Pat Riley and the New York Knicks didn’t care about Michael Jordan becoming the face of the NBA in the 1990s.
Today, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player in the eyes of most NBA fans and former players alike. He earned that status for his tremendous career with the Chicago Bulls.
While MJ earned a plethora of accolades during the early years of his NBA career, it wasn’t until the 1990s that he became a true winner.
After all, he led the Bulls to six NBA Championships from 1991 to 1998 and had a spotless 6-0 record in the NBA Finals. But what about the teams that locked horns with the Bulls? Many believe they were scared of facing the Bulls, but former NBA player Greg Anthony recently debunked that theory.
Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty ImagesPat Riley ensured New York Knicks weren’t scared of Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls
Before becoming the president of the Miami Heat, Pat Riley enjoyed stellar spells in his coaching career. Of course, his best was seen with the Showtime LA Lakers as his coaching helped the team win four NBA titles.
After leaving the Lakers, Riley became the New York Knicks’ head coach and he instilled a killer mentality in his team. Greg Anthony, who was a member of Riley’s Knicks recently shed some light on the same.
“We did not look at anybody being differently, and quite frankly, we thought we could beat them like that, that’s just and that has nothing to do with whether or not a guy is great.
“We would have thought that about the [Boston] Celtics, if they were really good, [Larry] Bird were healthy,” Anthony said.
He added: “A lot of that had to do with our coach, that’s Pat Riley, it was always about us, and what we did, it didn’t matter about Michael Jordan.”
Although MJ and the Bulls dominated the Eastern Conference, Riley never allowed his players to feel inferior to their rivals.
Anthony on Jordan’s stature: ‘He was still ascending’
Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images
Jordan didn’t become the superstar that he was during the 1990s overnight. In fact, Anthony believes a key reason behind the Knicks’ mentality was the fact that Jordan was ‘still ascending’ during that era.
“In fairness, like when we have these conversations, for people listening, their perspective is Michael Jordan as having already become who we know him to be today.
“Our perspective is he was still ascending. At that point, he was just becoming the face of the league, and in our minds, we never viewed him that way,” he continued.
Instead, the Knicks treated Jordan as they would treat any other best player on a team.
“We didn’t talk, ‘oh man, we going against the face of the league’. We’re going against the bulls. He’s their best player. This is what we have to do to have success against them, and that’s really how it is.”
Anthony debunks major narrative about facing Jordan
To this date, many believe that Jordan’s opponents during his era were scared to face him. So much so that they would lose their sleep over it.
However, Anthony debunked that narrative as well during his appearance on ‘The Rich Eisen Show.’
“Players really are not in awe of anybody. We didn’t look at him like we didn’t not sleep at night the night before playing against the great Michael Jordan.
“We knew he’s a great player, but they were all great, all the great players, when you one of the top dogs in the league, we respect that, but we’re trying to beat your team. And so we didn’t lack confidence or a belief,” Anthony said with authority.
“We got one of those dudes too. Patrick [Ewing] is one of those guys. We didn’t look at Michael as being head and shoulders above our best player,” he concluded.
Either way, during the four years that Riley coached the Knicks, the franchise won the East just once. Considering it occurred during MJ’s first retirement, fans will always believe the narrative that the Bulls legend had the East captured during the 1990s.