By Joël Pütz | Sports journalist
Michael Jordan did not tolerate being provoked and the slightest attempt was punished as soon as possible by the back of the Bulls. Even if it means ruining your own team, as former player Darell Armstrong said a few years ago…
What would have happened if Michael Jordan hadn’t retired in 1993? At the time, Chicago was at the top of the league and the backcourt was crushing the competition. But the murder of his father a few weeks after his first three-peat had left its mark on His Airness, to the point of withdrawing from the world of the orange ball for no less than a year and a half where the Hall of Famer would devote himself mainly golf.
Upon his return during the 1994-95 season, some things had changed for the Illinois guard. The first concerned his own jersey since he returned with the No. 45 instead of his legendary No. 23. But above all, his comeback ended in disappointment since the Bulls were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Magic of Shaquille O’Nealwho will face the Rockets in the NBA Finals.
Michael Jordan’s stubborn grudge against the Magic
Game 1 ended in fiasco for MJ, who had the ball stolen by Nick Anderson 6 seconds from time and thus cost his team the victory. Following which the Orlando player tackled him in front of the media… A big mistake that Jordan made the Floridians pay for from the 1995-96 season, this time again with his favorite number 23. Ex-Magic player, Darell Armstrong told the anecdote in an interview:
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We faced Michael Jordan in the second round, that’s where Nick Anderson stole the ball from him for the victory. Until I watched The Last Dance, I didn’t know that Nick Anderson said, “#45 isn’t as good as #23.” Oh my God, I would have said to him, “shut up, what are you doing?” » In Game 2, he arrives keeping his tracksuit on, they don’t announce with number 45, the public goes crazy.
He had his sweatshirt on, and when the two teams were heading towards the center of the field, this bastard took it off and I saw the number 23 underneath. I said to myself: “Oh no, we’re in danger!” Superman is here, the black cat! Sweet Jesus, we are in danger tonight. » They end up winning the match and afterwards, that’s where it gets crazy: every game where he wore that number, (the Bulls) were fined $200,000.
We ended up winning the series 4-2, on their home court, and they said after that he couldn’t stop talking about Orlando. The next year, it was Shaq’s last year with us, they swept us. I’ll never forget, and you can see it on the game stat sheet: Jordan had two free throws at the end of the game. He put the first one on and missed the second one on purpose. Why did he do that ? One guy said to me, “Look at the score sheet.” He finished with 45 points.
For a whole year, Michael Jordan ruminated on this Game 1 of the second round against the Magic as well as the words of Nick Anderson. Chicago lost more than a million dollars in this affair, but it was His Airness who had the last laugh.
