T.he I.nformant
1st Ballot HOF Teller
Jordan: When we were beating Philly in the play-offs last year and Detroit was going against Boston, everyone was saying, “I hope Boston wins.” I said, No way. If we’re going to go, we have to go the hardest route, or else as a team, we’re going to get criticized for it. First of all, Scottie Pippen would never redeem himself from having those three headaches, or whatever he had, in the final 1990 conference championship game against the Pistons. As a team we would never live it down because we always faltered under Detroit’s pressure. No one really gained respect from Detroit players.
Playboy: It would have reflected badly on you, too.
Jordan: All of that would have been right on my shoulders. Yeah, you won a championship, people would have said, but you didn’t go through Detroit to do it. I didn’t want that crap to happen. I wanted to go the hardest route.
Playboy: There was also the matter of how you compared to Magic and Larry Bird.
Jordan: When it came to comparisons, this is what always knocked me out of the top two players: People would always say, “All these great plays and he’s never taken his team to a championship.” So I wanted to go through one of those two. It worked out perfect.
Don’t make too many with this kind of attitude anymore. Damn shame too. It’s partly what made 2-3 so special.
Playboy: It would have reflected badly on you, too.
Jordan: All of that would have been right on my shoulders. Yeah, you won a championship, people would have said, but you didn’t go through Detroit to do it. I didn’t want that crap to happen. I wanted to go the hardest route.
Playboy: There was also the matter of how you compared to Magic and Larry Bird.
Jordan: When it came to comparisons, this is what always knocked me out of the top two players: People would always say, “All these great plays and he’s never taken his team to a championship.” So I wanted to go through one of those two. It worked out perfect.
Don’t make too many with this kind of attitude anymore. Damn shame too. It’s partly what made 2-3 so special.
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