• Michael Jordan is one of the most competitive athletes in the world and an avid golfer
• He regularly played golf during the 1992 Olympics, when Team USA head coach Chuck Daly stepped up to the tee
• Daly beat MJ and Jordan was ready for a rematch at 4 AM the next day
Michael Jordan was one of the most competitive people in the world. His success at the highest level of basketball has been forged by his spirit, but nobody challenged that spirit more than the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons.
A reporter asked Chuck Daly, the legendary coach of the Pistons and the ’92 US Olympic Basketball team if he beat MJ at golf. The Pistons coach confirmed the story.
Chuck Daly: “We were in Barcelona. We were out there every day and Michael always had a little game going with everyone. I ended up shooting 7 to 8 and beat him one day.”
The same reporter Daly spoke to asked Jordan if he came to Daly’s room the next day at 4 AM for a rematch, a story that MJ confirmed.
Michael Jordan: “Right. Chuck was great. I had some reservations about Chuck because we played against him. So, going into the Olympics, I had a better impression of him. The more I got to know him, the more I wanted to hang out with him. When he beat me at golf, it was like the Pistons beating the Bulls. And that ate at me because I didn’t think he was capable of beating me. So yes, I wanted to play him the next day at that time. He was a delightful guy and I enjoyed spending time with him.”
While in Barcelona for the '92 Olympics, Michael Jordan and Coach Chuck Daly would play golf everyday. One day, Daly beat Jordan.
Of course, Jordan being Jordan, he couldn't let it go and woke Daly up at 4am to play again. 😂 pic.twitter.com/TRnVpicaUq
— BBallcore (@bballcore) August 13, 2023
Daly won two championships with his Pistons at Jordan’s expense. MJ did finally overcome his biggest rivals and beat them in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals to mark an end to the rivalry, but the losses in 1989 and 1990 were among the most brutal losses of MJ’s career, both emotionally and physically.
The Jordan Rules Didn’t Work Forever
The Bad Boy Pistons employed a controversial strategy of ‘The Jordan Rules‘, which encouraged players on the teams to rough house Jordan. In the 1989 matchup with the Pistons, MJ averaged 29.7 points per game on 46.0% shooting. In the 1990 matchup, Despite MJ averaging 32.1 points per game on 46.7% shooting, the Pistons’ rough tactics helped them win the series in seven games.
In 1991, MJ finally overcame the Jordan Rules and ensured the Pistons couldn’t make it to the Finals for a three-peat. In one of his most memorable playoff series wins of all time, Jordan averaged 29.8 points per game to sweep the Pistons and end that chapter of his career, as he went on to win three times the titles the Bad Boys did.
Isiah Thomas and MJ forged a rivalry that would last for decades over those years, which included Thomas being left off the Team USA squad in the ’92 Olympics which his head coach was a part of.
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