Stephen Curry (DR) / NBA (DR)
By Pierre-Andréa Fraile | Sports journalist
In addition to his immeasurable talent, Michael Jordan relied on the qualities of an outstanding trash-talker. He kept them even after retirement, and used them on Nicolas Batum, who had not asked for anything.
He could have been satisfied with his improbable performances to intimidate his opponents. However, all means were good for Michael Jordan gain the upper hand over the competition. As such, the legendary Bulls guard quickly made the art of trash-talking one of his most lethal weapons on the league’s courts. And like cycling, this kind of thing is not forgotten.
So even after he decided to end his career, MJ remained no less formidable and incisive on the verbal level. Including as owner of the Hornets. Indeed, in addition to the training anecdotes according to which His players couldn’t do anything against him despite his 50 yearshe was sometimes not very tender towards them in his words. Nicolas Batum seems well placed to know this.
Nico Batum Reveals Jordan’s Scathing Punchline Against Him
A Charlotte player from 2015 to 2020, Batum regularly rubbed shoulders with Jordan there. During an appearance on the show “Le Vestiaire” on RMC Sportfor example, he revealed the spicy message he received from him in a very particular context:
Nicolas Batum : He’s the kind of guy who can break your spirits just by telling you a story.
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I had injured my ankle and I had a bad sprain. In the treatment room, he came and sat down next to me, he tapped me on the leg and he said to me, “You know, when I had that injury, it hurt but I came back three days later and I scored 57 points.” (…) The next game, I came back and I scored 6. I went back to the locker room and he told me I was close… 51 points away.
It’s definitely not Mike who wants to be. That said, should we take this legendary story of His Airness at face value? Not sure, since the latter only had one 57-point game in his career, namely on December 23, 1992 against the Bullets. However, no report allows us to affirm that he was suffering from any kind of ankle problem at the time, and it’s not the images of this demolition that would lead us to believe it:
31 YEARS AGO TODAY ????
Michael Jordan put up these crazy numbers against the Washington Bullets!57 Points
22/37 Shooting
6/8 Threes
7/8 Free Throws
10 Assists
3 Steals
1 Turnover pic.twitter.com/pfkYGEF4Dg— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) December 23, 2023
While he was able to show some tolerance for pain by playing through a sprained ankle, Nicolas Batum was unable to replicate Michael Jordan’s exploits. A failure that the latter clearly made sure to point out to him afterwards.
2024-07-16 17:50:00
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