During an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show last year, Ray Allen recounted some intriguing stories about facing Michael Jordan on the hardwood. In one instance, Allen detailed how Jordan kept passing sarcastic remarks while torching him. The Hall-of-Famer brought up this story while discussing with Patrick who is the Greatest of All Time(GOAT) between MJ and LeBron James.
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While acknowledging James as a top-five player all-time, Allen relayed the anecdote to underline how Jordan lit up his opponents while talking smack casually to the opposition bench.
Jordan had built a reputation for trash-talking his opponents and staring them down at times. Therefore, Patrick had asked Allen during the interview if the Chicago Bulls legend was mean to the then Milwaukee Bucks rookie. Responding to this question, Allen said, “No, he[Jordan] wasn’t. He actually killed me slowly. He would comment to the the coach, ‘He’s[Allen] actually doing a great job out here.’ Meanwhile, he is dropping 45[points].”
While the future two-time NBA Champion was getting schooled by Jordan, then Bucks coach Chris Ford urged him to “front” Jordan. However, despite his best attempts, Jesus Shuttlesworth couldn’t contain His Airness. During a timeout, coach Ford was “hammering” Ray Allen for letting MJ overpower him.
Meanwhile, MJ had decided to have some more fun at Allen’s expense. He would sarcastically tell Ford, “He’s(Allen) doing a great job“. This would worsen Allen’s problems and add to his embarrassment. It was Jordan’s way of saying ‘Welcome to the NBA’ to one of the league’s future stars.
Allen entered the league in 1996 at the height of MJ’s glory for the mighty Bulls. During his stint with Milwaukee at the time, the 10-time All-Star would have to endure these tough moments that would prepare him for a stellar career in the future. It’s pretty clear that an up-and-coming Allen was no match for prime MJ. Jordan retired with a 9-3 record against Allen, per StatMuse.
Subsequently, Patrick asked Ray Allen whether Jordan passed those remarks so that the coach would keep him on the floor. However, Allen thought that it wasn’t the case-MJ didn’t care who was guarding him. He just liked to get under people’s skin playing mind games. While the 6x NBA Finals MVP usually had sharp words dissing the ones guarding him, in this instance, he engaged in some light-weight banter just to have some fun.
Michael Jordan’s unrelenting drive was too much to handle for many
Ray Allen hardly bore the brunt of MJ’s trash-talking. Jordan once forced one of his teammates into retirement just through his ferocious trash-talking. Rodney McCray, a proven Forward, had joined the Bulls in 1992 after nine years in the league. However, going up against MJ in scrimmages extinguished his confidence.
As per accounts, Jordan called McCray a loser at every turn, even calling his whole career a failure. From there on, McCray’s jumpers started to lose their sting and despite winning a ring in his first year with the Bulls, he retired at the age of 32.
Despite having such a scary trash-talking portfolio, the 5x MVP thought that Larry Bird was better than him at this trade. He once expressed, “Larry Bird is the greatest trash talker and mind-game player of all time. He taught me everything I know about getting in folks’ heads.” MJ and Larry Legend boast of 9 champions collectively. Was it their attitude of not sparing even their teammates that got them there? That’s still a debate worth having.
