“I took that personally” has become one of Michael Jordan’s most famous quotes in the basketball community. It perfectly captures the competitive drive that had the six-time NBA champion hunting for stakes during the regular season. Some players caught on to the trend early, learning not to mess with Jordan in hopes of avoiding a 40-point or a 50-point outburst. Byron Scott was among those quick learners in the league.
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The Showtime Laker recently joined Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on ‘All the Smoke’, where he touched on his experience dealing with Jordan’s competitiveness. “He was one of those guys, you know I didn’t fear anybody, but when I played against him, I said I ain’t pissing him off,” Scott shared.
The three-time NBA champion would face off against His Airness 23 times during his 14-season NBA career, resulting in 14 wins for MJ. However, Scott did learn to limit the damage caused by Jordan by killing him with kindness.
“He hit a shot, it’d be a good shot. ‘Good shot, MJ,’” Scott admittedly would tell Mike. “I said I ain’t pissing him off ‘cause I’ve seen him go for 40, 50 [points] like it ain’t nothing ‘cause of guys, you know, being aggressive or trying to be overly physical with him… Everybody else, I don’t give a s**t. But him, Black Jesus, I ain’t messing with him like that.”
This strategy seemingly worked for Scott. Despite facing MJ throughout his prime, he would be on the receiving end of only two 40-point games. That’s a surprisingly low number considering Jordan tallied 173 40-point games in his career.
However, B-Scott had no choice but to learn this lesson after watching MJ dismantle rookie Anthony Peeler for thinking he could guard him.
Jordan predicted his 50-point outburst against the Lakers
Byron Scott was reaching the end of his tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers in the ‘90s and the franchise attempted to bolster their backcourt by drafting Missouri standout Anthony Peeler in the 1992 NBA Draft. A few months into his pro career, Peeler would face his greatest challenge in Michael Jordan.
Scott recalled the incident on ‘All the Smoke’. The veteran guard had incurred an injury to his ankle and would sit out the first game of the regular season series against the Bulls. That’s when Jordan found out that Peeler was going to be his matchup for the night.
“‘That rookie? 50.’ I said, ‘You’re gonna give him 50?’ He [Jordan] is like, ‘I was going to give you 50, but now if it’s him, I’mma give him 50 then.’”
Byron did his duty as a veteran and tried to mentor Peeler on defending MJ. However, it wouldn’t suffice against Jordan’s determination. “Every time MJ scored, he looked over at the bench at me… He had 54… The dude was a man playing against boys, damn near,” Scott told Barnes and Jackson.
Peeler and the Lakers would be on the receiving end of an efficient 54-point performance from His Airness, but behind Vlade Divac, Sam Perkins and James Worthy’s strong performances, they would pull off a 120-118 overtime win in Los Angeles.
