jordan was at the line for 2 shots at the end of the first overtime. He made the first free throw and then told Clipper's rookie Maurice Taylor that he was going to miss the second, get the rebound and send the game into double overtime. That's exactly what he did at 4:10. Just another chapter to his legend.

[kOrOne79]

I always try to show his defense as well, but it's difficult because of the YouTube limitations. The clips would be way too long and the picture quality would suffer.

I toyed with the idea to include the whole freethrow procedure, but it brought the clip to a gridlock because everything else is fast-paced. So I decided to trim the whole thing down to get the most important parts.

[romans6thru8]

I love to hear stories of MJ toying with the competition. Where did you hear this one?

Peace and God Bless

Know Him John 17:3

[jxn23]

I remember an episode of NBA action in 1998 where Maurice Taylor himself told the story.

My favourite story is the one Karl Malone told, where MJ dunked on Stockton in Utah, and a fan got up and yelled to Jordan to pick on someone his own size so the next time down the court he dunks on 7 footer Mel Thurpin and looks over at the fan and says "was he big enough?" I have that game and will try to put it up soon.

[jxn23]

Even if someone in the future somehow gets as good a Jordan, I seriously doubt that anyone could have such a flair for the dramatic as MJ.

[kOrOne79]

Nice! I remember Malone talking about it in a Jordan special, made me laugh :)

[jxn23]

Starks23 has already edited the Utah game from 1987-88! Check it out, Jordan just explodes into the air and then floats back down to earth. Unbelievable!

[blackadam06]

I say this all the time: "This" MJ is better than anyone in the league right now & he was 33 then. He wasn't even in his prime. But look how scary he was. His prime years were from '86-'92. That MJ would terrorize the league if he were playing today..and these kids wanna compare the kobe's, lebron's & wades of the world to him....yeah right!!

[kOrOne79]

Agreed, but to think that he was a soon-to-be 35 year old is even scarier.

[sherlocktian]

I like how u showed at the end where he doesnt go for 50 and dribble the ball to let the time go by.

[kOrOne79]

Jordan was always about the win. Just take a look at his highest scoring games, he only scored that much when the Bulls needed exactly that. His 69-point game came in a very close overtime win, his 63 against the Celtics was a double-overtime loss. If he'd really cared so much about that, his highest scoring game would probably somewhere between 90 and 100, who knows.

But to tell you the truth, I enjoy his 40+ Playoff games the most. Never cared much for his 69-point game.

[dickeywang]

He didn't need to prove anything in 1997.