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. In fact, MJ once revealed during an interview how his memorable dunk on Ewing during the 1991 Eastern Conference playoffs became even sweeter because of the close friendship between the two.
Advertisement
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.
Michael Jordan posterized Patrick Ewing in 1991
As if a 5-0 postseason record wasn’t enough, Jordan decided to put Ewing on a poster in 1991, during Game 3 of the first round matchup between the Knicks and the Bulls. MJ received the ball just beyond the arc during a Bulls’ offense, drove to the basket, did a spin move to evade a couple of defenders and then dunked hard on Ewing, who was waiting under the basket like a lamb in a slaughterhouse.
During a sit-down with NBA 2k, Jordan called this dunk his favorite, along with the finger wag slam on Dikembe Mutombo. “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.
He also added 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.
However, it’s good to see Jordan maintain a close friendship with at least one of his peers from the 90s. For the most part, his fierce competitiveness alienated His Airness from a lot of his close friends, including his former golf buddy Charles Barkley.
