The Chicago Tribune's headline carried a profound, almost religious reverence: "39.4 degrees, 55 points, one victory. God wore jersey number 23."
The online world was another world entirely.
Less than an hour after the game ended, social media had already exploded. News of Jordan scoring 55 points while sick spread like wildfire. Every refresh brought new posts, new comments, new waves of emotion.
"Jordan isn't human," someone wrote on Twitter. "He's God. A 37-year-old man, running a 39.4-degree fever, playing 44 minutes and scoring 55 in the playoffs. This isn't sports. This is religion."
Someone else replied, "I cried. Not because of the score, but because he said after the game, 'It's not serious.' In the 1997 Finals, he scored 38 with food poisoning and said, 'It's not serious.' In the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals, he scored 55 with a fever and said, 'It's not serious.' To him, as long as he could still stand, it wasn't serious."
Someone else posted a photo of Jordan bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath in the fourth quarter. The caption read: "Look at his legs. They're shaking. His body is already telling him, 'Stop,' but his mind is telling him, 'Take one more shot.' That's why he's the GOAT."
On Reddit's NBA board, a post was pushed to the front page. Its title was <Michael Jordan, 39.4 Degrees, 55 Points, 44 Minutes>. The post itself contained only one sentence: "In our lifetimes, we will never see another Michael Jordan."
In the comments, someone wrote, "I'm 12 this year. I've never watched Jordan play before. But I watched the live broadcast tonight. I know that one day, I'll be able to tell my kids that I watched Jordan play."
Another wrote, "I'm 34. I've watched Jordan since 1989. I