Watch this - Michael Jordan: Touchable
Jordan did get some calls. That's undeniable. But that doesn't make him different. Every superstar in league history gets favorable calls. People love to bring up how Jordan punched Reggie Miller in an altercation, and only Reggie Miller got ejected.
Well, superstar Dwyane Wade tackled Darren Collison in the 2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals and got no suspension. But when Jason Smith tackled superstar Blake Griffin in the regular season that year, he ended up getting a 2 game suspension. The superstar treatment isn't anything new.
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| Lebron's acting skills got Nazr Mohammed ejected for a soft push, but Lebron was never ejected for blatantly elbowing Carlos Boozer. |
When Lebron flopped against Nazr Mohammed with minimal contact on a push, Nazr ended up getting ejected. But when Lebron intentionally elbowed Boozer on a dirty play, Lebron did not get ejected. Nothing new here.
Dwyane Wade elbowed Rip Hamilton and did not get ejected or suspended. Ron Artest hit JJ Barea in the face and ended up getting suspended for one game.
People always bring up the soft push that Jordan did on Russell in the 98 Finals. Well, they forgot when Reggie Miller shoved Jordan before he hit the game winning 3 in game 4 one round earlier. Reggie shoved Jordan harder than when Jordan shoved Russell, and they didn't make the call. You know why? Because it's not a foul.
When Lebron pushed Durant on his game-tying attempt in game 2 of the 2012 Finals, Durant made no excuses. He just said, "I missed the shot man." Of course they aren't going to make that soft call with the game on the line. But somehow when Jordan does a soft push on Russell, that means he got all the calls? Even when Reggie did the same thing to Jordan?
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| Just like Jordan shoved Russell, Reggie shoved Jordan to get a wide open look at a game winne |
See how easy it is to edit out bad calls from any playoff series? Here's some more superstar treatment.
Dwyane Wade - When NBA Refs RESUMES making Wade UNTOUCHABLE! (Part 2)
Dwyane Wade AWFUL Flop on Manu Ginobili - Game 2
Ref commits foul
Dwyane Wade kicks Ramon Sessions in the Nuts - Heat @ Bobcats 12/26/12
Chris Bosh Flop Heat-Spurs Game 4
LeBron FLOPS And Gives A Wink
Chris Bosh flop late in Heat-Bulls Game 3
LeBron James flop on JR Smith
Lebron James Flagrant FLOP vs Tyson Chandler -- Heat vs Knicks -- NBA Playoffs 2012
LeBron James' flop on Brendan Haywood 2011 NBA Finals Miami Heat vs. Dallas Maverick Game 4
LeBron James Flops Vs Lakers
Lebron James - Legend of the Flop continues
LeBron James Huge Travel Against Wizards on Game Winning Shot
Dwight Howard CLEAN BLOCK on LeBron, but FOUL?
Chris Bosh flop vs Bulls
FlopOfTheNight - Chris Bosh
Favoritism: Kawhi Leonard defending Lebron James
Again, this is nothing new. According to the logic of those videos above, I have "proved" that the NBA is rigged in favor of the Big 3 and the Heat. In reality, it is just the regular superstar treatment that is given to everybody from Jordan to Lebron to Kobe and so on.
And there were a few times were the "untouchable" Jordan had bad calls go against him, like this clean block with the game on the line. And this was in 1992. Obviously, bad calls are just a part of the game, they go both ways , and just editing them out against one player doesn't prove anything. MJ was never ejected in his career, other than 1992 during a title season. The officiating was also heavily biased against Dennis Rodman during his time in Chicago, evidenced by phantom fouls in the 1997 ECSF and in the 1997 Finals, when he led all players in fouls while only playing 27 mpg.
