[Highlights] Jeff Van Gundy calls Michael Jordan a “Con Man” prior to their matchup with the Bulls - MJ Responds with 51 Points (1997).
51 out of 88 team pts … Good grief
You simply don’t taunt Micheal Jordan.
Don’t tug on Superman’s cape
Don’t cover Gilbert Arenas’ podcast mic
And you don’t mess around with shaq
He will shit on you
In fairness, he’ll just dump a bucket full of it on you. He’s not an animal
You can mess around with Jim Boylen - formerly of Chicago Bulls
Do you think he took it personal?
Im sure he took that personally
Or, you could spread it around and score 110
Knicks were a top 5 defense holding teams to 92 PPG. No one was scoring 110
Lol these casuals are funny
For real. Seeing 51 points in a win against a playoff caliber team and only finding a way to criticize. Four assists for MJ too.
“Why didn’t Jordan just spray it out to his teammates camped on the perimeter to shoot 50 threes?”
They won the game chief … No need to change anything
They should have never given you canooks a basketball team.
When keeping it real goes wrong
I don’t like people playing on my phone
Girl don’t even trip, you’re bigger than that.
Jeff after the game when asked what MJ shouted at him: “He called me a little hockey puck, or something”.
(Legit quote).
He wasn’t even keeping it real, though.
Agreed, it comes off as Jeff trying to play mind games with MJ by minimizing his abilities with an air of indifference. That was the beauty of MJ’s competitiveness though: you either tried to gobble up what little mental real estate you could, but MJ would take you to task, or alternatively, you commend MJ for his talents hoping for some humility but instead get, “fucking right I’m the best” as he drops another 50 on you. There was no open route to MJ’s headspace.
Getting beat by Jordan himself was an honor to his peers and no one ever matched his adoration by his opponents. He was so much better than anyone and everyone it was funny and scary
I think the funniest thing about MJ is that in the world of hyper competitive insane people, everyone basically was like “okay nah that man’s different”
It’s a shame we didn’t get to see prime bird vs prime MJ, I sincerely think he is the only guy who could match or beat MJ in the mind game.
Don’t think even Kobe could keep up
im not so sure, 22 year old mj scored 63 on Larry bird in his prime, in the playoffs mind you. I don’t think anyone is beating mj from a mental standpoint.
Bird who famously shit talked everyone, immediately referred to MJ as “God”
Never understood why MJ doesn’t get more praise when two top 10, arguably 5, players in NBA history called him the goat without any rings. I don’t even think Steph has glazed Lebron as hard as Magic and Bird did with MJ
You don’t understand why the guy who has been consensus greatest of all time for 2 decades and has a docu-series about winning his 2nd 3-peat isn’t praised more?
Yeah, Michael Jordan is very under-celebrated.
Should’ve clarified, meant more light on how multiple top 10 players in NBA history have acknowledged how great he was. It’s pretty unheard of, especially in other sports how they talked about MJ
The Bobby Knight thing should be more well known imo A grumpy ass legend of a coach calling him the greatest he ever saw before he played in the nba is quite the praise. Especially from someone that isn’t known to give feint praise.
My perception, is everyone in the league thought he was the best player to ever play by about 1988
Then he won 6 rings with 2 threepeats… starting 3 years later
Here ya go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKzx7DfI1gU
Damn dude we out here just sending porn links?
Him and Tiger in their pomp was something else.
“and I took that personally”
I say this as a Bulls fan who grew up watching both threepeats, MJ was a sociopath lol
That being said, he was 100% justified in taking this one personally lmao. What a stupid ass thing to say to the media rofl. Even John Starks knew not to take the bait and throw MJ under the bus when the weasels in the media were like, “What do you think of MJ going to Atlantic City after games?”
But Jeff was talking to a small market media, it’s not like something said to the new york media would be heard everywhere. /s
It was kinda true though lmao
Agreed about Jordan being a sociopath. You didn’t need to give him any motivation, he was already stepping on that floor with the goal of killing you. He’d invent things to motivate him, or remember some incredibly small detail he’d perceived as a slight from years earlier and use that to destroy that person. But if you gave a public interview like this which took a direct shot at him, hoo-boy, look out.
90’s Knicks were horrific to watch on tv and Jeff’s 24⁄7 look of misery fit that team perfectly.
Even worse when they played the Heat. Those two teams are the reason the NBA added the “off the bench” auto suspension rule that eventually fucked the Suns.
