Guarding Michael Jordan never felt more like a death sentence than it did for Kevin Johnson during the 1993 NBA Finals. Johnson has long stated how he feels terrible about how Charles Barkley is ringless due to that Finals. However, with MJ on the other end of the court, perhaps that was inevitable?
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The ’93 Finals had several intersecting and interesting storylines. One was the fact that Jordan never saw Dan Majerle as a threat. Dan was propped up to be a ‘Jordan stopper’ of sorts but this didn’t move the needle for him in the slightest.
Games 1 and 2 saw Jordan score a total of 73 points and the Bulls go up 2-0 with Majerle guarding ‘His Airness’. The Suns coaching staff saw this as a clear misstep and defensive deficiency. Their next course of action? Have Kevin Johnson take up the task.
“I walk straight in that church and I sit in the front row. I’m like, ‘Jesus, I don’t believe in you no more,’” said Johnson the Club520 podcast. The concept of having to defend Michael in the Finals was so unfathomable for KJ that he, at first, believed he had dreamt it.
When he told MJ during Game 3’s jumpball that he was guarding him, the latter’s reaction was a mere “Huh?”
Funnily enough, the Suns ended up winning Game 3 in triple overtime despite Jordan’s 44. Johnson was no scrub however as he held his own on the offensive end as well, going 11-24 from the field and having 25 points on the night.
The Suns won two out of their three games in Chicago but would eventually lose Game 6, leading to the Bulls winning their third straight title.
Kevin is still quite proud of the way he guarded Mike though, saying “Take that Mike!” on the podcast when speaking on keeping MJ below the scoring average he had when guarded by Dan.