In the 1998 ECF, several opportunities for rigging were avoided. In Game 4, Reggie shoved Jordan and made a wide open game winner. In Game 6, Jordan fell down while driving to the rim with the game on the line and no call was made as the Bulls lost. In Game 7, the Bulls were down almost midway through the 4th, and no controversial calls were made at all, even at a point where a "rigged" charge could have been called on Antonio Davis as he made a layup over Scottie Pippen. The Pacers did not complain about any calls in the deciding 4th quarter of Game 7, and no rigged calls can be found. In fact, Jordan was actually whistled for a phantom foul on one of Reggie Miller's fast break layups in that Game 7. It's interesting to see what you find when you look at both sides of the bad calls.
Another interesting note, the only times that Jordan ever averaged more than 10 free throw attempts in a season were in his 3rd and 4th season, when he lost to the Celtics and the Bad Boy Pistons. He averaged more free throw attempts in his first 6 years (9.8) when he won zero rings compared to his 6 championship season in 7 years with the Bulls (7.8). If the referees were in favor of Jordan winning championships, then why was he shooting less free throws in his championship seasons than he was in his losing seasons? This trend is the same in the playoffs, when he shot much more free throws in his first six playoff years (11.8) compared to his first three-peat (8.7) and second three-peat (9.6).
Jordan also only led the league in FTA attempts once during his career, and never during any of his title seasons. In the playoffs, Jordan only led the league in total FTAs twice in their 6 title seasons (1996 + 1998), despite the fact that the Bulls played more games and more rounds than all but one other team in the league those years.
The Bulls were also ranked at the bottom 8 of the league in free throw attempts in 5 out of their 6 title seasons. In 1992 they were ranked 16th out of 27 in free throw attempts, so they were still a below average team in terms of drawing fouls in the lone season that was an exception. The Bulls also had less free throws than their opponents did, collectively, in 4 out of their 6 title seasons during the playoffs, and 4 out of 6 NBA Finals. The 2 exceptions were, again, 1996 and 1998.
Jordan also shot less free throws than the opposing team's star player in 4 out of 6 NBA Finals, despite having more FG attempts. Once again, the exceptions were 1996 and 1998.
1991 Finals - Jordan took 55 more FGAs than Magic
- Jordan 33 FTAs
- Magic 41 FTAs
1992 Finals - Jordan took 36 more FGAs than Drexler
- Jordan 46 FTAs
- Drexler 56 FTAs
1993 Finals - Jordan took 73 more FGAs than Barkley
- Jordan 49 FTAs
- Barkley 56 FTAs
1996 - Jordan took 33 and 34 more FGAs than Payton and Kemp, respectively
- Jordan 67 FTAs
- Kemp 49 FTAs
1997 - Jordan took 36 more FGAs than Malone
- Jordan 55 FTAs
- Malone 57 FTAs
1998 - Jordan took 45 more FGAs than Malone
- Jordan 70 FTAs
- Malone 38 FTAs
And in the 1996 and 1998 Finals when Jordan took more FTs than Payton, Kemp and Malone, he also took much more FGA than all of them, so it makes sense that he had more FTAs along with taking more FGAs. Clearly there is no evidence of favorable treatment when we look at the objective facts instead of isolated and biased footage.
In actuality, Jordan was so dominant that Phil Jackson compared him to Shaq in the sense that opponents were allowed to get away with more than usual to make things even.
"His size and his abilities, footwork and his ability to move a defender are perhaps the most effective that we've ever seen in this game, which really tilts the scale," Jackson said. "As a consequence, Shaquille has to be played, or the balance is not quite fair for Shaquille. Last night, the motto of that game was: 'OK, we're gonna let you guys play. We're not letting you play, Shaq, we'll let everybody else play.' "I often tell him it's comparable to Michael [Jordan]. Michael would get fouled on every play and still have to play through it and just clear himself for shots instead and would rise to that occasion."