They were more interested in brawling than playing basketball.
Suddenly I’m a big 90s Heat/Knicks fan
Nah, the off the bench rule happened from the Knicks/Suns brawl in 1993 and that 1997 series was the first major case of it affecting a playoff series.
It’s rather fitting that the two franchise that got fucked over by the rule the hardest were the two teams that started it in the first place lmao.
Me sowing: haha fuck yeah Me reaping: hey wtf not cool!!
now why in the hell would you bring that up? I was having a perfectly nice morning. not cool.
Ironically, Nash flopping on the play made it much much worse:
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/raja-bell-admits-that-steve-nash-sold-the-robert-horry-hip-check-in-2007-playoffs/
It’s was such great theatre outside the actual game lol. JVG on Alonzo’s ankles. JVG’s Honda Civic (!?) blown away by the private jet. The soundbites and brawls and NYC tabloids. Man.
All things considered, I think one thing that gets forgotten is that the Knicks only lost this game by 1 point
Retrospectives always make it look like MJ and the Bulls just torched this team out of the building. Yes MJ scored a ridiculous amount of points lol, but the Bulls barely won.
Jordan’s Bulls always managed to pull through which added to his mystique at the time and today. I miss those 90s Eastern conference rivalries. Heat, Pacers, Knicks, Bulls.
I have a feeling these rivalries will get alive this year, except Bulls.
Pacers and Knicks rivalry has been alive and well. We’ve had matchups with the Heat over the years but there’s never been anything too close to the 90s unfortunately. The 2023 series gave me some nostalgia but both teams have changed a lot from then.
As a Knicks fan, I’m wondering is a rivalry can form with the Pistons and Hawks.
His teammates certainly didn’t help. While MJ scored 51 points on 60% 2P% and 62% 3P%, the rest of the Bulls shot 35% from the floor. Plus, Jordan scored 12 of the Bulls’ 14 fourth-quarter points.
This Jordan fellow was pretty good at basketball.
LA Times Article from Jan 22nd, 1997:
Michael Jordan didn’t like Jeff Van Gundy calling him a con man, and he didn’t like the New York Knicks thinking they could beat the Chicago Bulls. So Jordan responded to the challenge the way he knows best, scoring 51 points–the most by an NBA player this season–in leading the Bulls to an 88-87 victory over the Knicks on Tuesday night at Chicago. The Knicks used a 17-2 run to cut a 17-point deficit to 80-78 with 6:22 left. Allan Houston, who had missed 12 of his first 13 shots, made two three-pointers and a jumper to spark the surge. But Jordan scored Chicago’s final eight points for an 88-81 lead, and a three-pointer by Houston and another at the buzzer by Chris Childs were not enough to bring the Knicks back. “I was prepared to do whatever it took to win,” said Jordan, who reached the 50-point mark for the 36th time in his career. “There were times where things were going so well everything seemed to be in slow motion. I didn’t rush. I just relaxed and played.” Van Gundy, in his first full season as the Knicks’ coach, said recently that Jordan tries to “con” fellow NBA players into thinking he’s their friend. “His way is to befriend them, soften them up, try to make them feel he cares about them,” Van Gundy said. “Then he goes out there and tries to destroy them. The first step as a player is to realize that and don’t go for it.” The comments resurfaced in Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune, where Jordan saw them. “It was probably a tactical mistake by the coach of the Knicks to attack Michael in the press. I thought he went out and played with a vendetta, a score to settle,” Bull Coach Phil Jackson said. After Jordan reached the 51-point mark with a 20-foot, fade-away jumper over Houston–giving the Bulls an 88-81 lead with 26.7 seconds left–he yelled at Van Gundy. “Some choice words,” Jordan said. “I guess I didn’t make any friends out there tonight.” Jordan said Van Gundy’s comments were misguided. “I think they were more geared to motivating his players. But I don’t think, on the court, they have befriended me,” said Jordan, who counts New York’s Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley as friends. “I don’t go on the court expecting to make friends. But when I leave the court, I don’t take what happened on the court away from me. We’re only playing a game. I don’t view it as a war away from the game. If he feels like I take advantage of my friends, that’s fine.” The league’s all-time leader in points per game, Jordan was 18 for 30 from the floor, including five for eight from three-point range, and 10 for 11 from the line. The rest of the Bulls shot 35% from the floor, and Jordan scored 12 of the Bulls’ 14 fourth-quarter points. Ewing scored 19 points for New York.
