it was thirty years ago. Already. Thirty years since the United States obtained the authorization to send NBA players to participate in the Olympic Games. Thirty years since, as a result, the “Dream Team” was created. Thirty years that a simple basketball team took on a dimension never seen before. Records, legends, influence… this summer TrashTalk has decided to come back with you to all the stories that have made this squad one of the most legendary in the history of sport. Get out your Hoverboards, hop in the Delorean and launch Johnny B. Goode on the car radio because it’s time to look back in 360 degrees on what happened… 360 months ago. First episode? The legendary scrimmage between Team Magic and Team Jordan.
Among the many completely crazy stories concerning the Dream Team, we might not miss that of an encounter that has gone down in legend, so much so that it is referred to today as ” the greatest game no one has ever seen« .
We are on July 22, 1992 in Monaco. Arrived in France for four days, Jordan’s gang has just won a friendly match once morest France the day before (111-71) and is preparing to leave for Barcelona where they will start their Olympic Games once morest Angola – hello Sir Charles – July 26. Then at the head of the team, Chuck Daly decides in the middle of a drive to organize a real match between his players. The goal? Increase the intensity and the difficulty, both difficult to obtain once morest Cuba (136-57) or Panama (112-52) for example. And to achieve this, the historic coach of the Detroit Bad Boys will find a very simple solution: put Magic Johnson once morest Michael Jordan. Because the rivalry between the two superstars is no longer to be proven. To retired for a year because of his HIV status, Johnson had been badly beaten by the Bulls of Michael in 1991, who does not fail to remind him of it frequently. Opposite, the Lakers point guard usually responded by showing his five bagouzes, a rather valid argument. It’s very simple: the two men are fighting over the place of boss of the orange ball:
“Magic was like, ‘Look, the NBA isn’t yours yet, I’m still here.’ And Michael was like, “No it’s over. She’s mine “. And the funny thing was to see Larry, sitting on the side, saying: “It’s up to him [Michael Jordan, ndlr.] (laughs). –Chris Mullin
First of all, it is important to specify that the precise numbers of the two teams are not known. The only journalist present on site in the evacuated gymnasium to let the players take it easy, Jack McCallum from Sports Illustrated says that Jordan teamed up with Pippen, Ewing, Malone and Bird while Magic found themselves with Barkley, Robinson, Mullin and Laettner. Still, when looking at footage taken by a staff member, you can sometimes see Clyde Drexler and John Stockton on the pitch as Bird stretches his aching back to the side. The blue and white jerseys being reversed from one action to another, one can undoubtedly think that the final video is the product of a fusion of two very distinct moments, undoubtedly brought together to contribute to the legend of this meeting. But let’s come back to our meeting precisely, in which the blue team (Magic) quickly takes the lead over the whites (Jordan). Led 13-4 following a few minutes, Michael scores 3-pointers in the middle and with the board, a good big disgusting shot. Drunk in what he considers luck, Johnson picks up the ball, stops eight yards out and pull-ups from the parking lot on the Bulls star’s head before yelling at him. right back at you ” above. The tension is palpable, and it makes Magic more hyped than ever. In fact, it’s even Jordan who talks regarding it best:
“His energy is at a very high level, he feels he has the opportunity to prove that he is still Magic Johnson, that he still dominates this game. […] Although it was a five-on-five, you might see that in Monte Carlo it was all regarding Michael and Magic. »
Very humble to talk regarding yourself in the third person Mike. Be that as it may, beyond this duel, it is the mixture of trashtalking, rivalry and stratospheric level play that has made this match legendary. Because following having taken a shot of MJ on the truffle, Clyde Drexler boards his Airness badly just following. After taking a fadeaway by Charles Barkley, Karl Malone scores over him at the post. After being countered by Ewing, Robinson makes him commit 6 faults, etc… The legends are out and the highlights follow one another with two unconscious conductors in charge. On the video at the bottom of the article, we can see how, years following this famous scrimmage, Magic relives as if it were there. Little by little, in the wake of a Michael in a trance who connects jumper and lay-backs from another world, the white team picks up the score and will end up winning 40 to 36. If they exist beautiful and well thanks to McCallum, the statistics are completely anecdotal, because only this almost out of time moment will remain etched in the minds of those who have just attended this meeting. However, only one will hold our attention here: 11 insults for Magic once morest 7 for MJ, the mark of the greats. Once the victory in his pocket, Jordan will also begin to sing “Be like Mike” from the Gatorade advertisement of the time. Pure insolence from the one who remembers this meeting as the one where he had the most fun of his entire career:
“It’s the best game I’ve ever played. Because access to the room was blocked and we might just focus on basketball. We might see a lot regarding the DNA of certain players and how badly they wanted to win. Magic was furious at having lost for two days.
A small flick to which Johnson will respond:
“Let me tell you something: it would have been worse for everyone if he had lost. Because I can let things pass following a while. But Michael? He would never have moved on. He never lets anything pass. »
Finally, to summarize what this scrimmage represents in the history of the NBA and even of basketball in general, it is perhaps best to let Jack McCallum speak:
“I’m not saying it’s regarding the last generation of NBA players who had fun, who played for the joy it brought them, but that game was all regarding happiness, that game That was all regarding pride, that game was all regarding respect. Here you had ten of the best players in the world, who were just kicking each other back and forth in this random room, on some morning, in some practice. This is what resonated with me. »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX68l2P-5T4
If we might say that only a real challenge was missing from this meeting to become the most perfect in history, it would quickly be to forget how much honor and the will to dominate the other have permeated this scrimmage today. become legendary. ” The greatest game no one has ever seen is one of the many reasons why the Dream Team has become legendary.
Source texte : Sports Illustrated
