Closeups: Jordan took a licking but kept on ticking despite a pair of spills midway through the second quarter. The first came after a fallaway baseline jumper when he fell into some video cameramen and hobbled on the ensuing trip downcourt. Jordan left the game to have his ankle taped, sat out two minutes, came back in and immediately knocked down a three-pointer. A minute later, he was knocked into the cameramen again after being bumped by Kevin Duckworth.
”I stepped on a camera and a cameraman and twisted my ankle,” said Jordan. ”I wasn`t going to leave the game. It was too crucial. Once you`re out playing, you don`t worry about the pain. It`s something I`ve done over and over again.”
His Airness: Jordan passed Dennis Johnson for eighth place on the list of scoring leaders in NBA playoff history, despite playing only half as many games as the former guard for Boston and Seattle.
After passing Julius Erving (3,088 points) for ninth place in Game 4, Jordan entered Game 5 needing only 12 points to surpass Johnson`s 3,116 point total. He got it on a jumper with 46 seconds left in the first quarter and finished with 46.
Johnson played in 180 playoff games, while Jordan played in his 91st game Friday. If Jordan were able to continue at his career playoff scoring pace of 34.5 points per game, it would take him 77 more playoff games to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5,862 points) as the all-time leader. Jordan`s 34.5 average is currently tops in NBA history.
