“Pick on Somebody Your Own Size”: Karl Malone Revisited How Michael Jordan Reacted To Taunt From Jazz Owner

Although Larry H. Miller rarely put a foot wrong as the former owner of the Utah Jazz, one of his missteps proved costly. He taunted Michael Jordan during an NBA game and immediately paid the price. Karl Malone, the franchise’s cornerstone at the time, shared the intricate details of this incident in one of his interviews.

The situation centered around the Jazz’s home game against MJ’s Chicago Bulls at Salt Palace on December 2, 1987. During the second quarter, the Bulls constantly adjusted their offense to create favorable matchups for ‘The Black Jesus’. These switches allowed a 6ft 6″ Jordan to repeatedly get the better of the opposition’s 6ft 1″ John Stockton.

This left Miller furious. He became determined to get back at the Bulls. He stood up from his courtside seat, followed Jordan down the sidelines and challenged the Bulls talisman. What followed gave rise to another mythical Jordan story. Following this, MJ even responded to Miller with words (as if this play wasn’t already enough to do so). Malone recounted this moment.

“…’Hey Jordan, pick on somebody your own size’. Next time down the floor, he dunked on Mel Turpin and went over and looked at the guy and said, ‘Was he big enough?'”

“The story that summed the whole thing up. We were playing Chicago in Salt Lake. They switched and put John Stockton on him (Jordan), and he turned around and dunked on Stockton. So some guy (Miller) got up and almost followed him down the sideline saying ‘hey Jordan, pick on… pic.twitter.com/o7RpStPAqH

— The Jordan Rules (@Rules23Jordan) August 3, 2024

Jordan followed this up with sheer dominance for the rest of the game. He shot 17-for-27 from the field to rack up 47 points in just 39 minutes. He also contributed 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks to lead the Bulls to a 105-101 road victory over the Jazz.

This was an early warning of how trash-talking Jordan could backfire in a big way. It soon became something the NBA learned to avoid.

The opponents hesitated to trash-talk Jordan

Byron Scott became a fierce matchup for MJ during the 1980s and 1990s. Despite his best efforts to limit Jordan on the court, he was always mindful of keeping his mouth shut around him. During his 2016 interview on The Dan Patrick Show, he revealed,

“I enjoyed guarding Mike. The one thing I did with Mike was, I never got him pissed off. He make a shot, you say ‘Good shot, Mike.’ You don’t talk trash to him so he could go off for 60. You tryna kill him with kindness.”

Reggie Miller was unaware of this during his early playing days. As a result, he had to witness the consequences firsthand. During his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2015, he recounted a time when he trash-talked MJ. This backfired immensely as Jordan ended the game with 44 points before declaring,

“Be sure and be careful you never talk to Black Jesus like that.”