Michael Jordan’s trainer gives his account of the iconic flu game, ‘sounds better…’

Grover reveals Michael Jordan had food poisoning

Grover was a key part of Jordan’s return to the NBA after he had first retired from the league.

The 60-year-old was also part of the Last Dance documentary, which showed Jordan’s historic stint in the NBA.

He was with Michael Jordan the night prior to the game and revealed the details of things leading to the flu game.

“100% it was food poisoning, but it just sounds better to be the flu game than the food poisoning game that doesn’t even roll off your tongue correctly,” said Grover.

He also added: “So we were in Utah and back then the team decided to stay in Park City, Park City was not where Park City is now, right, so literally everything closed down like 8:30, there was no room service in the hotel and Michael said he’s hungry, I said, ‘listen everything is closed’ and then I was able to find a pizza joint that was open.”

Grover revealed that five people showed up at the hotel to deliver the food and he had a feeling something was wrong, but Jordan still proceeded to eat the pizza.

“There was like four of us in the room nobody ate the pizza but him, and there was no signs of like anything being sick before that

“And about 3:00 o’clock I get a call off my room saying, ‘Hey man come to MJ’s room,’ and he’s literally curled up in a fetal position.

“He had eaten only a couple of slices, I hadn’t known any flu that can hit you that fast but I know how food poisoning hit you,” said Grover when talking about what Jordan felt after eating the pizza.

Michael Jordan’s mental toughness helped him

Former Bulls player Craig Hodges revealed how difficult practising with Jordan was, due to his competitive nature

His basketball ability was supreme and this was proven when Hodges shared the story of Jordan dropping 30 after coming to a game from the bar.

The flu game was another such example of how gifted Jordan was, as he delivered a masterful performance despite not being in the best condition.

Grover said: “His mental toughness and his mindset was just like, ‘Hey just get me well enough so I can get to the floor,’ and I had mentioned it to him too, ‘Michael, the worst thing you can do is go in and out,’ once you’re in the game you gotta stay, you gotta play as long as you freakin can.

“Cause once you sit down, that’s it.”

After the special Game 5 performance, he still hadn’t fully recovered, but that did not stop Jordan from dropping 39 points in Game 6 to lead the Bulls to their fifth NBA championship.