5 fun anecdotes about Michael Jordan’s competitiveness shared by former NBA players

Michael Jordan is widely regarded as the greatest ever NBA player to step on to a basketball court. A six-time NBA champion in eight years, Jordan’s six Finals MVP awards, five regular-season MVP honors and his unbeaten record in the NBA Finals have firmly established his GOAT status.

Jordan was the ultimate competitor. No matter what the score, no matter what the odds, Jordan always found a way to win. Be it his shot against Georgetown in 1982, his off-balance, mid-air dagger over Craig Ehlo in 1989 or his last shot for the Chicago Bulls against the Utah Jazz in 1998, Jordan always came through in clutch situations.

The competitive streak within him also meant Jordan never backed down from an opponent. The faintest of slights amped up his motivation to do even better and the fact that he could walk the talk made it even more devastating for opponents.

Here are five such anecdotes shared by former NBA players that bring Jordan’s competitiveness and the downside of talking trash to him into sharp focus.

#1 “Ha ha… fifty”

Most contemporary NBA fans may only know Byron Scott as a head coach. Scott won the Coach of the Year award (2008) when he was head coach of the New Orleans Hornets. He also held head coaching roles with Cleveland and the LA Lakers.

But Scott also enjoyed a 14-year NBA career, playing 11 seasons with the Lakers, with whom he won three NBA championships (1985, 1987 and 1988). He but naturally ran into MJ and the Chicago Bulls as an opponent quite often.

In an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, Scott revealed an episode from the 1992-93 season when MJ and the Bulls were coming to town. Scott wasn’t playing the game because of an injury. Jordan asked Scott who would be guarding him in the latter’s absence, to which Scott replied, “Anthony Peeler”. The answer drew a chuckle from Jordan, who then said, “50,” indicating the total points he would tally against Peeler’s defense. To back up his statement, Scott revealed that Jordan ultimately went for 54 in the game.

#2 “Never talk to Black Jesus like that”

Hall-of-Famer Reggie Miller was always famous for his trash-talking. One of the NBA’s greatest shooters from downtown, he could get under the skin of just about any opponent with his jibes. But Miller had an episode with Jordan, which he now refers to as a “bad experience”.

Apparently, in Miller’s rookie season (1987-88), the Indiana Pacers were playing the Bulls in an exhibition game before the start of the season. By half-time, Miller had scored 10 points to Jordan’s four.

Encouraged by his own performance vis-à-vis Jordan’s, and egged along by teammate Chuck Person, Miller started taunting Jordan with remarks like, “Who do you think you are?” and “There’s a new kid in town.” When the game ended, Jordan finished with 44 while Miller had 12 points.

Jordan, having outscored Miller by 40 to two in the second half, walked up to Miller and said, “Be careful you never talk to Black Jesus like that.”

#3 “He went 360 and dunked it”

Magic Johnson wasn’t much of a trash-talker, but as he admitted on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he once made the error of talking trash to Michael Jordan. This was during one of the 1992 Dream Team practices when Magic Johnson’s team was competing against Jordan’s team. Johnson had David Robinson, Karl Malone, Clyde Drexler, Chris Mullin and John Stockton on his side. Jordan, on the other hand, had Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird and Patrick Ewing among his teammates.

The two teams would go at it every day in practice. On day four, Magic’s team jumped to an early 12-2 advantage, leading Magic to tell Michael, “Hey man, if you don’t turn into Air Jordan, we’re going to blow you out today.”

The next thing Johnson knew was that Jordan hit a pair of back-to-back threes. Then, in one of the best moves Johnson had ever seen in his NBA career, Jordan came down the right side, took off and hung in the air, with David Robinson also mid-air while defending him. After Robinson went down, “he [Jordan] went 360 and dunked it, in a practice game.” Johnson and the rest of the guys were just left stunned.

#4 “I should make you take my shoes off”

Chauncey Billups will soon make his debut as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Billups had a 17-year career in the NBA, where he made five All-Star appearances, winning the NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

Appearing last year on The Jump, Billups recounted an episode from his rookie season in 1997-98 where the Boston Celtics were playing Chicago. One of Billups’ teammates, a player called Greg Minor, got into a bit of a scuffle with MJ during the game. Soon after, Jordan went to the free throw line. He looked at Minor and said, “I should make you take my shoes off.”

At that moment, Billups, thoroughly intimidated by Jordan’s aura, looked down and saw MJ wearing his own line of sneakers. Billups admitted he learned a valuable lesson that night and decided never to talk trash to Jordan.

#5 “Ok young fella, damn, y’all done?”

This one is from Kevin Garnett’s rookie season when the Minnesota Timberwolves were playing in Chicago in February 1996. One of Garnett’s teammates, Isaiah Rider, was having a great game. KG was constantly pumping up Rider, telling him stuff like, "Man, keep going at his [MJ’s] a**, serve him, he can’t guard you."

At some point, Jordan got within earshot of what KG was telling Rider, but KG didn’t back down. He was constantly egging Rider on. Rider even tried to tell Jordan to ignore the young rookie but the damage had been done. Over the next six to seven minutes, Minnesota, who were down only by single digits, now trailed by 20-odd points. Jordan got 17 quick points, forcing Minnesota to take a time out.

As Garnett and the Timberwolves struggled to catch their breath, Jordan walked over to the rookie and asked him, “Ok, young fella, damn, y’all done?”

Garnett admitted, “I never talked sh*t to Mike ever again in life.”