Horace Grant, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Credits: Imago

Back in 1994, Michael Jordan was quoted by the New York Post claiming that he had been forced to carry the Chicago Bulls team through a range of 4th-half deficits. MJ had claimed that both he and his father had been concerned with his teammates Horace Grant and Scottie Pippen complaining about the kind of ‘preferential treatment’ that he got from their coach Phil Jackson.

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However, according to the Chicago Tribune, the eventual 6-time Champion did not know that he was being quoted, and made the comments in a hotel bar in Orlando while being surrounded by a number of people.

“I covered their asses when they got tight at the end of games, and I had to overcome fourth-quarter deficits all by myself,” Jordan allegedly complained about him carrying the team in clutch situations.

It bothered my father a lot, just as it bothered me, to hear them bi*ching about not getting enough credit or not getting enough shots, or squawking about the supposed preferential treatment I was getting from Phil (Jackson),” Jordan revealed.

This came just months after the unfortunate and tragic death of MJ’s father, whom he was known to be utterly close to. James Raymond Jordan Sr. was a regular fixture at his son’s games.  It was said to be the biggest reason behind Jordan’s retirement, even though he quickly switched to baseball. So the comments were made by a retired Jordan who was contracted for Minor League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox.

Regardless, Grant could not help a response.

“What it sounds like to me is something Michael said without realizing he was being quoted. But I don’t blame him. The thing I would say though is, How many championships did Michael win before Scottie and I got here?”  he said, claiming that he was well aware that Jordan had no idea he was being interviewed.

Additionally, NBC’s Ahmad Rashad was quick to get to the bottom of the matter and claimed that Jordan’s comments did not have any strong emotions behind them. “He said he didn’t know he was writing an article. When I read him the article, he said the anger and emotions in the article were just not there,” Rashad confirmed.

Hence, while MJ had no idea he was being interviewed, there was some obvious truth to the claims he made, as far as he was concerned. Jordan might not have had any ‘strong emotions’ dictating the response, but surely meant exactly what he said.

Scottie Pippen has traditionally been unhappy with a range of MJ’s claims

While Jordan and Pippen formed one of the best duos and were part of one of the best teams in the history of the NBA, they did not get along well, at least off the court. Pippen has made several concerning comments on Jordan over the years.

Recently, he claimed that people tend to forget MJ was not a champion before the likes of himself and Horace Grant arrived at the Bulls. He also said that it was difficult to play with him, “He was horrible to play with. It was all 1-on-1, shooting bad shots. All of a sudden, we become a team and we start winning. Everybody forgot who he was. He was a player who was really not at the top of his category. It was scoring,” Pippen claimed, according to CNN.

This, of course, is in addition to the scathing review of Netflix’s The Last Dance from Pippen. The former Bulls star had claimed that the documentary was guilty of glorifying Jordan while understating the impact of his teammates, including him, and a range of other Bulls stars who also played their role in six championships that they won.