MJ's defensive stats from the 1987-88 season have come under a lot of scrutiny lately. In a recent article, Tom Haberstroh claimed that Jordan's defensive stats during home games were inflated so I wanted to look into it to see if there was any truth in his claims. This is one of the six games that he referred to in his article.
Jordan was credited for 4 blocks in this game which are crystal clear in this video. He had three of his blocks in the fourth quarter to shut down Alex English who was almost unstoppable in the first three quarters when guarded by other players.
Jordan's steals are also show in this video. There are a few steals where he knocked the ball away and they were recovered by his teammates. Perhaps Haberstroh didn't count these as steals but technically, they are steals that were properly attributed to Jordan. The NBA rule book states: "If a player deflects a pass or dribble and controls his deflection either away from an opponent or towards a teammate resulting in eventual possession for the defense, the player causing the deflection is credited with the steal."
I will be editing defensive highlights of other games from the 1988 season to show that Haberstroh's criticisms were completely unwarranted. MJ deserved the Defensive Player of the Year award in 1987-88 and this myth that Jordan's stats were greatly inflated at home needs to be put to rest.
