He was 34-years old
Want to know why MJ was such a freak of nature? The widely accepted stat line is that most NBA players tend to retire around the ages of 34 or 35. By that point they’ve lost most of their explosiveness and just can’t go like they used to. It was true of Larry Bird, it was true of Patrick Ewing and it was true of Bill Russell. Somebody must’ve forgotten to tell Jordan that. By the NBA Finals of 1997 he’d turned 34-years old and somehow was as good or even better than ever.
Despite being on the road, sick nearly to death and old for a basketball player he still threw down 38 points against a defense that allowed just 94.3 per game that year. Good for seventh-best in the league. Unreal.
