“That’s Ugly”
Krause recalled one night of a Bulls road trip in the 1986-67 season. The point he was trying to make was about Jordan’s ability to play through pain. The specific example he used is pretty disgusting.
“When Michael was hurt…don’t EVER underestimate him. I saw something in a locker room in Phoenix one night. Michael had a bad foot, really had a bad one. Had puss all over his foot, it was blowing up. After the game, Paul [Steingard, Suns team doctor] came in and cut-lanced Michael’s foot. Puss flew all over that table, I mean it was ugly. Doug [Collins] is standing there going, ‘Oh my God, that’s ugly.’ I mean there’s blood and puss all over. Paul drained it and he said, ‘Jerry, two weeks. He can’t play. Get him off that foot.’ Well, Michael being Michael, cornered Doug. And then Michael being Michael, he cornered me. All he asked us to do was let him try in Houston the next night. He said, ‘Let me try. If I can’t do it, I won’t. I’ll be honest with you.’ You can look the record up, it would say the next night Michael got 55 in Houston.” – Jerry Krause
Thanks to Basketball Reference, we can look it up. The sequence of games Krause referred to were back to back on December 5 and 6, 1986. The Bulls played the Suns on the 5th, as Krause stated. Jordan dropped 43 points that night, playing with a grossly swollen foot. Krause mistook San Antonio for Houston (hey, he was close) for the second game. After getting his foot cut and drained, Jordan poured in another 43 points in 44 minutes against the Spurs the next night. Okay, so it wasn’t 55 as Krause suggested. Only slight hyperbole or a foggy memory.
Still, the story proves Jerry’s point about Michael’s insane amount of physical toughness. Oh, and just to round it out: in the following three games, playing big minutes instead of resting his nasty foot, Jordan scored 40, 41 and 41. Like Krause said, never underestimate a hurt GOAT.
That insane level of competition is what separated Jordan from the rest of the field. It also made it very hard to be his teammate. Krause had a new story on that front too.
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