Danny Ainge Defeating Michael Jordan In Golf Led To MJ’s Historic Playoff Performance
Apr 20, 2020, 1:15 PM | Updated: 1:19 pm
Danny Ainge was a big reason for Michael Jordan's historic 63-point performance in the 1986 NBA Playoffs. (Photos Courtesy of Getty Images)
(Photos Courtesy of Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – Former BYU legend Danny Ainge was part of one of the more interesting stories from the first two parts of “The Last Dance.” Which spotlights the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan.
In part two of the documentary that aired Sunday night on ESPN, Jordan’s 63-point game against the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA Playoffs was revisited.
34 years ago, Michael Jordan made history.
His 63 points are still the most in a single NBA playoff game 🐐
(via @NBA) pic.twitter.com/cvAddY19OX
— ESPN (@espn) April 20, 2020
Jordan’s 63 points are still a single-game playoff record to this day. After watching The Last Dance, one could point to Ainge being the cause for Jordan’s record-setting night in the Boston Garden.
The day before Game 2 of the Celtics-Bulls first-round series, Jordan and Ainge hit the golf course, an activity that Jordan always loved playing, and it didn’t end up going in MJ’s favor.
“I remember Game 2, I played golf with Michael the day before,” said Ainge. “I took a few bucks off of Michael that day and we’re talking trash to each other. That might have been a mistake.”
Ainge, a three-sport All-American in high school, and Naismith Award winner at BYU in 1981 was an elite athlete and a ferocious competitor. But firing up second-year man Michael Jordan was a move no one wanted to make.
Along with Jordan and Ainge in the foursome was Celtics beat writer Mike Carey and author Mark Vancil.
Vancil in the documentary said, “We get done. We get in the car. We drop Danny off first and Michael says, ‘Hey tell your boy DJ I got something for him tomorrow.'”
DJ was Celtics guard Dennis Johnson who was tasked with trying to contain Jordan. That didn’t go well in game two as Jordan shot 53 percent from the field on 41 attempts and was nearly perfect from the foul line en route to a historic 63-point night.
“It was God disguised as Michael Jordan,” said Larry Bird on MJ’s Game 2 performance.
Jordan’s anger in the Boston Garden can now be viewed as a byproduct of Danny Ainge taking him down on the golf course the day prior.
The Celtics ended up winning that historic game by a score of 135-131. But the performance elevated Jordan’s status and star power even more as he became the league’s greatest superstar.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
