On February 17th, 1963, arguably the greatest player to ever play basketball was born in one Michael Jeffrey Jordan. On Thursday, Jordan turns 59 years old. As the 2022 NBA All-Star break approached, it's a good time to sit and reflect on the league. In particular, the individual greatest games ever played on a player's birthday. Let's take a look at the list of the five best performances in honor of “His Airness.”
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The 5 Greatest Birthday Games in NBA History
5. DOMINIQUE WILKINS (1987)
On January 12th, 1987, Dominique Wilkins turned 27 years old. He rang in the New Year by dropping bombs on the Los Angeles Clippers. Wilkins scored 53 points, the second highest mark on a player's birthday in history. Making it even more impressive was the fact that he was extremely efficient doing it, shooting 19 for 25 from the floor for 76 percent.
Oh, and he added six boards and a couple dimes in the win. The Atlanta Hawks beat the Clippers by 10 points. Nique and the Hawks would earn the 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, but ultimately fall to the Detroit Pistons in the second round.
4. HAKEEM OLAJUWON (1993)
Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon will forever be known as the one superstar Hall of Fame player who took advantage of Michael Jordan's first retirement. Olajuwon led the Houston Rockets to back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995. Jordan kept so many all-time greats from winning a title, but Olajuwon proved to be the best of them by capturing his chips when Jordan briefly stepped away.
Prior to that though, Olajuwon balled out on his birthday. On January 21, 1993, Hakeem turned 30 years old. He went bananas on both ends of the floor. Olajuwon scored 38 points, pulled down eight rebounds and dropped four assists. But defensively, he was equally amazing. Olajuwon picked up two steals and seven blocks. Yes, seven blocks against the remnants of the ‘Bad Boy' Detroit Pistons. That earns a place on my list.
3. MICHAEL JORDAN (1992)
A year prior to Olajuwon's birthday gift of a game, Jordan provided one as well. Shockingly, over the course of Michael Jordan's career, he only played on his birthday four times. During his rookie season, he played well scoring 26 points. He had two other decent showings, but in 1992 Jordan showed out.
February 17th, 1992 Jordan and his Chicago Bulls faced off with their early 90's nemesis, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jordan scored a game-high 46 points on 66 percent shooting. However, the Cavs ended up squeaking out a one-point win. Jordan would exact his revenge though, beating the Cavs in the Eastern Conference finals.
2. LEBRON JAMES (2009)
On December 30th, 2009, LeBron James as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, went nuts on his 25th birthday. He filled the stat sheet this night, scoring 48 points, with 10 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks. He also was extremely efficient, shooting 65 percent from the floor.
The Cavs found themselves trailing by 17 points to the Atlanta Hawks but James brought his team all the way back for the win. Keep in mind, that was over 13 years ago. LeBron James is still doing that today.
LeBron James tonight:
33 points (15 in the 4th)
8 rebounds
6 assists
2 steals
61% FG😤😤😤 pic.twitter.com/5dkmMAEuBB
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) February 17, 2022
1. SHAQUILLE O'NEAL (2000)
Undeniably, the most dominant performance the NBA world has ever seen on a player's birthday was by Shaquille O'Neal back in 2000. On March 6th, 2000, Shaq was turning 28 years old. He was in the middle of his prime and he played like it.
“The Diesel” had arguably the greatest game of his career. He scored a career-high 61 points, and ripped down an incredible 23 rebounds against the Los Angeles Clippers. The 61 points is also the highest birthday mark of all-time. The Lakers trashed the cross-city Clippers.
The game has changed so much since that era. Three-point shooting is so prominent in today's game. Despite the emergence of big men like Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic, let not forget just how dominant Shaq truly was.
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