Michael Jordan is considered the greatest basketball player of all time by the majority of fans and analysts covering the sport and for good reason. The former shooting guard dominated the association and there was no one capable of keeping him quiet on the court during his career. He helped turn the Chicago Bulls into a dynasty and one of the greatest teams in history.
He retired in 2003, but fans still talk fondly of Jordan and it’s largely down to his fierce approach to the sport and his willingness to go toe-to-toe with anyone he came across. He wasn’t afraid of any player and actually thrived taking the game to them. He was one of the most competitive athletes on the planet and his winning mentality drove him to success.
Still, even while he was the most dominant player on the planet, he wasn’t immune to fear. In fact, according to Larry Bird, there was even an occasion when Jordan admitted that he was scared to play a team.
The One Team Michael Jordan Was Scared to Play
During his career, Jordan earned a reputation for being fearless and unwavering in the face of anyone he encountered. According to one of his early rivals, though, there was an instance when he was afraid to play against a team and that team was the Indiana Pacers in 1997. They faced off against the Chicago Bulls in the playoffs that season and they engaged in a fierce battle that saw both sides win three of the first six games, forcing a game seven.
Despite the Bulls’ dominance across the league, they didn’t find it easy competing against Indiana. They couldn’t quite figure out how to handle some of the Pacers’ role players in Jalen Rose and Travis Best. With it all coming down to one final game, Jordan admitted he was scared of playing against Indiana again, according to the then Pacers general manager, Donnie Walsh.
As quoted by Basketball Network, he said:
“We knew we had a good bench going into the series and knew they’d make a difference. I thought Jalen and Travis could take advantage and that proved to be true. I remember Jalen got in the game and he went past Pippen like it was nothing, and I didn’t think he’d have a chance to do that going in.
“And Travis, I realized from the regular season, they had nobody who could guard Travis. He was so quick and strong. He was built like a football player. Larry [Bird] told me after the series was over that Jordan grabbed him and told him he was scared about the seventh game because they (the Bulls) had no answers for Travis Best and Jalen Rose. And they didn’t.”
Bird was head coach of the Pacers at the time and gave one of his former on-court rivals a run for his money, but Jordan didn’t stay afraid for long. He came out and scored 28 points in game seven as Chicago won 88-83 and advanced to the NBA finals where they beat the Utah Jazz in six games to secure their third straight championship.
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