Michael Jordan was hell-bent on tying Wilt Chamberlain's ASG scoring record:" Why didn't you tell me I was two points short of Wilt?"

wilt-jordan

Michael Jordan had the best individual season in the NBA's history in 1987-88, when he won the MVP, DPOY, and All-Star Game MVP awards. That year, the league's annual All-Star game was held at the Bulls' homecourt, the Chicago Stadium, so Mike was pressured to deliver the All-Star Game MVP award. Of course, His Airness did not disappoint.

Jordan erupted for a game-high 40 points to win the All-Star MVP award, as expected. However, the young superstar wasn't content with walking home with the win and the All-Star MVP trophy.

MJ finished two points shy of Wilt Chamberlain's then-All-Star Game scoring record of 42 points. After realizing that, he scolded the Bulls' longtime scorekeeper, Bob Rosenberg, for not telling him about the record.

"Why didn't you tell me I was two points short of Chamberlain?" Rosenberg recalled Jordan asking him via Yahoo Sports. "I said, 'Look, every time you went by, I kept putting up two fingers. You didn't understand that?'"

Bob was the Bulls' longtime scorekeeper

Known to the Bulls as Rosie, Rosenberg was the team's scorekeeper from their inaugural NBA season in 1965-66 to 2023. Although he was an employee of the Bulls, Rosenberg also scored the games of the Chicago Bears, Chicago White Sox, and Chicago Blackhawks.

Since Chicago hosted the 1988 NBA All-Star Game, Rosie sat on the scorekeeper's table that night. MJ played only 29 minutes in that game, but he waxed hot, making 17-23 shots and all six of his free throws to finish with a 40-burger. That performance was good enough to win the All-Star MVP award, but not the record.

"The only time Michael really complained was the 1988 All-Star game when he had a chance to tie Wilt's record and kept asking how many points he had," said Rosenberg in an interview with nba.com.

Jordan always wanted to keep count

While the 1988 All-Star game incident was one of the rare times when MJ was angry about stats, it wasn't his only encounter with Rosie and the scorebook. A 1999 article by Chicago AP writer Jim Litke discussed how obsessed Jordan was with statistics.

"The first week Jordan played for the Bulls, official scorer Bob Rosenberg looked up to find him studying the scorebook every time he reported to the table to re-enter the game. It didn't take long to figure out why. knowing everybody's point and rebound totals, Jordan knew how the newspaper stories the next day would begin. Then he took the floor and made sure they always began the same way 'Michael Jordan,'" wrote Litke.

Jordan did not become the GOAT by accident. Every move he made was calculated. Right from the start, His Airness knew what he had to do to become the greatest in the eyes of the people. And he always kept track of the numbers to make sure he accomplished his mission.