During his playing career, Michael Jordan was constantly criticized by opposing teams for allegedly receiving favorable calls from referees, and the criticism became so intense that he once strongly pushed back against it publicly through the media.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-apr-24-la-sp-phil-jackson-20100424-story.html?
Phil Jackson laughed when asked whether he was too harsh in saying last week that Durant was treated “like a superstar” by referees, a comment that drew his second $35,000 fine this month.
He reminded reporters of the playoffs in the mid-1990s, when he verbally sparred with former New York coach Pat Riley. Jackson was coaching Chicago at the time.
“Pat started off by saying that [ Michael] Jordan got all the calls and got to the foul line all the time,” Jackson said. “And I said, ‘Patrick, you should talk, Patrick Ewing travels every time he goes to the basket.’ So we went tit for tat. Now that’s pretty blatant.
“Saying that Kevin Durant probably doesn’t deserve all the foul calls he gets, he probably doesn’t earn fouls on all the shots he takes, I don’t know if that’s as blatant as saying what Pat said about Michael Jordan.”
https://www.deseret.com/1998/5/21/19381131/bird-s-chirping-about-bad-officiating/?
Now it’s Michael Jordan’s turn to rule the NBA, and Bird’s turn to whine.
“I tell my guys, `You’re not going to get the calls in this series. You’ve just got to try to play through it,’ which they have been,” said Bird, now coach of the Indiana Pacers. “In the next game, I just hope we get a fair shake. Well, at least 70-30.”
Jordan hears this and just laughs.
“Larry sounds more like a coach when he starts to complain that I’m getting more calls than his team is getting,” he said. “Back in the day when he played, we certainly complained about all of the calls he was getting. Now that he’s complaining, we know he’s a coach.”
Bird knows Jordan is going to get some breaks. He is, after all, the five-time MVP of the league playing for the five-time NBA champions. But what irks Bird is that the referees don’t seem to want to call fouls on anyone wearing a Bulls uniform in the Eastern Conference finals.
An NBA spokesman declined to comment last night.
NBA guidelines prohibit officials from commenting on anything other than questions of rule-book interpretations. Phone calls to several NBA officials yesterday were not returned, but it long has been one of the league’s not-so-well-kept secrets that the league’s veteran stars such as Karl Malone, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan sometimes receive preferential treatment from officials.
In the Chicago Bulls’ win over the Houston Rockets on Sunday, Rockets rookie Rodrick Rhodes missed a shot while being guarded by Jordan. Rhodes’s teammate – Barkley – could be heard during the broadcast of the game saying to one of the referees, “I know he’s Michael Jordan, but that’s a foul.” The referee promptly charged Barkley with a technical foul.
Bulls’ star Michael Jordan is angry over comments by coaches of other pro basketball teams that he receives special treatment by referees, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
‘That kind of thing irks me,’ Jordan told the Chicago Tribune. ‘It’s an insult and it detracts from the game.’
After Jordan scored 69 and 41 points in two Bulls’ victories over Cleveland, Cavaliers coach Lenny Wilkens said he got some breaks from the referees.
‘He’s a great player and he gets all the calls, and if he gets all the calls he’s tough to play against,’ Wilkens said.
Last week, after the Bulls beat the Pacers, Indiana coach Dick Versace said Jordan ‘is nice to watch, but he has an awful lot of license.’
A third strike came from Milwaukee Bucks’ coach Del Harris, who responded to a question about Jordan’s chances at being named Most Valuable Player.
‘As ominous as it may sound, I think he’s still improving,’ Harris said. ‘One thing making him tough now is they’re letting him carry the ball when he changes direction.’
Jordan said the remarks were cheap shots but refused to let Wilkens’ comments go unanswered.
‘I just go out every game and play to the best of my ability. And I don’t know how Wilkens can sit there and say things like that when (Mark) Price gets to the line 20 times and half of them aren’t fouls.’