Michael Keaton Reveals Michael Jordan Interrupted Him At Dinner To Let Him Know Who He’d Take For The Final Shot

The wild stories revealing the competitive nature of Michael Jordan never fail to amaze NBA fans. And fortunately for them, Michael Keaton recently opened up about one such instance. Reminiscing about his dinner with MJ, the Hollywood actor recalled the latter boldly interrupting him to answer a question regarding who would take the last shot in a game.

The conversation initially circled the much-discussed NBA talk of ‘who would take the last shot in a close game’. To make it interesting, Keaton took MJ out of the equation while posing this question to him. However, it failed to faze the 6x champion even a bit as he promptly named Larry Bird as his preferred choice.

Reflecting on this moment, Keaton mentioned during his recent appearance on Not Just Football, “We’re sitting there and eating and I go, ‘Okay, there’s like seconds on the clock and it ain’t gonna be you [Michael Jordan]’…I don’t think I got the sentence out, like who is the guy you’re gonna go…And he goes, ‘[Larry] Bird’. Didn’t even think about it”.

Michael Jordan’s answer, while prompt, should come as a rather predictable one. Of course, when he was asked about who would take the last shot on the Dream Team by Ahmad Rashad, MJ declared, “Me! That’s a dumb question. Me”. However, with his own name out of the equation, his life-long appreciation for Larry Bird’s shot-making and cut-throat mentality was bound to come through.

Through his question, Michael Keaton received an incredible glimpse into just how much faith he had in those who had earned his respect. Unfortunately for him though, he would also receive an intimate image of just how competitive the Chicago Bulls legend was as well.

Michael Keaton got a glimpse of Michael Jordan’s competitiveness

Later in the show, Keaton admitted paying a price for stepping out of line. During the dinner, he criticized a defensive sequence of an NBA team, momentarily igniting the competitive spirit within Jordan. It made the artist instantly wonder about MJ’s ruthlessness from his playing days, revealing,

“‘That defense was blah blah blah’…some guy who couldn’t throw a ball from probably here to across the street says and he goes, ‘No, it isn’t. No that’s not how it worked’. He immediately got so competitive with me. With me! Can you imagine what he was like when [he was a player]?”

So, MJ never lost his edge, even years after his retirement. And given that it is his mentality that fans are most mesmerized by, the volume of his fanbase hasn’t dwindled one bit, even with his retirement having been over 30 years ago.