Ranking Michael Jordan’s Biggest Rivals of All Time (Part 2)
G'day tribe. Yesterday I posted the first part of Michael Jordan's biggest rivals. We had Karl Malone who went close but could never win an NBA championship. Same thing with Charles Barkley who was stopped by the great Michael Jordan in winning a title. Clyde Drexler managed to win one at the Rockets after Jordan stopped him and the Trail Blazers.
You can enjoy part one here. Let's take a look at the final two of Jordan's biggest rivals.
2. Patrick Ewing
Jordan's game winner for North Carolina in the 1982 NCAA Championship game against Patrick Ewing's Georgetown team set the tone with one of Michael Jordan's biggest rivals.
Once the Bulls learnt how to deal with Michael Jordan's biggest rival, Detroit, Chicago were unbeatable. The Bulls and Knicks are one of the biggest NBA rivalries. Both John Starks and Ewing were one of only a few players who could somewhat make an impact on limiting Jordan’s game.
It mattered little though as Chicago eliminated New York in the playoffs in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1996. The Knicks did manage to defeat the Bulls in the 1994 playoffs but Jordan was off on his professional baseball sabbatical.
No matter what Ewing and the Knicks tried, they could not get the better of Jordan and the Bulls. In the 1993 Eastern Conference finals, the Bulls turned around a 2-0 deficit to win four games straight on their way to an NBA title. Ewing remains the best player who never won an NBA championship.
#OTD (1991) Michael Jordan had 33 PTS, 7 ASTS, 6 STLS & 1 epic poster dunk on Patrick Ewing.
The Bulls swept the Knicks in this series, which started off with a 126-85 beatdown in GM1 pic.twitter.com/2X5M5KTi4o — Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 30, 2018
Source: Originally posted on Twitter by @Ballislife
1. Isiah Thomas
Isiah Thomas has always been Michael Jordan's biggest rival. Jordan believes that Thomas was the major forced behind the infamous ‘Freezeout’ of Jordan at his first all-star game in 1985.
As the unquestionable leader of Detroit’s “Bad Boys”, Thomas was a key part of the Pistons 'Jordan Rules' strategy. The game plan was to limit Jordan's impact by limiting his clutch shots and playing an extremely physical game on him.
During the late 80's Chicago dominated, knocking Chicago out of the playoffs in three straight seasons and winning back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990.
Phil Jackson and Chicago completely turned around the rivalry and became a dominant force in the NBA throughout the 90's with the “Triangle Offense”. Thomas, a Chicago native, had to watch as Jordan transformed his hometown Bulls into one of the greatest teams of all time.
The Moment started Bad Boy Pistons — Chicago Bulls Rivalry. pic.twitter.com/yRnMUHmLXU
— Oldskoolbball (@Oldskoolbball2) January 28, 2022
Source: Originally posted on Twitter by @Oldskoolbball2
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I remember the rivalry with Isaiah Thomas well and also remember it was a bit of a one-sided one especially in the later years. I don't think Thomas would have stood a chance against MJ if it hadn't been for the rest of his supporting Piston cast.
It's 100% what you're saying. The triangle offense is what took MJs game to the next level. But you can't deploy a triangle offense if the rest of your supporting cast is sub-standard