Throwback Thursday: Jordan drops 38 in 'Flu Game'

On June 11, 1997, Michael Jordan was, to put it charitably, under the weather.

Visibly weak and on an IV before Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz, Jordan went out and scored a game-high 38 points to give the Chicago Bulls a 3-2 series lead. Playing 44 minutes, he spent most timeouts hunched over on the bench with a towel over his head.

"That was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done," Jordan later said.

Two nights later, back in Chicago, the Bulls clinched their fifth NBA title in seven seasons.

The stories behind "The Flu Game" are almost as legendary as the performance. A few years ago, Jordan's personal trainer, Tim Grover, told ESPN that the illness was actually food poisoning. Grover said Jordan was hungry the night before the game and a decision was made to order from a Park City, Utah, pizzeria.

Park City is a small, upscale resort town where many locals are fully aware of which hotels celebrities - or sports teams - stay at.

"Five guys come to deliver this pizza," Grover said. "I said, 'I got a bad feeling about this.'"

Question: When was the last time you ordered food and had five people deliver it?

Hours later, Jordan was curled up in pain, according to Grover.

Jordan was a notoriously healthy eater during his playing career, but it's not hard to believe that he, like the rest of us, would enjoy some late-night 'za now and then.

Given this story, however, and after reading about the recovery regimen that LeBron James goes through during the NBA Finals, I don't see 'Bron doing the same in the next week or so.