Michael Jordan didn’t like Jeff Van Gundy calling him a con man, and he didn’t like the New York Knicks thinking they could beat the Chicago Bulls.
So Jordan responded to the challenge the way he knows best, scoring 51 points–the most by an NBA player this season–in leading the Bulls to an 88-87 victory over the Knicks on Tuesday night at Chicago.
The Knicks used a 17-2 run to cut a 17-point deficit to 80-78 with 6:22 left. Allan Houston, who had missed 12 of his first 13 shots, made two three-pointers and a jumper to spark the surge.
But Jordan scored Chicago’s final eight points for an 88-81 lead, and a three-pointer by Houston and another at the buzzer by Chris Childs were not enough to bring the Knicks back.
“I was prepared to do whatever it took to win,” said Jordan, who reached the 50-point mark for the 36th time in his career. “There were times where things were going so well everything seemed to be in slow motion. I didn’t rush. I just relaxed and played.”
Van Gundy, in his first full season as the Knicks’ coach, said recently that Jordan tries to “con” fellow NBA players into thinking he’s their friend.
“His way is to befriend them, soften them up, try to make them feel he cares about them,” Van Gundy said. “Then he goes out there and tries to destroy them. The first step as a player is to realize that and don’t go for it.”
The comments resurfaced in Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune, where Jordan saw them.
“It was probably a tactical mistake by the coach of the Knicks to attack Michael in the press. I thought he went out and played with a vendetta, a score to settle,” Bull Coach Phil Jackson said.
After Jordan reached the 51-point mark with a 20-foot, fade-away jumper over Houston–giving the Bulls an 88-81 lead with 26.7 seconds left–he yelled at Van Gundy.
“Some choice words,” Jordan said. “I guess I didn’t make any friends out there tonight.”
Jordan said Van Gundy’s comments were misguided.
“I think they were more geared to motivating his players. But I don’t think, on the court, they have befriended me,” said Jordan, who counts New York’s Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley as friends.
“I don’t go on the court expecting to make friends. But when I leave the court, I don’t take what happened on the court away from me. We’re only playing a game. I don’t view it as a war away from the game. If he feels like I take advantage of my friends, that’s fine.”
The league’s all-time leader in points per game, Jordan was 18 for 30 from the floor, including five for eight from three-point range, and 10 for 11 from the line. The rest of the Bulls shot 35% from the floor, and Jordan scored 12 of the Bulls’ 14 fourth-quarter points.
Ewing scored 19 points for New York.
51 points out of 88 is nuts
Yeah, this is certainly something that is hard to contextualize across generations. A 50 point game by a player is a bit different when your team scores 88 vs 130. Totally changes the impact that player had scoring wise.
on excellent efficiency as well, his teammates were awful that game offensively. it really was Jordan vs the Knicks and he somehow won
A story as old as time
Yeah I know lol.
Scottie almost had a triple double too: 15/10/9 with 3 steals.
But everyone else sucked.
What’s more nuts, at least looking at that game in today’s lens, is the 88-87 final score. There’s games where that’s the score halfway through the third quarter today
Yep, growing up if a team had a double-digit lead heading into the 4th quarter the game was basically over. I remember watching the G7 of the Lakers/Blazers WCF thinking how vital it was that Brian Shaw hit a three pointer at the end of the 3rd to cut the Laker deficit from like 12 to 9, because my thinking was, “There is no way the Lakers can come back if they enter the 4th down 12,” lol. Different times for sure.
Am I blind or does JVG never actually call him a “con man.” That’s always in quotes, but I don’t see a quote where he says that…
Tbf to Jeff he never said “MJ is a con man” but he in essence called him one and the Media reported it that way.
His original comments were on a Chicago Radio Station:
“I think for some reason he’s so good and he’s done it for so long that there is such a mystique about him. Everybody wants to be like him, be as good as he is, make as much money as he does, be able to do all the off-court things,” Van Gundy said. “You watch him game-in and game-out and he sidles up next to guys and smiles at them, pats them on the ass, and then he goes out there and kicks their ass. And they hug him after the game like that was some great thing that he got 45 on them. I don’t understand it.”
“I think for some reason he’s so good and he’s done it for so long that there is such a mystique about him. Everybody wants to be like him, be as good as he is, make as much money as he does, be able to do all the off-court things,” Van Gundy said.
