The more episodes of “The Last Dance” that I watch, the more I am convinced that Michael Jordan took things and perceived slights personally.
He despises Isiah Thomas and called him an “a__hole” simply because Thomas’ “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons would not shake hands with Jordan and the Bulls after their series-clinching victory in Game Four of the 1991 NBA Eastern Conference final playoffs. Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and other Pistons, in fact, left the Chicago Stadium with still a few seconds remaining on the game clock.
Jordan, whose Bulls had lost to the Pistons for three straight years in the postseason before that, has never forgiven Thomas for the slight or perceived disrespect … even until now. (At least, that’s what is being portrayed in “The Last Dance.”)
He despises Chicago Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause and anything to do with him. That’s why he made life hard for Croatia’s Toni Kukoc during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics (twice they met, in the prelims when Kukoc struggled and in the gold-medal game when he was at his best), and Dan Majerle, Charles Barkley’s Phoenix Suns teammate during the 1993 NBA Finals against the Bulls, simply because these were the players that Krause admire.
Of course, a 20-year friendship built around their golf games went down the drain, when Jordan took it against Barkley after the latter, on an ESPN NBA coverage, once criticized His Airness’ poor management of the Charlotte Hornets (from Bobcats) since 2010.
The two, who were teammates on the original US Dream Team to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics along with Larry Bird, Earvin (Magic) Johnson, Patrick Ewing, Bulls mate Scottie Pippen during their double title “three-peat” years (1991-93 and 1996-98) have yet to kiss and make up until now and Sir Charles believes their feud is not likely to end soon.
In his criticism of Jordan, Barkley said he was just doing his job as an NBA analyst and will never sugarcoat his comments just because the subject of his commentary is a friend.
It’s really hard to go against Jordan in any subject matter at hand. And people who do not agree with His Airness’ declarations usually get a subtle snub from him.
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