HoopersParadise

Patrick Ewing Was a High School Senior at the 1980 Olympic Tryouts. Bill Laimbeer Was Already a Drafted NBA Player. He Hit Ewing With a Dirty Chop. Ewing Turned Around and Punched Him in the Face.

1980. Olympic tryouts. Patrick Ewing was still in high school.

He had led Cambridge Rindge and Latin to a 77-1 record over three seasons. Shot 72 percent from the field as a senior. Was so dominant that the Olympic team invited him to tryouts while his classmates were worrying about prom.

Some players decided a high school kid needed to be put in his place. Bill Laimbeer had already been drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the third round of the 1979 draft. He had a professional contract. He was not about to let a teenager walk into an Olympic tryout and act like he belonged.

He gave Ewing a dirty chop.

Ewing's high school coach Mike Jarvis was watching the whole thing.

"On one of the last days, Bill Laimbeer hit him with one of those dirty chops. Patrick turned around and punched him in the face. Since that day, nobody, but nobody, has pushed Patrick Ewing around."

Nobody. But nobody.

The message was delivered before Ewing played a single college game. Before Georgetown. Before the 1984 championship. Before the first overall pick. Before fifteen NBA seasons and eleven All-Star selections.

The foundation of who Patrick Ewing was as a competitor was established the day a high school senior punched a professional NBA player in the face at an Olympic tryout.

The rivalry continued for years. In the 1990 Eastern Conference Semifinals Laimbeer brought Ewing to the ground in an ugly play in Game 3. Ewing responded with a career playoff-high 45 points on 58.3 percent shooting. The Pistons still won the series in five. Went on to win the championship.

Laimbeer started it in 1980.

Ewing made clear he would finish it every single time.

Bill Laimbeer Elbowed Larry Bird in the Mouth in the Third Quarter of a Playoff Game. Bird Already Had Bone Spurs in His Elbow. He Responded the Only Way He Knew How. 42 Points. 10 Rebounds. 6 Assists. Celtics Win.

April 1985. Eastern Conference Semifinals. Boston Celtics versus Detroit Pistons. Game 2.

Larry Bird was already dealing with bone spurs in his right elbow heading into the playoffs.

Bill Laimbeer found him in the third quarter and added an elbow to the mouth.

Bird's response was measured, deliberate, and devastating.

"Anybody that throws elbows at me gets me fired up. When I get the ball in good position, I can score on just about anyone."

He finished with 42 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists. Celtics won 121-114.

Danny Ainge added 25 points. The Pistons won the next two games to tie the series. Boston closed it out in six. Bird averaged 28.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists across the entire series despite the bone spurs never going away.

The Celtics went all the way to the NBA Finals. The Lakers were waiting. Kareem was waiting. Magic was waiting.

Los Angeles won in six games. The first team other than the Celtics to celebrate a championship inside Boston Garden.

He came back the next season and went 67-15. Won the championship. Got even with history.

Charles Barkley Ranked Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain Above Michael Jordan in the Greatest Ever Conversation. Jordan Was Sitting Right There. He Heard All of It.

A joint TV appearance in the 1990s. Three-time defending champion. Olympic gold medalist. Every individual award basketball offers.

Someone asked Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley to name the three greatest players of all time.

Barkley ranked Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson above Jordan without hesitation.

Jordan heard his name placed third.

He could have disagreed. He had every credential available to make the argument. He didn't take the bait.

"I mean, everybody has their own opinion, and I respect that, Charles. I couldn't even give you a one, two, and three because I never played against these players or seen these players in their eras. And that's hard to rank them in that situation. I'd rather keep them all in one class and not really try to rank them because I think that's the way it should be done."

Then the line that said everything about where his head was.

"It covers a lot of sports all over for a long period of time. It's a great honor, it's a great respect that they're paying me, but for me to accept that is saying that I saw Oscar Robertson in his prime and I don't think he could do anything to stop me. I can't say that, and I won't ever take that step out there and approach it in that direction."

Three consecutive championships at that time. Six scoring titles. The most competitive human being professional basketball has ever produced. He sat next to Charles Barkley and refused to rank himself above men he had never seen play.

Years later he said the same thing about modern players.

"I'm pretty sure Bill Russell's sitting there, what if he played in the era that we played in? I'm no different. I'm pretty sure those guys, along with myself, wished that we could have played against the Kobe Bryants of this era and Tim Duncans."

What if. That was always Jordan's question about the legends before him. Not certainty. Genuine curiosity.

He spent his entire career being called the greatest who ever lived and never once said it about himself.

That's the whole Michael Jordan nobody talks about.

Michael Jordan Showed Up at UNC Practice When Rasheed Wallace Was a Freshman. Jordan Started Playing Every Tar Heel One-on-One. Then Asked Rasheed if He Wanted In. Rasheed Said No.

