This is based on my uneducated opinion since I never watched a full 80's Lakers/Celtics game much less anything from earlier times and I basically stopped watching the NBA at all around 2007/08.
However rewatching 90's NBA gives me a warm feeling remembering the times when I had nothing more important to do than wait for a sports game at night and the games are badass. The Bulls were basically a 3-men team (you could say a 1-man team) but Jordan was ridiculous and everybody else played the exact role that was needed for the team to win. The only chance of not getting destroyed was if you played nice with MJ and was lucky enough to have him have a bad night against you.
I watched an interview with Isiah Rider telling a priceless story. He was with the Timberwolves in Kevin Garnett's rookie year and he was outplaying Jordan (like scoring 24 to Jordan's 18) and the Wolves were winning by like ~13 points at the start of the fourth quarter. A timeout was called and they were walking towards the bench and MJ was standing beside Rider and KG started shoutin "He has nothing on you man! He can't deal with you! Go get him! You're the man" and Rider started motioning with his head like "Stop it man" and KG kept going. At some point Rider turned to Jordan and said all embarassed "He's just a rookie, he doesn't know the rules of the game" and Jordan said nothing.
By the end of the game Jordan had scored 30+ points, Rider had the same 24 and the Bulls won.
However rewatching 90's NBA gives me a warm feeling remembering the times when I had nothing more important to do than wait for a sports game at night and the games are badass. The Bulls were basically a 3-men team (you could say a 1-man team) but Jordan was ridiculous and everybody else played the exact role that was needed for the team to win. The only chance of not getting destroyed was if you played nice with MJ and was lucky enough to have him have a bad night against you.
I watched an interview with Isiah Rider telling a priceless story. He was with the Timberwolves in Kevin Garnett's rookie year and he was outplaying Jordan (like scoring 24 to Jordan's 18) and the Wolves were winning by like ~13 points at the start of the fourth quarter. A timeout was called and they were walking towards the bench and MJ was standing beside Rider and KG started shoutin "He has nothing on you man! He can't deal with you! Go get him! You're the man" and Rider started motioning with his head like "Stop it man" and KG kept going. At some point Rider turned to Jordan and said all embarassed "He's just a rookie, he doesn't know the rules of the game" and Jordan said nothing.
By the end of the game Jordan had scored 30+ points, Rider had the same 24 and the Bulls won.
Last edited: