A rivalry between Michael Jordan and Gary Payton in the mid-1990s was chronicled in the high-profile documentary “Last Dance”.
A remarkable moment came when Jordan laughed and dismissed the idea that Payton had ever caused him serious defensive problems.
In the “Last Dance,” Payton claimed that when he faced Jordan in the 1996 NBA Finals, he was able to wear the Chicago Bulls legend. He further insisted that it was a “turning point” in the series.
Jordan’s response to this theory spoke for itself.
Gary Payton thought he had found a way to get to MJ… Mike wasn’t sweating from the glove ???? #TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/Z8NG7qN5hW
– ESPN (@espn) 11 mai 2020
This week, in an AMA session of Bleacher Report, Payton hit back.
“It’s like that for me,” he said. “He wouldn’t be Michael Jordan if he bowed there. Everyone knows their competitiveness. He was a guy who came to play every night. I respect him for that because I came to play every night. I was never going to come back to him and he knew it.
“If this was my documentary and they had asked me the same thing, I would have laughed too and I was like ‘no, he couldn’t hit me either.’ Every night I played Michael Jordan, he brought out the best in me, ”Payton continued.
“I wish I could have started with him in the championship and it would have been better, but their team was better than mine at the time and they won everything. He made a documentary, he felt what he felt. What i can do is i can say the same hahaha.
While Payton did an admirable job against Jordan in this series of finals, the fact that Chicago won, and with relative ease, speaks for itself.
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– Thu 7 (@ game7__) February 15, 2021
That said, Payton handled the “Last Dance” in a much more balanced way than most.
Scottie Pippen was much more angry with Jordan about the documentary than Payton appears to be. Same thing with Horace Grant.
Jordan was brutally honest about a lot of things in the “last dance,” and whether people like him or not, his contempt for Payton was just more than that.
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