Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame speech has made waves in the NBA community -- everyone seems to think, for some ridiculous reason, that Jordan shouldn't have smack-talked his opponents in what was supposed to be his moment of glory.I'm of the other opinion; trash-talking was Jordan's legacy and he used people who challenged him as motivation to get better. Bryon Russell was one of those people: Jordan cited Russell's claim that he could guard Jordan (um, whoops, guy) after MJ retired the first time, only to get absolutely torched by His Airness several years later in the very famous "non-push-off" from the 1998 NBA Finals. Naturally, Russell took exception to that part of the speech.
"I'll play his a- right now," Russell told Yahoo! Sports. "This is a call-out for him to come play me. He can come out here in his private jet and come play. He's got millions of dollars. He can pay for the jet. He can meet me at the Recreation Center in Calabasas.Well, those comments would certainly be worth a "Zing!" if Jordan hadn't consistently burned Russell and cost Bryon, John Stockon AND Karl Malone all a championship ring. And sure, maybe that play was a push-off ... but does it matter?
"We can have Mark Jackson do the commentating. We can have Mitch Richmond do the officiating. We can put it on TV and see if Michael's still got it."
Answer: Of course not. No one remembers "push-off." They remember "Michael Jordan: GOAT." Which means that regardless of how MJ responds to this, people are more than likely to point and laugh at Russell for being really frustrated.
Then again, given Jordan's competitive nature, I wouldn't be surprised in the least bit to see him land in Calabasas 48 hours from now, stroll into Russell's gym and beat him up and down the court in front of a large contingent of television cameras. Then things will be really awkward.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
lol great article W Brinson...... T Moore could defn learn from you in how to write a good NBA article
Sorry Russell you done had your chance. Jordan is the Greatest!!! He owns both ur rings.
I BET $50 if it was kobe a push off would have been called. Everyone was afraid of HIS PENIS BREATH. BLOW THE DAMM WHISTLE.
classless article. all that's wrong with this country and this society. sad. sad. sad.
Jordan and Russell combined weren`r nearly as great as Chamberlain. And the push off does matter. It is a perfect example of hype built on lies. Facts matter. Others get away with traveling and hooking, but that one was not only blatant, it robbed the best pure power forward and the best pure point guard ever of the championship they had one. All because the NBA wanted to lie Jordan was the best ever, in order to avoid admitting Chamberlain was. They still hate Wilt and the truth. No amount of kissing Jordan`s earring will make him as good as Wilt, or Kareem. But if ByRon wants to play with Mike`s, um, A(natomy?), he and Mikey should get a room, not a publicist. Maybe they invite Doug Collins and have a 3 way. I DON`T want to know.
man i'm a laker HATER but i'll take magic or kobe over jordan anytime
Lets not forget though, Jordan was 6-0 in the finals with 6 Finals MVPs. Nobody else can say that or will ever say that. End of story.
What are you kidding me? Maybe it was a push off. It
was a blatant, glaringly obvious push off and just one of countless examples where Jordan got preferential treatment from the refs.
There was a push but it wasn't that obvious. As a matter of fact, I don't remember anyone mentioning it at the time. Only after looking at it on replay do you really see what happened so I can see why the refs didn't call that. Also, if you rewind that play to just a few seconds before you will see a handcheck by Russell that also could have been called. In sports you can always debate this call or that call but the greatest players try to take the game to a level where the calls don't matter as much. And wasn't that just the 6th game?
It doesn't really matter if there was a push or not. Everyone always forgets that Stockton had a good open look right after that play which he missed. If he woulda made that 3 pter, the game woulda been over and the Jazz woulda won. Nothing else matters really
I still have the video tape and showed it at my barbershop for weeks after...He pushed off but like in society we forget that kids are watching too and a bad example of favoritism buy the commish, ref, and the icon worshipers I never like the Jazz but they played hard as any team that wanted it but that call not called that's Bull! greatness does not need help to win!!!
Preferential treatment. And Mr. Ball-hog wasn't even close to being the GOAT. He may be 4th behind Oscar,Wilt,and Russell,who kept his mouth shut and played team-ball.