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| The opposing teams' star player shot more free throws than Jordan in 4 out of 6 NBA Finals appearances, even though Jordan took more FG attempts each time |
- 1981 Celtics
- 1991 Bulls
- 1992 Bulls
- 1993 Bulls
- 1997 Bulls
- 2000 Lakers
- 2009 Lakers
- 2013 Heat
- 2015 Warriors
- 2018 Warriors
10 of 40 Champions from 1980-2019 (25%) had less FTAs than their collective playoff opponents. The Bulls make up 4 of those 10 Champions. The Bulls had to overcome that obstacle 4 times in only 6 title seasons alone, both for the Finals and against their playoff opponents collectively. Further proving that if anything, the odds were actually against the 90s Bulls in terms of officiating or free throws. Looks like Phil Jackson knew what he was talking about.
UPDATE: It appears the nbaminer website has been shut down, but one can still obtain a rough estimate of the number of shooting fouls as a percentage of total personal fouls using data on the NBA League Averages page and the following methodology;
Divide the number of average FTA by 2 (2 free throws per shooting foul), and then calculate this result as a percentage of the total PFs called.
This does not account for shooting fouls that result in 1 or 3 FTAs due to And-1s and 3-point fouls, respectively, nor as a result of technical fouls. However, it is still roughly accurate enough to clearly see that shooting fouls far outnumber non-shooting fouls, as the nbaminer website also corroborated before it was taken down.
For brevity’s sake, I will only tabulate 1984/85 to 1997/98 to encompass Jordan’s career as a Bull. Feel free to run your own calculations on prior or subsequent seasons.
The
evidence is clear and undisputed. Shooting fouls have always
outnumbered non-shooting fouls by a significant margin and occur roughly
1.5 times as frequently. Therefore, the Bulls were consistently called
for more shooting, non-shooting, and total personal fouls, in addition
to Rodman setting then-records for technical fouls.
More
- Looking at how the Jordan Era players had an easier time in the modern era
- Looking at how a 38-40 year old Jordan himself schooled the 2000s defenders
SECTION 3 - Jordan's "Weak" Defensive Competition Compared to Lebron/Kobe's "Advanced" Competition
- Proving the vast superiority of individual defenders of Jordan's era compared to the 2000s
- Destroying the myth that Jordan never played zone defense
- Proof that 80s/90s players would still have success guarding 2000s players without the 80s/90s rules
- Looking at how Jordan did against the 80s teams and why expansion did not make it easier to win championships
- Proof that Jordan's Competition was 80s-quality and far better than the 2000s era
- Looking at the truth of how the Bulls did without Jordan, and how other great teams did without their stars.
- Did Jordan really get any more special treatment than other superstars? Nope.
- Exposing the myths behind the great, but misunderstood, Wilt Chamberlain
- Looking at how Lebron got locked down by defenders of the 2000s era and comparing them to the vastly superior 80s/90s
- Destroying one of the media's biggest misconceptions regarding Lebron's solid but vastly overrated defense
- Lebron fans think no player in history could succeed if their teammates don't step up, and that Lebron is the only one who has carried a team on his back. Is that really the case?
- The real Jordan vs Lebron comparison
- The real Jordan vs Kobe comparison
- Kareem is great, but he is not even the greatest center of all-time, let alone the greatest of all-time.
