Steve Kerr won the three-peat alongside Michael Jordan from 1996-98. Their Chicago Bulls team was a mighty one, considering the names that represented the roster. Kerr always has great words to say about MJ, but this time he reminisced about one of the greatest moments in sporting history, ever.
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Kerr joined the Runnin’ Plays podcast, where he spoke about the game the Bulls played against the Utah Jazz. It was March 11, 1997, and Game 5 of the NBA Finals. By now, I guess one could have guess what we are going into.
It is the famous ‘Flu Game’ of Michael Jordan. The day his mental toughness blistered the eyes of his opponents. MJ ordered pizza from a local parlor at Utah the day before the game. The poor preparation of the dish instantly put Jordan in a bad position and he became weak.
He suffered from food poisoning on the day of the game. “He (Jordan) had an IV at the shoot-around,” Kerr recalled. “We were at a high school in Park City, 45 minutes outside of Salt Lake, for that Finals game, and he could barely move.”
The Bulls trainer deemed Jordan unplayable. But, the GOAT that is MJ, stepped up for the team and put on a performance that stunned everyone. He was visibly exhausted, but he wanted to keep going. The desire to win did not want him to stay on the sidelines.
Jordan won the game for the Bulls by scoring 38 points and marched past the Jazz who were 10-0 at home in the postseason up until that point. Such is the greatness of ‘His Airness.’ The image of him dangling on Scottie Pippen’s shoulders after the game is still fresh. He gave it all he had, for the team.
There cannot be another Michael Jordan ‘Flu Game’ – Steve Kerr
Steve Kerr has admitted that teams are no longer allowing players to compete if they are not at their 100%. Twenty-three years on from the ‘Flu Game,’ Kerr mentioned how the approach has changed, in terms of medical care and recovery process.
“It’s a different era and a different time,” Kerr said. “I think we value players differently. We have more help medically. We understand how to work players more in terms of resting them and preparing them for the long haul of the season.”
The Warriors coach explained the extermination of the risk-reward pattern in today’s game. “We’re not taking that chance today. I guarantee you that. If that happened with Steph, or Klay, or any of our players, no way we’re dealing with that.”
As a result, teams have now evolved their approach, and it is the management that gets to have the final say on a player’s involvement in a game. Speaking about this, Kerr said, “I’d like to think we’re smarter today and we’ve taken more decisions out of players’ hands, more medical decisions out of players’ hands.”
