Michael Jordan’s playing has at all times been a captivating a part of NBA lore, and whereas Sunday’s episode of “The Final Dance” touches closely on the topic, Jordan asserts that he by no means really had a playing downside.
The sixth episode of the hit ESPN docuseries coated the Bulls’ 1993 Jap Convention Finals showdown with the Knicks, when Jordan’s playing entered the nationwide highlight. After Chicago dropped the primary two video games of the sequence to New York, it emerged Jordan had been in Atlantic Metropolis the night time earlier than Sport 2.
A New York Occasions report mentioned he was seen within the on line casino foyer as late as 2:30 a.m., and Jordan appeared drained in that second sport. In a present-day interview, Jordan maintains that it was all overblown, and the Atlantic Metropolis journey didn’t have an effect on his play in any respect.
“We received a limo, we went and gambled for a pair hours, and we got here again,” Jordan says. “All people went completely ballistic. It wasn’t late. We received residence by 12:30, 1 o’clock.”
Nonetheless, the Atlantic Metropolis journey wasn’t his first incident with playing — which is why it snowballed into such an enormous story. Jordan skipped the Bulls’ White Home go to after the 1991 NBA Finals, and it got here to gentle that he did so to gamble with James “Slim” Bouler, a infamous golf hustler.
When Bouler was arrested on drug and cash laundering expenses, the feds discovered a $57,000 test addressed to him from Jordan, which was to repay a playing debt.
Across the time of the Atlantic Metropolis fiasco, Richard Esquinas launched his guide “Michael and Me,” which documented his and Jordan’s alleged playing habit. Esquinas claimed Jordan owed him greater than $1.2 million playing on their golf matches.
The media scrutiny grew to become so intense that some jumped to the acute assumption that Jordan was betting on NBA video games, which Jordan and Esquinas each shot down as ridiculous.
“I solely guess on myself,” Jordan mentioned. “That was golf. Do I wish to play blackjack, yeah I wish to play blackjack. There’s no legal guidelines on that.”
Nonetheless, questions endured as as to if or not he had a playing downside — which he steadfastly denied.
“I can cease playing,” Jordan mentioned in an interview on the time. “I've a contest downside, a aggressive downside.”
“I take pleasure in it, it’s a interest,” he mentioned in one other interview. “If I had an issue, I’d be ravenous. I’d be hawking this watch, my championship rings, I'd promote my home. My spouse would have left me, or she’d be ravenous. I do not need an issue, I take pleasure in playing.”
jlayton@nypost.com
“The Final Dance” airs on ESPN Sunday nights at 9 PM ET.
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