Former NBA All-Star Prayed Before Having to Guard MJ

Nobody ever had a fun time guarding Michael Jordan. MJ is widely considered the greatest basketball player ever, and he is one of the greatest offensive weapons to ever touch the ball. On top of that, he was known for a psychotic competitive streak that made him even more unpleasant to guard. 

But someone had to take the defensive assignment of MJ. It wasn’t the role most players wanted, but every team had a guy that they felt gave them the best shot at keeping the GOAT contained. 

Kevin Johnson was one of those guys. He recently spoke on the Byron Scott Fast Break podcast about facing MJ in the NBA Finals with the Phoenix Suns. 

“Dan Marley, great defensive player guarded Jordan the first two games. Jordan averaged 45, and we down 0-2 and we had home court. We go game three. Paul Westfall, our head coach, says Kevin, we trust you. You gonna guard Michael Jordan. I’m thinking this don’t even make no sense. The best defensive player can’t guard Michael Jordan. How in the world you going to put me on Michael Jordan? I guard him. Like, I didn’t know for sure if it was real till before the game when you put the matchups on the chalkboard and they like, you know, BJ Armstrong and Jordan and Pippen, the whole team. I’m just dear Lord, please don’t put my name next to Michael Jordan. You know, you just hope he don’t put my name next to him, when he did I was like Oh my god.”

We all know how things went for the Suns in the 1993 NBA Finals. The Suns did manage to win two of the next three games, but they still lost to the Bulls in six games. So maybe the defensive adjustment worked, but not well enough.