Michael Jordan is known as one of the greatest trash talkers in NBA history. Not just because he could get inside his opponent’s minds, but because he could back up what he said. And one time against Chris Webber’s Washington Bullets, he did exactly that.
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Webber and the Bullets were an interesting up-and-coming team in the 1996/97 season. Alongside the All-Star was his former Michigan teammate Juwan Howard. Rod Strickland was also a great third scorer. Even Gheorghe Muresan was a tall 7-foot-7, 300 lb Romanian giant who would clog up the lane.
But Webber and the Bullets were going up against Jordan’s godlike Bulls, who were coming off a championship and a 69-win season. So, it wasn’t exactly the fairest of matchups.
After losing Game 1, Webber and the Bullets had to respond on the road. But an encounter with Jordan in the arena before the game got him and his teammates rattled.
“One time we were in the playoffs, Jordan parked his Ferrari inside the building, which you shouldn’t be able to do,” Webber detailed on the Dan Patrick Show.
“He’s smoking a cigar before the game, which I mean, you can do whatever you want. And we’re the lowly Bullets, and Juwan and I are getting off the bus. Juwan was very close with him, so he’s like, ‘Juwan, Web! Who’s guarding me tonight?’” he added.
The question must have caught the two off guard, because they didn’t think through their response. Rather than hiding the matchup from the NBA legend, they succumbed to the question and pointed out the culprit. It was none other than fourth-year guard Calbert Cheaney.
“Calbert Cheaney was behind us, and we both looked and did that,” Webber then pointed behind him. “That was the one time I cringed about how I left a teammate hanging because Jordan had 55 on us that night and beat us.”
“Poor Calbert Cheaney,” Patrick responded.
It was a funny story that got a good laugh out of the famous sports talk show host. The Bulls and Jordan would go on to promptly dispose of the Bullets in 3 games. They also went on to win the NBA Finals that season. So, Webber shouldn’t be too ashamed.
Furthermore, it wasn’t the only time in NBA history that Jordan let his opposition know that he was going to light them up pre-game.
Michael Jordan did the same thing to Dominique Wilkins’ Atlanta Hawks
In a story reported by the New York Times, former Hawks forward Dominique Wilkins said that Jordan once rattled his team pregame, too. It was April of 1987, in the arena of the Chicago Bulls. Except this time, Randy Whittman and Kevin Willis were the culprits.
“I remember him walking into our locker room in Chicago and he walked right by me. And I’m like, what the hell is he coming in our locker room for? And he walked by me, walked by Kevin (Willis), and he tapped Randy Wittman on the leg and he said, ‘Lace ’em up, it’s gonna be a long f– king night.’ And he walked out. He had 60 that night,” Wilkins told the NY Times.
It’s stories like these that get some people believing that Jordan was the GOAT. He wasn’t just an artist with a ball in his hands, but he was also a master with his words. MJ would get inside his opponent’s heads before the game and then completely demoralize them once he was in it.
Any player who’s played a sport will tell you that talking trash is hard to do effectively because it puts pressure on you to perform to a standard. But for certain guys like Jordan, trash talk seemed to fuel them and make them even better.