“You watch him game-in and game-out and he sidles up next to guys and smiles at them, pats them on the ass, and then he goes out there and kicks their ass. And they hug him after the game like that was some great thing that he got 45 on them. I don’t understand it.”
He then went on to say similar things prior to the match up in January. So it wasn’t just one little comment, he talked about him being “fake” multiple times which is kinda why MJ took it personally.
It’s misleading putting it in quotes in your title
Not really because that is how it was reported at the time and it was exactly what Jeff was suggesting.
I didn’t see where he suggested he’s a con man in this description at all.
What do you understand a “con man” to be?
Jeff’s point was that MJ would befriend opponents, make them believe he genuinely cared about them, lower their guard, and then use that relationship to gain a competitive advantage.
How does that description not suggest someone “conning” people, even if Jeff did not use the exact words “con man”?
what stopped the other players from doing the same thing to “con” MJ? they knew how he was. why didn’t they also smile before the game and kick his ass?! it’s simply because they just weren’t as good as him. it wasn’t a scam. he was doing the exact same thing on the golf course or playing table tennis or gambling. he wasn’t as great there.
The problem, here, is that you don’t understand what the word “con” means and how it was used more freely back then with the ‘scam’ connotation in the background and the ‘confidence’ connotation in the foreground.
Mostly a scammer, fraud or thief. No one would use the actions you described of MJ of anyone else as a con man. It’s a somewhat specific term for people.
lol i don’t know what to tell you but EVERYONE when this happened said Jeff was calling him a con man. See video below:
https://streamable.com/m2oao6?src=player-page-share
Saying Jordan conned them would be ok, but conman is too negative, makes it sound like Jordan is not actually a good player and just cheats. Van Gundy was complimenting Jordan if anything, he was criticising the players that fell for it.
they be nitpicking you, but if we are nitpicking, it’s not a direct quote. it doesn’t matter if it was reported like that, they were making drama
I don’t really understand how the media took that and decided JVG was calling MJ a con man. That’s not what it sounds like at all. It especially should never be put in quotes by media sources (or by redditors…).
It’s famously acknowledged that Jeff was suggesting that. Even Jeff has confirmed this.
this video doesn’t show Jeff confirming that
Jordan is one of the GOATs in all of sports in handling the press. Regardless of whether he was the good guy in a situation or not.
I don’t think so. Social media really changed the game and he’d be eaten alive today.
I am amused by this quote as it is bar-for-bar the exact play Dr. J ran on Magic in season 1 of the HBO Showtime Lakers show.
I don’t understand why this is supposed to be criticism of Jordan. He’s saying Jordan destroys people and then they turn around and smile and want pictures as if it’s a privilege to lose to him.
That seems like a compliment for Jordan if anything.
I’m old by r/nba standards but man Jordan is my GOAT.
2:02 Absolute sicko.
People have these debates on who the GOAT is, but it’s stories like this that make you realize how psychologically warped MJ was. Nevermind getting into the mind of the players, he’s getting into the mind of your Head Coach 😮💨
To be fair JVG was on the more, let’s say, excitable, side
People here make fun of the mentality comments but there’s a reason MJ, Kobe, Luka etc are so just feared..they are so much more skilled than the peers and are relentless and cut throat about it and that’s before they have a reason to specifically go at a team.
Draymond of all people saying he doesn’t shit talk Luka to avoid him being pissed should tell you everything you need to know
Putting Luka in the same sentence as MJ and Kobe is hilarious 😂. Kobe & MJ were killers on both sides of the court in their careers. Luka is great on one end, respectfully.
Disgusting
Closest thing today is Kawhi who’s always handicapped by injuries, I have no doubt a 33yo MJ would average around 35 ppg in this era.
That’s a travel
His left pivot foot never leaves the ground.
That’s cause he pivoted with his right
I completely disagree.
He pivoted with his right foot and picked it up before he shot the ball.
He pivots with his left foot… You seem to think that because he’s driving left, he pivotted with his right foot… But MJ would often drive left with his left foot as the pivot… Like in this clip.
Alright I get it now 😂 You’re talking about the play with 2:02 left on the video (0:40 in), I’m talking about the play at 2:02 in the video.
Bro what are you talking about lol.
The play you’re talking about happens at 0:38 in the video. The timer on the right of the media player on mobile shows how much is left in the video, not the current point of the video.
