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Against Jordan, defense never rested



History remembers Joe Dumars as one of the best defenders of his generation, strong and sturdy, swift and sure. As soon as the Detroit Pistons drafted him, Dumars understood his division dictated the most arduous job in basketball would belong to him for a long, long time: Defend Michael Jordan. Over and over.

Everyone has his stories of defending Jordan. Mostly, they are nightmares. Mostly, they never end well. Jordan wasn’t so much a basketball player, but a force of nature. He had a relentless resolve. On his way to his Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame induction, Jordan treated every game as a referendum on his greatness. From preseason to the playoffs for 14 years, Dumars’ was among the most thrilling and thankless job in the game. All M.J., all the time.

“The thing that I always felt was that I could never get discouraged,” Dumars said. “He could mentally and emotionally wear down a lot of guys, and it was so easy to let that happen when a guy is dominant, and can score with such ease. The thing was: You were going to witness phenomenal plays up close against him. And you could never drop your head or show any kind of emotion.
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“You had to just turn back and go down the other end of the court, even though, in the back of your mind, you’re saying to yourself, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no way he just made that play.’ ”

Only, Jordan did. Over and over. Until Jordan had a complete supporting cast, Dumars and the Pistons made life hell for him. They were the late ’80s hurdle to the Bulls’ championship cusp. Chuck Daly transformed the NBA with the Jordan Rules, the defensive alignment that delivered help to Dumars on Jordan everywhere on the floor. From Bill Laimbeer to Dennis Rodman, Rick Mahorn to John Sally, the Bad Boys treated Jordan with a collaborative contempt.

The Pistons ended the Bulls’ season twice in the Eastern Conference playoffs late in the decade, and did it with a physicality and tenacity that began an era of brutish basketball born out of a belief that it was the way to stop Jordan.

“Wherever he caught the ball, I knew where the help [defense] was going to be,” Dumars said. “I wouldn’t have to look around, or call for it, or force him one way or another. When you were defending him, it was a big deal that you didn’t have to look around and call for help. When you have to turn around and start pointing to spots for guys to go, you had no chance.

“For me, you had to put yourself out there against Michael. You couldn’t play conservatively. You had to take some chances if you were going to have any success. He’s still going to make spectacular plays on you, and yet you have to be willing to not just sit back and play it safe and think, ‘Well, I’m going to play off him and just give up shots.’ That’s not going to work.

“If Michael was ever frustrated against us, he never showed it. He would never let anyone see it.”

Once the Bulls had a fully bloomed supporting cast around Jordan, the Pistons could no longer hold them off. Jordan would own the Eastern Conference. Indiana would rise and fall. So would the New York Knicks. “You could beat him in a game, and maybe stretch him to the limit in a series, but at the end of the day, you couldn’t conquer Mt. Jordan,” former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy says now.

Funny thing, too: Dumars would watch those series with the Knicks and Indiana Pacers, watch Jordan get into vicious trash-talking episodes with John Starks and Reggie Miller, and it amazed him. With Dumars and Jordan, that never happened. “Not in 14 years was there ever a negative word said between us,” Dumars said.

In fact, Jordan would ask about Dumars’ wife and kids, and Dumars would ask about Jordan’s, and there wouldn’t be much else for the next 2½ hours of basketball. “I would take a tough screen and get hit hard by another player and he would walk by under his breath, ‘You OK?’ And I’d do the same with him. But for us, that was it.”

Through it all, Michael Jordan had a way of testing and trying defenders like no one else. Now, he goes to the Hall maybe they can all take a deep, deep breath. Finally, the ball is out of his hands.

NBA Player HALL OF FAME Ceremony (Michael Jordan)

Air Jordan reaches new heights with place in Hall








Air Jordan reaches new heights with place in Hall


Posted Sep 11 2009 9:59PM

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- Michael Jordan, maybe the greatest of them all, has taken his place alongside basketball's other greats.

And he never forgot anyone who motivated him to get there.

Jordan was enshrined in the Hall of Fame on Friday night, a final honor that followed all the championship rings and MVP trophies he collected during his career.

From the high school coach who cut him to the last player to defend him in the NBA finals, Jordan remembered everyone who did something to bring out the competitiveness that carried him to the top of basketball.

