Russell Thompson

Phil Jackson says Michael Jordan would be so worn down after a game that he needed teammates to help him get to his room, and says Jordan would still want to play the next night because it might be the fans’ only opportunity to ever see him play “We got out on the road, we were winning games. Michael played a great game in Sacramento and literally had to be kind of carried, not physically carried, but his arm around the shoulders of two of his teammates to get to his room. Oh, he’ll be back, he’ll play tomorrow. There’s no way he’s going to stop playing.” “He’ll want to play just because this is the only chance the fans out here in Golden State or Portland, or wherever he was, are going to see him. And he knows that, and he wants to perform and play the best he can in front of them. That was a remarkable part about the effort he gave. And we have effort now from NBA players where they literally take time off.” “‘I don’t think I can play two games in three nights.’ As basketball players, we used to play. One of our finishes to a road trip, we played Golden State, Portland, and Seattle, three games in three nights. And now, with literally back-to-back games, a lot of players take off because they can’t play back-to-back games.” “And that’s a remarkable thing about the performance level of the game that became like Michael Jordan’s muse, was that I need to perform to show these people why I’m the best player in this game, or to have my impact on the game itself that we’re playing. One time, we were at the end, before the All-Star break, and we had a game in Seattle, a double-overtime game. Michael bumped a referee, and he was suspended for one game, the last game of this road trip in Phoenix. And the hue and cry from people that had bought tickets from all around the Arizona area just so they could go watch Michael Jordan.” “Our only time he played in Phoenix, you know, it left the league a little bit embarrassed about the suspension because it was a minor event, a minor thing, accidental as a matter of fact. So that was perhaps one of the most remarkable things about the effort that Michael put in.”