“Being a champion is about taking on all comers without whining” — Pat Riley slammed Phil Jackson and the Bulls for being crybabies originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Chicago Bulls head coach Phil Jackson was ejected in Game 4 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Pat Riley-coached New York Knicks. To rub salt in their wounds, the Bulls lost, 93-86, which put the series at 2-2. Jackson refused to accept the defeat, noting Game 4 in Madison Square Garden was an organized beatdown of the Bulls.
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“I think they’re licking their chops on Fifth Avenue,” Jackson said, alluding to NBA headquarters.
“I don’t like orchestration. It sounds fishy, but they do control who sends the referees. If it goes seven games, everybody will be really happy. Everybody will get the TV revenue and ratings they want.”
Pat Riley shuts Phil Jackson down
Riley wasn’t having any of Phil’s antics. He doesn’t like to deal with sore losers like Jackson, who seem to never run out of excuses after a loss. Riley flexed his resume to the Zen Master, noting that real winners do not complain; they move on and fight.
“I was part of six championship teams,” Riley said, via the Los Angeles Times. “I’ve been to the finals 13 times and I know what championship demeanor is all about. The fact that he’s whining and whimpering about the officiating is an insult to how hard our guys are playing.”
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“Being a champion is about taking on all comers without whining.”
Knicks guard Doc Rivers, then at the twilight of his career, backed up his coach. He also recalled Jackson’s days as a Knicks player in the 70s, where he was regarded as a dirty player.
“Well, Jackson’s talking a lot,” River said. “Coach Riley is just responding to Phil Jackson (who) thinks we play dirty basketball, (that) we push and we shove. . . It’s like the kettle calling the pot black. I did watch Phil Jackson play.”
The Chicago Whiners
This wasn’t the first time someone slammed the Bulls for their predilection for whining and complaining. Detroit Pistons big man Bill Laimbeer had been criticizing the Bulls in the early 1990s.
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Laimbeer claimed that since Michael Jordan couldn’t break the “Jordan Rules,” they just ran to the NBA Commissioner to plead their case. Critically, Laimbeer said the Bulls started a smear campaign against them.
“They whined and cried for a year and a half about how bad we were for the game, but more importantly, they said we were bad people,” Laimbeer said. “We weren’t bad people. We were just basketball players winning, and that really stuck with me because they didn’t know who we were or what we were about as individuals and our family life. But all that whining they did, I didn’t want to shake their hand. They were just whiners. They won the series. Give him credit: we got old, they got past us. But OK, move on.”
Did the Bulls whine their way to six NBA titles? Perhaps not. Talking to the referees was one way to play the game from a mental standpoint. Jackson knows that the referees are humans, too, which means they can be influenced and manipulated. Maybe if Riley and others spent more time nagging the officials, they could’ve snagged a ring or two in the heady ’90s.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.