Despite facing some of the greatest teams in the NBA finals, none were able to overcome the Air Jordan hump and hand Mike his first finals loss. Sixers assistant coach Coby Karl got to witness why that was firsthand back in ‘96. On the Coaching Coaches podcast, Karl talked about the 1996 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Seattle Supersonics and how focused MJ was before the games.
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During the 1996 NBA Finals, Karl was a ballboy for the Supersonics. But despite being a ballboy, there was an unwritten rule of not going to the opposing team’s locker room, unless you were invited.
“I’m in the locker room pre-game, just staring at Michael Jordan for 10 straight minutes. And I’m just been very curious to figure out what makes him different.”
But out of sheer curiosity, Karl went to the Bulls locker room. Just to see what was so magical about Michael.
“I snuck in and I was sitting there, trying to act like no one knew who I was or whatever. And Literally, I was staring at Mike. Michael had, like, this unbelievable focus, right? It was like I wasn’t even there. It’s like he was in his own space.”
Karl further added, “And the more I learned on the mental side of it, it’s like, he did. He was in his own space. He was in his comfortable zone and he wasn’t focused on—Like, I couldn’t get him out of that.”
The Sixers assistant coach praised the level of focus Michael had. He also gave former Bulls’ head coach Phil Jackson his flowers for instilling that level of focus in his players, especially Mike because the Bulls went on to obliterate the Sonics in the ‘96 finals.
Jordan’s return to the NBA after his first retirement
The 1996 NBA season was right after Mike had come out of retirement. For more than a year, Jordan had trained his body to be a baseball player and wasn’t in touch with basketball for quite some time.
MJ had only played 17 games when he came back. But as soon as he did, he realized how out of shape he was for the NBA. It has been well-documented in his docuseries, The Last Dance that Jordan worked extensively hard with his trainer, Tim Grover, to be NBA-ready that offseason.
It did take a lot of hard work and resolve but Jordan was able to hone in and have another spectacular season. He averaged 30.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.2 steals that year. MJ won the regular season MVP and eventually led the Bulls to another NBA title.
