Michael Jordan loved anyone who gave him a job on offense. The six-time champion always finds a way to get to the rim, but he’s only satisfied when the going gets challenging.There are few players like him in the league ‘bad boy’ Joe Dumars of the Detroit Pistons, among others, managed to make a few stops at MJ. However, the Los Angeles Lakers had an unsung star who caught Jordan’s attention with his own defense. Shockingly, this happened after the 2010 champion broke Jordan’s ribs.
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Metta World Peace, also known as Ron Artest, for “Malice in the Palace”, showing similar physical fitness to Michael Jordan on the court. However, this is not intentional. Artest, 19, was lucky enough to get the chance to guard the Chicago Bulls legend in a pickup game. I once shared, “The thing with Jordan is when he gets the ball, he scores. So that’s when you mess up, let him catch it. So every time he catches the ball, he scores.”
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Artest didn’t want MJ to catch the ball, so he tried to block it.However, on this play, Artest moved Jordan’s arm
“Out of the way”. The two-time champion continues, “When I denied him… I hit him with my right elbow, hit him in the ribs, broke his ribs“. However, that didn’t stop Jordan from conceding the game-winning field goal. Well, I’m MJ, what else did you expect?advertise
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But the elephant in the room was Jordan’s fondness for Artest’s physicality. Despite the broken ribs, he had enough energy to call Artest and rate him. The Indian pacers icon shared,
“Jordan called me. I was really frustrated. He said, ‘Hey, it’s okay, man, it’s okay, young man. It happens and you’re going to be okay.'” It doesn’t stop there. Artest also revealed that Jordan asked him to return to the court to defend him. He knew then that he was a special defender because Jordan trusted Artest to give him the job.advertise
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