Watch: Michael Jordan scores 40 points in a dominant Chicago Bulls win over Philadelphia 76ers to reach 15k career points, on this day in 1991

Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls head coach Phil Jackson [Source: USA Today]

On this day in 1991, arguably the greatest to ever play the game, Michael Jordan enjoyed a huge milestone in his young NBA career. He scored 40 points for the Chicago Bulls against the Philadelphia 76ers and crossed 15,000 career points to become the second-youngest player ever to reach that mark.

The only player younger than Jordan was the famous "Big Dipper", Wilt Chamberlain, who has NBA records so far out-of-reach for any mortal player today.

Michael Jordan dropped a 40-piece on 16-27 shooting (59.3%) from the field and made eight of his 11 free-throw attempts. He didn't make a single three-pointer and he didn't need to either because the NBA wasn't very three-point happy like it is today.

His Airness also had nine assists, four rebounds and a block to go along with his scoring performance. The game was in Philadelphia with 18,168 fans in attendance and he electrified the away crowd with his mid-range pull-up jumpers that barely grazed the rim.

📅 On this day in 1991, the @chicagobulls Michael Jordan scored 40 points in a 107-99 win over the Sixers, reaching 15,000 career points in the process.

Jordan is the second-fastest player in NBA history to reach that mark (460 games), trailing only Wilt Chamberlain (358). https://t.co/MhvLCZ1VXL

Wilt Chamberlain remains the fastest player to achieve the 15000-point milestone. He did it in 358 games whereas Jordan took 460 games to do so. To put that in context, LeBron James, the youngest player to score 15,000 points, did so in 540 games.

Michael Jordan at the time was the 54th player ever to reach 15,000 points. He wasn't even halfway through his career total as he retired with 32,292 points.

Michael Jordan considers golf to be harder than basketball

Michael Jordan playing golf [Source: golf.com]

As amazing as Michael Jordan was at basketball, that wasn't the toughest sport he had encountered. He considers golf to be a harder sport to conquer than shooting hoops despite achieving all-time greatness in the latter. Jordan is famous for playing golf both leisurely and competitively, often betting on the outcome of games.

He sat down with Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry and spoke about his love for golf. He mentioned how spending time on the putting greens keeps him sane in life after retirement. Jordan is an adrenaline junkie who now spends his time playing golf to keep his competitive juices flowing. He spoke in this regard:

"I kinda got into golf, mainly because, from a competitive standpoint, to me, it is the hardest game to play. I can always respond to an opponent, a defensive guy, offensive guy, whatever but in golf, it's like playing in a mirror. You're battling yourself consistently to try to get perfection. Every swing, every putt. For a competitive person like me, this is what keeps me sane when I walked away from the game of basketball."

"That was enough to keep my competitive juices working, now when I don't have that game, this game [keeps me sane]. It used even drive me crazy then. Now I go fishing in between my golf because I've got to show patience in fishing and that's going to be relative to golf."

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Be it basketball or golf, Michael Jordan will always be remembered as one of the fiercest competitors who gave his 100% to any sport he played.