“Michael Jordan Cussed Out A Ref And Nothing Happened”: Mike Breen On ‘Maddening’ MJ Moments At The Knicks

It didn’t take long for Michael Jordan to get the referees in his pocket. This isn’t to say that he was being given unfair favoritism but it’s safe to say that if a call was 50-50 with him being involved, it was likely to have had that call go in his favor rather than against it. 

This is obvious however as Jordan was the NBA’s crown jewel. It felt as though every single game he played in his career after establishing himself as the greatest sports show on Earth was packed to the brim with attendees. And rightfully so. 

Now, if Jordan were to foul out of a game, fans would be incredibly disappointed as that is the man they paid money to see. Combine his superstardom with the way he coerced refs into giving fouls in his favor and that random game in March between the Bulls and the Hawks gets more entertainment value added to it because MJ got to play out his minutes.

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Mike Breen gave an example of Michael Jordan berating refs 

Mike Breen is one of the greatest play-by-play announcers the realm of North American sports has ever seen. The fact that the lackluster New York Knicks get to hear Breen and Walt Frazier on a nightly basis makes them one of the luckiest franchises out there. 

Breen recently went on the ‘Old Man and the Three’ podcast and talked about what it was like experiencing Michael Jordan in the Garden. He gave a hilarious instance where Mike believed he was fouled after having the ball knocked out of his hands and out of bounds. This led to him spewing all kinds of profanities at official, Eddie Rush. 

Rush simply kept his composure and let play resume. However, when Knicks player, Chris Childs, argued against a call in similar fashion, he was assessed a technical foul with a swiftness that wasn’t seen with MJ.

Official reasoning behind Michael Jordan getting away with fouls 

The NBA’s supervisor of officials, Darrell Garretson, let it be known in 2017 that officials across the league had to be lenient towards Michael Jordan for one reason and that was the reason that’s mentioned above. 

“If there’s a play where Jordan and Paxson are together and there’s a foul and Jordan smacked the guy on the arm, I’m giving the foul to Paxson because the fans don’t want to see Jordan foul out of the game,” said Garretson.

Also read: What is Michael Jordan’s Complicated 10 Year/$1 Million Divorce Clause With Wife, Yvette Prieto?