Michael Jordan was in his baseball phase when he decided to drop by the University of North Carolina to watch practice.

The visit didn't stay quiet for long.

Jordan couldn't just watch. He never could.

Rasheed Wallace was a freshman. He finished practice, went to the locker room, took his shoes off, took his tape off and started icing his knees. Then a manager came in with orders from Dean Smith.

"Hey, Coach wants you out on the floor."

Wallace put his shoes back on and ran out to find Jordan already destroying every Tar Heel on the roster one-on-one.

"I run out there, and Mike was out there playing cats one-on-one. He was playing Stack one-on-one, playing Donald Williams one-on-one, Touché, Jeff McInnis, Dante Calabria, and then asked me if I wanted to jump in."

Wallace processed the invitation for approximately one second.

"No. I got sense. No, I know."

Then came the explanation that made the whole thing perfect.

"I done watched Black Cat. No. I seen what he did against professionals. Right? And I'm a freshman. Crazy. No, sir."

Nineteen years old. Already wise enough to understand that there was nothing to gain and everything to lose from playing Michael Jordan one-on-one in a college gym. Jerry Stackhouse found out firsthand. Donald Williams found out. Jeff McInnis found out.

Rasheed Wallace watched them all find out and made his decision before Jordan finished asking the question.

Jordan didn't leave without dropping wisdom on the group.

"Mike came through, though. It was a good thing just to sit down and talk with him. He dropped a couple jewels on us and everything about, one, just playing for Carolina and, you know, playing at that next level."

He watched Jordan demolish his teammates. Declined the invitation. Collected the wisdom instead.

Scott Wedman Invited Larry Bird to a 10K Race. Runners Started Passing Bird and Announcing It Out Loud. Bird Said Nothing. One Mile from the Finish Line He Said That's It Nobody Else Is Passing Me. Then Sprinted the Entire Last Mile.

Scott Wedman joined the Boston Celtics and immediately found the environment unlike anything he had experienced.

"Larry was very hard on me. He was always testing me and challenging me the whole way. He'd talk so much trash. He'd try to show me up. It was a very difficult adjustment to make because I wasn't used to that type of environment."

Then came the 10K race.

Wedman's aerobic instructor Louise Bollen invited him to participate. He asked Bird to join. Coach K.C. Jones approved. They lined up alongside civilian runners who had no idea what they were getting into.

Early in the race other runners started passing Bird. Not just passing him. Announcing it.

"As the race went on, we heard more than one person say, 'Hey, I'm passing Larry Bird,' and I could tell that it was starting to bother Larry."

Bird absorbed it. Said nothing. Kept running.

One mile from the finish line the course went downhill. Bird made his decision.

"Finally, we're one mile away from the finish line. It's downhill. Larry said, 'That's it, nobody else is passing me.' And off he went, hitting that last mile in a dead sprint."

Wedman watched all of it and arrived at one conclusion.

"For me, it was a chance to see the heart of a champion in an arena other than basketball."

He also added the footnote that completed the whole picture.

"Although I'm not sure that K.C. would have been happy with Larry going all-out like that."

A 10K race with civilian runners. Strangers announcing they were passing him. One mile of hills left. Dead sprint to the finish.

That competitive switch never had an off position. Not on a basketball court. Not in a 10K race in the middle of the season.

Nobody else is passing me.

That was always the whole Larry Bird.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Kings coach Rick Adelman on trying to stop 23-year-old Kobe Bryant late in games during the 2002 playoffs:

Popovich:

"The guy is unbelievable. Though I hate to compare people, he's real similar to Michael in his makeup. The guy really feeds off situations. He feeds off crowds. He feeds off deficits in the score. He feeds off somebody being on him, somebody trying to guard him."

Adelman:

"Kobe is the toughest player in the league down the stretch. He's got that striving in him that you just can't teach. Everybody knows it, but you can't do anything about it. He's as close to Michael as you can get without all of Michael's experience."

Gregg Popovich on preparing for Kobe Bryant in the 2008 Western Conference Finals:

“As we all know, Kobe's the greatest player on the planet, and not just because he was MVP this year. He just is. He's a tough cover.”

Bruce Bowen on why Kobe never complained about his aggressive defense:

“I think it's because of the respect he and I have for one another, as far as competitors... It's about respecting one another's craft.”

Dave Cowens Said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Was the Best Player in Basketball But the Celtics Could Stop Him. Paul Silas Said If Kareem Had the East Coast Mentality He Would Average 40 Points

Milwaukee. Most National Basketball Association rivals were watching Kareem Abdul-Jabbar become something the sport had never seen.

Dave Cowens played against him every year. He had one honest assessment of what that experience was actually like.