- The full context behind Jordan's struggles without Pippen
- A look at how Jordan turned the Wizards around before his knee injury caught up to him
- Looking at Jordan's defensive impact in detail, both as a team player and 1 on 1 defender
- Looking at the strong evidence supporting that Jordan would have achieved more than what LeBron has in Cleveland and Miami
SECTION 21 - Hakeem Olajuwon: The Greatest Center of All-Time
- Hakeem Olajuwon is the best center of all-time, and there is strong evidence to prove it
SECTION 22 - Chris Paul: The Most Overrated Point Guard Of All-Time
- Chris Paul is an extremely overrated playoff performer and defender, and isn't even a top 5 PG of his own era, let alone all-time
SECTION 23 - Kevin Johnson: The Most Underrated Point Guard Of All-Time
- Kevin Johnson is an extremely underrated and under-appreciated point guard, who should have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer and considered a top-10 point guard of all-time
SECTION 24 - The Three Greatest Playoff Runs of All-Time
- Analyzing the three greatest individual playoff runs in NBA history
SECTION 25 - The Worst Finals Performances of All-Time
- Analyzing the worst performances in NBA Finals history
SECTION 26 - Jordan vs Russell
- Comparing the two players who won the most championships as the best player on their team
SECTION 27 - The Five Greatest Coaches of All-Time
- Taking a look at the greatest coaches in NBA history
SECTION 28 - The Least Deserving Finals MVPs of All-Time
- Taking a look at the players who least deserved to win their Finals MVPs
SECTION 29 - Refuting 10 Myths About Michael Jordan
- Refuting certain myths about Jordan, as well as abridging of some of the main points in earlier sections for easier reference.
SECTION 30 - The 20 Greatest Conference Finals Runs of All-Time
- Ranking the 20 greatest playoff runs in which a player played 3 rounds before losing prior to the NBA Finals
SECTION 31 - The 1970s: The Weakest Decade of the NBA's Post-Infancy
- Why the 1970s was the weakest decade of any era from 1960-present
SECTION 32 - The 10 Worst Supporting Casts on NBA Finals Teams (1960-Present)
- Examining the worst supporting casts on teams that reached the NBA Finals
SECTION 33 - The 10 Greatest Rookie Playoff Runs of All-Time
- The most impressive playoff runs in which rookies led their team to at least one series win
SECTION 21 - Hakeem Olajuwon: The Greatest Center of All-Time
- Hakeem Olajuwon is the best center of all-time, and there is strong evidence to prove it
SECTION 22 - Chris Paul: The Most Overrated Point Guard Of All-Time
- Chris Paul is an extremely overrated playoff performer and defender, and isn't even a top 5 PG of his own era, let alone all-time
SECTION 23 - Kevin Johnson: The Most Underrated Point Guard Of All-Time
- Kevin Johnson is an extremely underrated and under-appreciated point guard, who should have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer and considered a top-10 point guard of all-time
SECTION 24 - The Three Greatest Playoff Runs of All-Time
- Analyzing the three greatest individual playoff runs in NBA history
SECTION 25 - The Worst Finals Performances of All-Time
- Analyzing the worst performances in NBA Finals history
SECTION 26 - Jordan vs Russell
- Comparing the two players who won the most championships as the best player on their team
SECTION 27 - The Five Greatest Coaches of All-Time
- Taking a look at the greatest coaches in NBA history
SECTION 28 - The Least Deserving Finals MVPs of All-Time
- Taking a look at the players who least deserved to win their Finals MVPs
SECTION 29 - Refuting 10 Myths About Michael Jordan
- Refuting certain myths about Jordan, as well as abridging of some of the main points in earlier sections for easier reference.
SECTION 30 - The 20 Greatest Conference Finals Runs of All-Time
- Ranking the 20 greatest playoff runs in which a player played 3 rounds before losing prior to the NBA Finals
SECTION 31 - The 1970s: The Weakest Decade of the NBA's Post-Infancy
- Why the 1970s was the weakest decade of any era from 1960-present
SECTION 32 - The 10 Worst Supporting Casts on NBA Finals Teams (1960-Present)
- Examining the worst supporting casts on teams that reached the NBA Finals
SECTION 33 - The 10 Greatest Rookie Playoff Runs of All-Time
- The most impressive playoff runs in which rookies led their team to at least one series win
Lets also not forget the Bulls last home regular season game in 1995-96. They should have ended up 73-9 an a 40-1 home record if not for a phantom foul on MJ at end of game against Pacers. Game is tied and Edie Johnson shoots a jumper for win and MJ gets CLEARLY all ball but Hue Hollins calls a phantom foul on MJ costing the Bulls a chance for under ten regular season losses.
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