Beitrag von cnnsi.com
Jordan speaks out:
MJ on Bryant's 81-point game: I would've fouled out!!
Still, Jordan insisted things would have been a bit different if he'd been guarding Bryant.

"If I was on the other side, there's no way I would have been in at the end of that game without six fouls," Jordan said Tuesday. "I don't know if I could have given up 81 points and not fouled out of the game."

Bryant's total in a come-from-behind victory over Toronto last month was the second-highest in NBA history.

Epiphanny Prince set a national girls' record last week in a game that was a rout from the start. Some complained her performance in such a one-sided contest was an example of poor sportsmanship.

"I can't fault the young lady for scoring 113 points when she goes out each and every minute to play the game hard," Jordan said . "If you're going to fault anybody, fault the coach for not taking her out of the game."

The former Chicago Bulls star was in town to announce the players for his high school showcase, the Jordan All-American Classic, set for April 22 at Madison Square Garden. Jordan was so impressed by Prince -- one of the top prep players in the nation -- he's contemplating adding a girls' event next year.

"I think that she's going to innovate this game," he said. "I think we should give women an opportunity to be recognized."

Jordan, whose NBA career-high was 69, couldn't remember a specific time when people got on him about scoring too much. But he knows there were probably many occasions like that.

"I imagine you guys were mad at me a lot in New York," Jordan joked, in a lobby adjacent to the Garden. "People got mad at me for playing hard every minute I was on the basketball court and it so happened that I scored a lot of points on their team."

"If I had to pick the best player in the game, he (Kobe) certainly is up there right now," Jordan said. "It seems as though he's got the edge over anybody in that position, if not in the league right now."