"I'd do anything to win," he said.

He joined David Robinson and John Stockton, a pair of his 1992 Dream Team teammates, and coaches Jerry Sloan and C. Vivian Stringer in a distinguished class. Jordan insisted during a morning press conference that the weekend wasn't just about him, but he was clearly the star Friday night before a crowd that included former teammates Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman.

"He makes one big shot and everybody thinks he's kind of cool," Stockton joked. "I don't get it."

Jordan cried before beginning his acceptance speech, then entertained the crowd with memories of any slights that inspired him to get to Springfield:

• The coach who cut him from the varsity as a North Carolina schoolboy.

"I wanted to make sure you understood: You made a mistake, dude."

• Isiah Thomas, who allegedly orchestrated a "freezeout" of Jordan in his first All-Star game.

"I wanted to prove to you, Magic (Johnson), Larry (Bird), George (Gervin), everybody that I deserved (to be there) just as much as anybody else, and I hope over the period of my career I've done that without a doubt."

• Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, who accused Jordan of "conning" players by acting friendly toward them, then attacking them in games.

"I just so happen to be a friendly guy. I get along with everybody, but at the same time, when the light comes on, I'm as competitive as anybody you know."

• The media who said Jordan, though a great player, would never win like Bird or Johnson.

"I had to listen to all that, and that put so much wood on that fire that it kept me each and every day trying to get better as a basketball player."

• Lastly, Utah's Bryon Russell. Jordan recalled meeting Russell while he was retired and playing minor league baseball in 1994 -- and with Sloan looking on in horror -- told of how Russell insisted he could have covered him if Jordan was still playing. Russell later got two cracks at Jordan in the NBA Finals, and he was the defender when Jordan hit the clinching shot to win the 1998 title.

"From this day forward, if I ever see him in shorts, I'm coming at him."

Robinson was enshrined first on Friday before a large San Antonio contingent that included teammates Tim Duncan and Avery Johnson, and coaches Larry Brown and Gregg Popovich. Stockton told the Spurs that his running mate, Karl Malone, was the best power forward, not Duncan.

The enshrinement ceremony took place at Springfield's Symphony Hall, because Jordan was too big for the Hall of Fame. The move to the other building allowed for a crowd of about 2,600, more than double what the Hall can accommodate.

Most of the attention was on Jordan, the five-time NBA MVP, but the others in the class are some of the most accomplished in the sport. Stockton is the career leader in assists and steals, Robinson won an MVP trophy and two titles in San Antonio, Sloan is the only coach to win 1,000 games with one team, and Stringer was the first woman's coach to lead three different schools to the Final Four.

"Unique, unique competitors," Stockton said during the morning press conference.

Fiery ones, too. Sloan, Stockton's longtime coach, told two different tales of fights he was in as a hard-nosed player for Chicago.

Jordan remembered scoring around 20 points in a row late in a game to pull out a win, which was followed by a conversation with Bulls assistant Tex Winter.

"Tex reminded me that there's no 'I' in team," Jordan said. "And I looked back at Tex, I said, 'There's 'I' in win.' So whichever way you want it."

Jordan and Robinson were All-American college players who entered the NBA with high expectations. Sloan acknowledged he wasn't so sure about Stockton at first -- and turns out, neither was Stockton.

"I thought they'd figure me out pretty quickly. I thought the Jazz would figure out that they'd made a mistake, so first paycheck I saved every cent," Stockton said. "I was pretty sure I was a one-year-and-out guy."

He ended up playing 19 seasons in Utah, while Robinson spent 14 with the Spurs. He is still an enormous presence in San Antonio through his charitable work.

"That's one of the things I think I loved most about San Antonio. When you get out in the community, you really feel like you're making a difference. You feel like you're impacting people there and families there," Robinson said. "So anybody who has followed my career, it's been as important as what we did on the court, being involved in the community, making a difference."

Stringer also talked of making a difference in the lives of others, such as the pride she feels watching women's basketball grow into a sport in which her former players can now earn a living playing professionally in the United States. Those contributions to the game, along with her 825 wins, had her sharing a stage Friday with Jordan, whose family she developed a friendship with when they did Nike tours together.

"I once paid to come into the Naismith Hall of Fame," she said, "and now here I am."
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