Air Jordan’s inner competitiveness has become one of his best-known trademarks.
How competitive was the six-time NBA champion?
Just ask Chuck Daly.
For years, Jordan’s Chicago Bulls couldn’t get past the “Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons with Daly as head coach.
That finally changed in 1991, when Jordan won his first world title after the Bulls swept Daly’s Detroit crew 4-0 in the Eastern Conference finals.
A year later, the greatest basketball team of all time was assembled for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Patrick Ewing and Jordan led an absolutely stacked squad.
Daly was the coach of the Dream Team.
Jordan had a ton of non-basketball hobbies, with golf near the top of the list.
In Barcelona, Air Jordan played the Pistons coach in golf … and lost by one stroke.
“Michael always had a little game going with everyone,” Daly said. “I ended up shooting a 78 and beat him one day.”
Knowing Jordan’s unrelenting competitiveness, Daly vowed to go out on top and never play the future GOAT ever again.
But Jordan wouldn’t relent.
The 14-time All-Star and 10-time scoring champion started knocking on Daly’s hotel room door at 4 a.m.
“When he beat me at golf, it was just like the Detroit Pistons beating the Bulls,” Jordan said. “That just ate at me because I didn’t think he was capable of beating me.
“So, yes, I wanted to play him. And the next available time, I got back at him.”
That was exactly why Daly had initially refused to ever play Jordan again.
The veteran coach knew that the NBA legend would want to play him over and over again on the golf course, until Jordan finally won and would be able to walk off as a winner.
“I love how MJ smiles when Chuck Daly’s name is brought up,” one fan posted.
“You can see Jordan’s eye twitch at the thought of losing … at anything,” a second fan posted.
“Jordan is the definition of competitor,” a third fan wrote. “One of the best ever.”
Jordan is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all-time, with only LeBron James close to MJ.
Daly won two NBA championships with the Pistons and finished his career with a 638-437 record and .593 winning percentage.
He passed away in 2009.
Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, James and a USA team coached by Steve Kerr will attempt to win gold at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris.
The 2024 games will begin July 26 and run through Aug 11.
In the golfing world, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods entered Friday trying to win the PGA Championship at Valhalla.