NBA: 5 Highest Scoring Games of Michael Jordan's career

#4 61 points vs Detroit on March 4, 1987

Another 61 point game for MJ in his historic 1987 season, again against one of the top teams in the league. If these first two games on the list prove anything, it's what people always talk about when they discuss Jordan, his competitive fire burnt the brightest against the best. This Pistons team was on their way to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance and sported the 5th best defense in the league. For a legendary competitor like Air Jordan, this is just an invitation to rip your heart out and that's what he did in leading the Bulls to an overtime win.

His stats are eerily similar to the game he had a month later vs the Hawks, shooting 22-39 from the field while making 17-18 free throws and, again, zero three-pointers. For reference, he made 12 threes total on the season! It's so impressive that Jordan was able to be so efficient this game while clearly being the number one offensive threat on his team. The second most shot attempts by a Bulls player that night was 15, less than the number MJ made.

That is what defined MJ this season, a singular scoring threat who dragged the Bulls to the Playoffs with little help around him. This game no doubt served Jordan well in future years as he would go on to have many Playoff battles with this Detroit Pistons team.