You’re allowed to pick up your pivot foot if you shoot or pass the ball before it comes back down. Unless you’re talking about him lifting it right before he fakes left, but I don’t think he had fully picked up the ball yet at that point
That’s my 🐐
I know these games were closer than most remember, but as a kid in the 90’s following the Knicks, the Pacers and the Heat were the true rivals and the teams I haaaated.
I didn’t really see the Bulls as “rivals” at the time because in my child brain, losing to Jordan was kind of expected or at least understandable. If not inevitable. He was the NBA version of Thanos in that decade.
Knicks/Pacers rivalry is eternal and glorious.
I know most people see this as another “and I took that personally” story, but I love Jeff Van Gundy. He only cared about winning and was willing to embarrass himself if that’s what he thought it would take to win.
They lost though
You’re right. it’s true that many people who are trying everything that they can to compete and win often lose. 50% of teams actually lose when you really think about it.
That many teams lose even if you don’t think about it. 🤔
Right. There’s no guarantee that you’ll win, especially against the GOAT. But he did his best regardless.
They should have retired the word “aura” along with the jersey.
MJs middy was truly a thing of beauty. Such a pure jumpshot.
And always jumping away from the defenders, not into them. I loved the game of basketball so much back then.
Those splashes look so clean.
Not every video needs “epic music”
I almost accidentally heard some of the interviews, but I had the London Philharmonic 3 inches from my eardrums
In case anyone is curious, the song is Lux Aeterna by Kronos Quartet that was used in the movie Requiem for a Dream.
Really took me back to late 2000’s YouTube for a second when every 3rd video had that song in the background.
Third greatest Knicks coach of all time
Of all the guys to give bulletin board material, he picked the worst.
Love the Requiem for a Dream track over this. The 90s were so dramatic, I loved it
brings me back to the early 2000s when every single highlight reel used this music
…And I Took That Personally
MJ was a killer
The funny part is that now we have several videos of guys talking about how they were nice to Jordan because they were afraid if they offended him he would embarrass them.
Honestly listening to what Van Gundy was saying, he’s calling out the other players who think MJ is their friend while he murders them on the court. The suits, the smile, handshakes and posing for pictures is the “conman” Jordan is doing, his goal is winning no matter what.He’s a killer.
The Van Gundy’s have a long history of having horrible takes I guess.
Long before this moment it was well known you don’t trash talk MJ. I don’t know what he thought he would accomplish.
Bet the Knicks was out all night w Mike lmao
Wow, Jeff really hasn’t aged. Then again he just looked old when he was young.
Sorry Stan you brought this upon yourself
Regardless of the game, Jeff was right. Zach Lowe actually just brought this up on a pod: Ewing and Oakley were way too friendly with MJ and that was an intentional tactic that MJ used to get in their heads. He did the same to Barkley.
Jeff Van Gundy learning the first rule of basketball “You never piss off Michael”
Jeff I love you but why the hell would you poke the bear like that?
And this is with that “elbow you in the ribs” defense.
And he took that personally
Came here looking for this!!! 😂
MJ was all killer no filler. Drawing up his attack plan while listening to Kenny Lattimore. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Another FAFO. This is a prime example of why I used to yell at the TV for people to STFU when talking to or about Jordan.
he’s so smooth with the way he shoots, only steph has a similar perfect looking mechanic
Jordan: I am a con man. I con put up 51 points man.
Love that beautiful head of JVG hair lol.
Dude was on cruise control. Could sleep while playing and still get buckets. His release, that fadeaway, so fucking calm and smooth. Unreal player.
I see no lie!
My mom took me to this game for my 8th birthday. I didn’t even realize he had 51 or any of this backstory.
Jeff Van Gundy looks like the Queen of Hearts.
He took it personally
Both the Van Gundys are fucking insufferable.
I like Stan in most broadcasts. Jeff can wear on people but I would take him over Richard Jefferson every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Richard Jefferson is in the same category as Reggie Miller on punchable aura. They both have weasely personalities lol. I liked them as players but its something how they present themselves that gets under my skin.
When Stan sticks to basketball he’s fantastic and one of the most knowledgeable dudes out there. The problem is he thinks he’s a comedian and try’s to be funny way too often and it always comes across as so forced and definitely not funny. Richard’s for sure a dipshit.
Stan gots some handles. That, and how he navigated the Dwight drama will always be hilarious - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D40tqTw5fbU
I still hate Jordan for many things Pistons related. But were I to ever meet the guy, I’d shake his hand and still respect him for all he IS to the sport of BASKETBALL!!!