"I want to tell you one thing about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I wish for him that nobody would appreciate him. He's the greatest player I've ever played against. Nobody diminishes his ability. It's just that the public takes him for granted because he's so big."

Paul Silas had been double-teamed as the Boston center making this personal.

"He's worked long and hard and nobody gives him credit. He added little extra footage the fact that Abdul-Jabbar still has a chance to win the bball. It did smash that dated home court advantage tale since the Celtics won three games here."

Silas went further on what was holding Kareem back from absolute domination.

"If Abdul-Jabbar had the east Cowens has around him and setting him up with crisp passes. The Bucks undoubtedly would challenge the Celts."

The UCLA connection surfaced immediately. Kareem had once considered Cowens and other collegians.

"He didn't get the ball enough talent in the upcoming NBA draft. Kareem will not lead Milwaukee to an NBA championship next season — even with improved Allen."

Abdul-Jabbar didn't ask for sympathy. He acknowledged the double teams and the defensive schemes built specifically around neutralizing him.

"I know we beat the best. Cowens and Silas tell the truth. He's the best player in basketball. And we beat him as a team. We play as a team. We have better players than they do."

The greatest center of his generation watched everyone around him argue about whether he was getting enough credit.

He just kept showing up.

The Bucks couldn't solve Boston. Boston couldn't solve Kareem individually.

Scottie Pippen Said Barkley Has No Dedication and Would Never Win a Championship. Jordan Told Him That a Year Earlier

The war of words between Scottie Pippen and Charles Barkley escalated to a point nobody expected.

Barkley had been angered that Pippen wanted a trade away from Houston to the Los Angeles Lakers. He felt publicly disrespected. Said he had sacrificed cap room on the Rockets for Pippen and the fans had treated him well.

Pippen heard all of it and went directly to ESPN.

"I probably should've listened to Michael a year ago when he said that Charles will never win a championship because he doesn't show any dedication. He's a very selfish guy. He doesn't show the desire to want to win. That's my reason for wanting to get away from playing with him because he just doesn't show the dedication."

Jordan had said it a year earlier. Pippen needed one season alongside Barkley to confirm every word.

Then came the apology question.

"I wouldn't give Charles Barkley an apology at gunpoint. He can never expect an apology from me. If anything, he owes me an apology for coming to play with his sorry fat butt."

Never raised his voice delivering any of it.

Pippen also explained what he saw that shocked him most.

"I was very shocked to see what type of player he was by spending half a season with him. I'm a guy that's dedicated to winning, and I put out a lot of effort on the court. I expect that from my teammates, especially from a guy of his caliber. Charles is definitely one of the guys that needs to show more leadership for this ball club to be successful, and he doesn't show that to me."

Barkley's response was measured by comparison.

"For him to want to leave after one year, it disappointed me greatly. The Rockets went out of their way to get Scottie, and the fans have treated him well, so I was just disappointed in him."

Two Hall of Famers. One season together in Houston. Zero apologies offered in either direction.

Jordan told Pippen exactly what Barkley was before the experiment even started.

Pippen spent half a season finding out he was right.

Michael Jordan Told Kobe He Could Wear His Shoes But Never Fill Them. Kobe Went Silent for Two Weeks. Then Dropped 55

November 2002. Washington Wizards versus Los Angeles Lakers.

Kobe Bryant was a sneaker free agent and showed up wearing Air Jordan 7s.

Jordan noticed. He walked over and delivered his verdict in one sentence.

"You can put the shoes on, but you ain't gonna never fill them. You're never gonna fill these shoes."

Gilbert Arenas was in Washington and watched what happened next.

"Kobe didn't talk to the team for two weeks. They said, 'Phil, what's up with Kobe? He mad at us?' Phil says, 'Nah, he ain't mad at you.' They already knew what was about to happen when MJ came to L.A. Give him 55."

March 28, 2003. Jordan's final game in Los Angeles. The Lakers visited the Wizards and Brendan Haywood was in the building for all of it.

Kobe scored 19 points in the first quarter on seven of nine shooting. He went seven of ten in the second quarter including five of seven from three. Forty-two points at halftime.

Haywood had been hoping Kobe would get hot for his own reasons.

"He had 42 at halftime against us one time. He ended with 55. It was Mike's last game in L.A.; he made it memorable. I used to always hope, 'Man, I hope Kobe's on fire tonight because then the big fella won't get the ball.'"

The plan didn't work. Shaq still took 20 shots. Scored 26. Grabbed 13 rebounds. Haywood fouled out in 24 minutes defending him.

Kobe cooled off in the second half. Went one for ten. Still finished with 55.

Jordan told him he could never fill the shoes. Phil Jackson already knew what was coming when the schedule showed Los Angeles next.

All of it happened because Jordan said something he probably shouldn't have said.