#3 Greatest game no one ever saw
Before the footage of every layup found its way on YouTube, lost in VHS tapes remained the footage of The Greatest Game Noone Ever Saw. During a practice scrimmage in Monte Carlo, the battle of wills between Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan was firmly decided in a scrimmage.
There had been talks of a one on one contest between the two superstars in an All-Star Game, but the idea was shot down. This would perhaps be the closest they would come to enacting such a scenario: a scrimmage when Magic can forego his pass-first instincts and try to take on Jordan. That's a futile goal if there ever was one.
Here's how the Dream Team stacked up that day:
White team: Jordan, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing and Larry BirdBlue team: Magic, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Chris Mullin and Christain Laettner
Jordan later recalled that Laettner was the weak link, and the team he was on usually lost. In this contest, though, it was Jordan's murderous instinct which powered his team to a win. It didn't hurt that Magic tried to do too much by himself.
Initially, Magic's team took a 7-0 lead. When Jordan got a call, Magic would yell, "They just moved Chicago Stadium to Monte Carlo." implying that the Bulls get preferential treatment at home. The lead ballooned to 16-7. Buoyed by the lead, Magic committed a cardinal sin: He yelled, "The Jordanaires are down". That was a derisive term applied to the Bulls, insinuating that it was all about Mike.
Ask anyone who has ever faced Michael Jordan, they will all tell you the same thing. You don't talk trash to him. You don't even want to look at him the wrong way, lest he interprets it as a perceived slight and goes off on you.
After Magic's slip up, the White team began its comeback. The lead shrunk to 20-13, then 20-17, then White took the lead 21-20. The final score was 40-36 in favour of White team. Jordan would not let Magic live it down. He could be heard singing "Be Like Mike" incessantly.
"Let me tell you something -- it would've been worse for everybody if he lost," said Magic. "Because I could let something go after a while. But Michael? He'd never let it go. He never let anything go."
Jordan still maintains that the scrimmage was the best game he played. He recalls, "It was the best game I was ever in. Because the gym was locked and it was just about basketball. You saw a lot about players' DNA, how much some guys want to win. Magic was mad about it for two days."
