Former Utah Jazz forward Antoine Carr revealed a curious story of the things the Chicago Bulls fans used to do trying to get under their rivals’ skin in an attempt to help their team have an easy way to the championship, or at least to make them know they wouldn’t have a good time while they were in the Windy City.
As David Fleming of ESPN wrote about the famous six-word line Scottie Pippen told Karl Malone in Game 1 of the 1997 Finals, Carr revealed the tricks the Bulls fans used to mess with the Jazz’s players during that series.
Carr: One thing I did enjoy about playing the Bulls that was different was the city of Chicago was always trying to do something too. You’d be in your hotel room the night before a Finals game in Chicago and all of a sudden a Playboy model would show up at your door with a cake. That happened to me more than once. … They show up in a trench coat, and when they get to present you with your cake the coat comes off and it’s “Welcome to Chicago!” But if you’re a young man and all you can think of the night before the Finals is a beautiful girl now, that’s going to throw you all the way off. It didn’t work on me. It was good cake, though.
Carr says the joke didn’t have any effect on him, but the things that Scottie said to Malone did affect the Jazz’s big man, who threw out the chance to win Game 1 of the Finals in 1997. That could have changed everything for both teams. In the end, Jordan led the Bulls to win that game and the series in 6 games against the Jazz.
Jordan’s docu-series ‘The Last Dance’ will air its two last episodes when we’ll see the last two titles that the Bulls won against the Jazz.
