For many NBA stars, playing at Madison Square Garden can feel overwhelming. The crowd is loud, informed, impatient, and brutally honest. For Michael Jordan, it was never a source of fear. It was fuel.
Speaking on NBA on NBC and Peacock in the latest installment of MJ: Insights to Excellence, Jordan explained why the so-called Mecca of Basketball never rattled him.
“I’ve always considered Madison Square Garden a mecca of basketball, right? The knowledge of basketball, the way that people perceive basketball. And they’re hard workers. And the New York Knicks teams always seem to play hard for their fan base. And the fans knew it too. And if they didn’t, the fans let them know that, right?”
“I go in there with the notion that I know it’s not hostile. It’s just more of the awareness that they’re going to cheer for the team. And they’re going to do everything to get you off your game. It was never hostile towards me. It was more motivating and trying to get me off my game.”
“And look, once I’m in a game, once the ball goes up, I never even hear the fans. You know, if the fans ever can affect me or I can hear the fans, that means I’m not focused on what I’m supposed to be doing, which is playing the game of basketball, right? I get into the game. My opponent becomes more the focal point. The fans are fans.”
“Now, you get to the free throw line and you have a pause, and I see Spike over there. Hey, sit down. You’re not playing. Those types of scenarios happen quite often, right? But in the mix of the game, when tension is always happening, that’s when I get tunnel vision, right? What they’re doing is trying to distract you. I take it as a challenge.”
“You know what? I’m going to keep you quiet for a while. I’m going to show how all that stuff that you’re saying doesn’t affect what I’m doing on the basketball court. The only way you can affect what I’m doing is to put on some shorts and come out here, right? But that’s my mentality.”
“And as a leader, I’ve got to make sure the team, Scottie Pippen and all these guys, don’t fall prey to that. Take the crowd out right from the beginning. Phil says it in his speech. We’re playing in New York. Let’s take the crowd out, coming from Phil. You know, I was a mouthpiece. Me and Scottie, we were a mouthpiece of Phil in those situations.”
“So we would go into New York City. I was never afraid of playing in New York City. Actually, it was a privilege because, you know, if you do your job, you do the things that you’re capable of doing, the New York fans are going to cheer you over their own fans.”
“So the challenge was, let’s see if I can turn that guy over there in the fifth row. Instead of calling me names, start cheering Michael Jordan.”
The results speak for themselves. In 31 regular-season games at MSG, Jordan averaged 31.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists. His resume includes two 50-point games, two 40-point games, and twelve 30-point outings, highlighted by the legendary 55-point ‘double nickel’ performance in 1995. In the playoffs, he was just as dominant, averaging 30.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 6.4 assists in 12 games, including a 46-point explosion in the 1996 Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks.
That idea shapes the advice Jordan now gives young stars entering MSG.
“Be you. Be you. You are you 365 days of the year. What they’re trying to get you to do is not be you. And to me, that is a challenge for a young kid. But it’s a privilege. It’s an honor.”
“If they’re coming in and they’re yelling at you, you are an impactful player. That means if they feel like they can take you out of your game, then they have a better chance of winning. So if I’m talking to the young kids of today, if you are an impactful player to your team, shut them up.”
“Go out there and be you. If you be you, then they can’t say anything. But if you’re not you, they win.”
For Jordan, Madison Square Garden was never a threat. It was a proving ground. And more often than not, he owned it.
