Everybody has a favorite Michael Jordan story. And in a new SportsNation segment called Michelle Beadle’s Most Misunderstood Sports Stories, Beadle shared a great one about 7 X NBA Champion Steve Kerr getting punched in the face by teammate Michael Jordan.
UPDATE: Michael Jordan talked about the incident during THE LAST DANCE and how “small” it made him feel.
Michael Jordan breaks down exactly how he ended up punching Steve Kerr in the face during Bulls practice. Afterward we discuss the difference between then, when a fight could go largely unnoticed, and now, where if a guy subtweets his teammate, there is large-scale FREAKING OUT. pic.twitter.com/DHwcDQ2dnm
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) May 5, 2020
Here’s Kerr telling an amusing story on Open Court about his first interaction with Jordan.
But Jordan will always be thankful to Kerr for this “knockout blow.”
Kerr at the Championship parade: “When we called timeout with 25 seconds to go, we went into the huddle and Phil told Michael, ‘Michael, I want you to take the last shot.’ Michael told Phil, ‘You know, Phil, I don’t really feel comfortable in these situations, so maybe we ought to go in another direction. Why don’t we go to Steve?’ So I thought to myself, ‘Well, I guess I gotta bail Michael out again.’ The shot went in, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
UNDENIA-BULLS
Watch the full 1-hour Championship video that was a popular NBA VHS in the late 90s.