Michael Jordan built up a reputation for himself where he became synonymous with putting everybody’s favorite player on a poster at least once during his illustrious career. Patrick Ewing was unfortunately on the wrong side of history when it came to this particular dunk from MJ that he recalled during an interview for NBA 2K in 2013.
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Here, MJ talks about not only which dunk of his is his most memorable but what makes it so memorable.
“My most memorable dunk that I think about very very often is the Patrick Ewing dunk. That’s only because Patrick and I are such great friends,” Jordan said, during the interview.
The dunk in question is of course his incredible half spin on the baseline in the first round of the Playoffs in Game 3 of Bulls-Knicks. The fact that he did this in the Playoffs also adds to the expansive lore of this singular moment.
He also added in the interview how he had trash talked Ewing after the dunk, “Georgetown guys don’t block shots, all they do is take charges.” This falls right in line with Ewing’s story that MJ had been talking trash to him since the first day they met as high school recruits, over 40 years ago.
Patrick Ewing claims Michael Jordan still talks trash to him
The rivalry between Michael Jordan and the New York Knicks legend Patrick Ewing dates back to their college days when they faced off against each other during the intense matchups between Georgetown and North Carolina. Jordan mostly came out on top during these contests, like he would in the NBA as well.
However, beyond their rivalry on the hardwood, the two Hall-of-Famers have always been close friends. But that friendship would never prove to be a barrier for Jordan when it came to trash-talking Ewing regarding his Ws against him.
The Patrick Ewing-led New York Knicks met the Chicago Bulls six times in the playoffs from 1989 to 1996. The New York side would lose out on all occasions, except for the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Jordan’s ongoing baseball hiatus that year allowed the Knicks to get out of the East. However, Ewing and his team would eventually succumb to the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals.
During an interview with Rachel Nichols in 2020, Ewing addressed how things could have gone different for the Knicks if MJ wasn’t always there to limit their flight in the East. To add insult to injury, the 11-time All-Star also added how Jordan still talks trash to him, reminding the Knicks star of his perfect record against him. “He’s been talking trash since the first day I met him and he still continues to talk trash, telling me that I have never beaten him when it counted…If I call him right now, he’d still be talking trash about me,” Ewing told Nichols.
