There might not be a more notable performance in NBA Finals history than the infamous Michael Jordan “flu game.”
Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals and Michael Jordan woke up with a nasty bout of what they think is food poisoning… puking, sh***ing, shaking… his trainer found him in the fetal position in his hotel room and called the doctor immediately. The series was tied 2-2 and they were on the road in Utah, where the Jazz hadn’t lost yet in the playoffs… needless to say, this was no time for the GOAT to be sick as a dog.
And yet, Jordan put up 38 points, played 44 minutes, and carried the team to a Game 5 victory by a mere 2 points. The Bulls would go on to win Game 6 and secure their 5th NBA Finals Championship in 7 years (and they’d win another in the following year).
The late, great Stu Scott on Michael Jordan’s flu game – and right now on ESPN, we have Scottie Pippen on set to give us all the behind-the-scenes from that night pic.twitter.com/ty7qFWCoJj
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 11, 2018
So flash forward to last night in Darlington, South Carolina, and a NASCAR driver Tyler Reddick gutted out a similar performance for the 23XI Racing Team, owned by none other than Michael Jordan. Reddick was battling his own stomach bug, and managed to finish 10th while trying to not crap his pants in the driver’s seat, securing the NASCAR Cup Series regular season champion title by just one point over Kyle Larson.
It was almost poetic…
After the race, Jordan praised Reddick for following in his footsteps:
“I mean, I know what it feels like to be sick and trying to perform, and just to do what he did, I mean, I wasn’t going around 200 miles an hour in a car, but I’m proud of his effort, and we needed it.
We won by one point. I mean, he gutted it out. So hopefully he feels better tomorrow, and we feel better next week.”
Reddick also confirmed that he was able to hold it all on during the race:
A false alarm that the interior guy for Tyler Reddick's car definitely wanted to hear. 😅 pic.twitter.com/ZAHZhOctY0
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 2, 2024
Reddick’s crew chief Billy Scott said Jordan, a well-known sh*t taker and relentless competitor, was giving Reddick a hard time:
“We were making jokes about it because Michael was giving him a hard time, asked if he was alive, and he said the flu game there was always a very notable win, back in the day on their run to the championship.
We were making jokes about we were going to compare how many points he got versus Michael got that day. So yeah, that’s amazing to gut that out, to run top 10 all day long, to finish top 10, to have to make the passes there at the end that he needed to put us in position to win.
You’re right, I have not experienced that, not witnessed that, but I can’t imagine how tough it was.”
Gotta love it.
Regular season champs! Had to really earn it tonight! 😅🏆 pic.twitter.com/ClC3dr6xLa
— Tyler Reddick (@TylerReddick) September 2, 2024
Chase Briscoe wound up winning the race and punching his ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, dashing Kyle Busch’s chances of making the playoffs. Martin Truex Jr. earned the final spot on points.
The playoffs begin next week at Atlanta Motor Speedway… buckle up:
LET THE #NASCAR PLAYOFFS BEGIN! pic.twitter.com/pC6KussLoc
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 2, 2024
