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1992 it's Chicago Bulls vs New York Knicks, ECSF

Bulls sweep Miami 3-0 in 1st round while Knicks gave tough battle against Pistons in 1st round and won in 5 games, classic #4 Knicks vs #5 Pistons battle

This is what Pat Riley said

“Bill Cartwright can do anything to Patrick Ewing but we can’t touch Michael Jordan!”

And remember that same year on Dream Team, Magic was making fun of Michael during photo shoot

"Don't get too close to Michael or it's a foul! "

This is message for fellow Jordan fans, while Michael Jordan is one of the GOATS (He's my GOAT but everyone has their own GOAT so Id prefer to say he's one of them to recognize his and other legendary player greatness!)


He did get protection from refs and the league, because guess what, HE WAS THEIR BIGGEST STAR!

This is a criticism Jordan's fans use against LeBron fans, it goes something like this

"Michael Jordan played in toughest era in 80s & 90s, he got smacked up, beat up and body bruised up in that era! Oh and don't tell me about the Pistons! He never got support from refs like LeBron does, every foul he flops and ref gives a quick foul! LeBron can't compare to Jordan, he plays in soft era!"

CONCLUSION

Now granted, is the league softer today than it was in 80 and 90s? YES!
Do we have teams playing physical basketball like 80s Detroit Pistons & 90s New York Knicks? NO! Not even close!

But did Jordan get protection? If you give soft top to Jordan will ref give Bulls quick free throws? YES!

Every Superstar, especially when you're talking about Icons like Jordan, Bird, Magic, Kareem & LeBron, those guys get most protection from the league and fellow Jordan fans need to realize that!

Finally, Michael Jordan got most protection in the league of all time, same as LeBron or more because MICHAEL JORDAN WAS THEIR BIGGEST STAR, making the NBA the MOST MONEY THEY EVER MADE UNTIL THAT POINT! Michael Jordan was greatest asset the NBA had, of course they're going to protect that asset!

Superstars get protected, and that's okay. Because most fans tune in to watch NBA to see the superstars play!

I don't think anyone will disagree with you that superstars get superstar calls. Something worth mentioning is that generally refs let defenders get away with more against bigger, stronger players. LeBron was ~250-260 throughout most of his career. MJ was 6'6 and ~205 to 210ish lbs. Shaq and Dwight dealt with this issue too, to a greater degree.

It caries more weight when someone like Pat Riley says it.

All you need to know is the flagrant foul was created to protect Michael Jordan. It was never an actual rule until the pistons vs bulls matchups in the late 80s. It was introduced after Detroit eliminated them once again in the 1990 season. It was literally invented to limit the pistons physicality against him. The flagrant foul was not even a thing before this. Like literally not even a rule that existed for damn near half a century of nba basketball before this time

Yeah, but what the pistons were doing was more than just a foul lol. Definitely needed to bring in flagrants because they basically tackling people and doing cheap shots on players

The term 'Jordan rules' exists for a reason

:yawn:

Bron got swept in 2018, showed up with a cast on his arm at the post game conference, claimed his hand was broken for the series, went cliff diving the next week, and the media didn't cover it at all. Lol.

Protection doesn't get much better than that, imo.

EliteSmarts wrote:1992 it's Chicago Bulls vs New York Knicks, ECSF

Bulls sweep Miami 3-0 in 1st round while Knicks gave tough battle against Pistons in 1st round and won in 5 games, classic #4 Knicks vs #5 Pistons battle

This is what Pat Riley said

“Bill Cartwright can do anything to Patrick Ewing but we can’t touch Michael Jordan!”

And remember that same year on Dream Team, Magic was making fun of Michael during photo shoot

"Don't get too close to Michael or it's a foul! "

Have you ever watched that video? The one where Magic says to not get to close to Jordan? Watch and extended version, where Michael tells him he is one to talk and Bird agrees with Jordan.

boomershadow wrote:It caries more weight when someone like Pat Riley says it.

The Pat Riley that was known to work the league and refs through the media his entire coaching career? The guy who would openly laugh about how the refs would change the way they call games due to media attention?

Lebron once went nearly 3 weeks without a single foul called against him. Not a single push, bump, charge, block, nothing. I have never seen that with any other player and have been coherently watching the NBA since the early 80s.

Lebron has fouled out of less games and has committed less fouls than Jordan did in their careers, despite the fact that Jordan played in 280 less games than Lebron. Lebron has also attempted 1800 more free throws than Jordan did in his career. So tell me again how the refs favored Jordan and not Lebron.

lol, if you select "no" you must also agree that the overall post is "good". Thats some lebron ^im going to comment on other players/teams while really complementing myself^ stuff.

The Rebel wrote:Lebron once went nearly 3 weeks without a single foul called against him. Not a single push, bump, charge, block, nothing. I have never seen that with any other player and have been coherently watching the NBA since the early 80s.

Lebron has fouled out of less games and has committed less fouls than Jordan did in their careers, despite the fact that Jordan played in 280 less games than Lebron. Lebron has also attempted 1800 more free throws than Jordan did in his career. So tell me again how the refs favored Jordan and not Lebron.

This is kinda wild. Jesus christ.

3 weeks????

No and your post is not good either.

The constant threads to discredit Jordan and/or elevate LeBron etc above him need to stop.

Jordan is the greatest player ever and it's seriously not up for debate. Ever. The numbers alone cement it.

The recency bias is out of control.

Stop comparing Lebron to Jordan…he nor (probably) anyone will ever be like Mike

ofcourse...but nostalgia merchants won't accept it though.

Goomba3666 wrote:

The Rebel wrote:Lebron once went nearly 3 weeks without a single foul called against him. Not a single push, bump, charge, block, nothing. I have never seen that with any other player and have been coherently watching the NBA since the early 80s.

Lebron has fouled out of less games and has committed less fouls than Jordan did in their careers, despite the fact that Jordan played in 280 less games than Lebron. Lebron has also attempted 1800 more free throws than Jordan did in his career. So tell me again how the refs favored Jordan and not Lebron.

This is kinda wild. Jesus christ.

3 weeks????

Check his game log in December of 2012, I was wrong it was 6 straight games without a foul called against but a total of 2 foul called against in 8 games.

The Chief wrote:The constant threads to discredit Jordan and/or elevate LeBron etc above him need to stop.

Jordan is the greatest player ever and it's seriously not up for debate. Ever. The numbers alone cement it.

The recency bias is out of control.

Especially when an entire theory is taken from a couple of out of context quotes and with a little digging you can see from the true numbers where Lebron was a far bigger beneficiary.