“Never Seen Anything Like That”: Michael Jordan’s Carnage on the Heat Once Blew Pat Riley and His Plans Out of the Water

An entire generation of NBA players would testify that Michael Jordan could make them shake in their sneakers without uttering a word. ‘His Airness’ could dominate on the court and shut up the filthiest of trash-talkers. He could gloriously turn the badmouthing into motivation that wins titles. One former NBA pro learned the hard way that verbally attacking Jordan will cost you the championship.

Very few NBA fans might remember Lenard Voshon. He played in the Jordan era and was known to get mouthy on the court. His former teammate recalled how one such attempt to get under MJ’s skin backfired.

Ed Pinckney reminisced teammate’s trash talk at Michael Jordan

Not many could recognize Ed Pinckney. He played in the NBA from 1985 to 1997, didn’t win any titles, and is an assistant NBA coach. But he’d seen Michael Jordan in action since college. Both started in the NBA at the same time, and Pinckney was left awestruck by Jordan when they both tried for Team USA.

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Though they would be opponents in the NBA, Pinckney acknowledged Jordan’s prowess. It would show from how he spoke about the Bulls legend in Sam Smith’s book.

Pinckney recalled one instance when Jordan annihilated his team, the Miami Heat. The incident was from the 1997 NBA playoffs season. One of his Heat teammates, Voshon Lenard, according to Pinckney, was in “full playoff mode“.

Lenard was a big trash-talker. His favorite target usually was Jordan. When the Bulls were in Miami for Game 4, Pinckney revealed that Heat owner, Pat Riley, was giving a fiery pep talk to the team. They heard the Bulls were celebrating prematurely by reserving a restaurant in Miami Beach. They had already asked for the championship ball to be sent there where they would pop champagne.

In that same game, Lenard got in Jordan’s face. Heat did win that home game and Pat Riley was the one celebrating. That would be the last time that season.

Jordan shut up Miami Heat

Voshon Lenard, as Pinckney recalled, would get a firsthand experience of MJ’s talent to hold a grudge. While he didn’t respond to the trash talk, Jordan would exact revenge in the next game in Chicago.

Jordan could intimidate anyone. Even Ray Allen recalled being opposite him in 1996 and trembling in His Airness’ presence. After the loss in Miami, Jordan was ready to dominate Heat at his home game.

“Your mothers are not winning another mother game,” Jordan fired back at Voshon. Miami had emerged as a formidable opponent to the Bulls in the ’90s. But the Bulls were a tough mountain to climb.

As Pinckney said, “We go to Chicago and we can’t get the ball over half court. He’s [Jordan] pressuring and it’s turnover after turnover. We’re calling timeouts. Riley’s telling us we’ve gotta trap him. But he’s making everything. Never seen anything like that the way he just flipped the switch.”

Heat had lost their first nine playoff matches with the Bulls. Game 4 in 1997 was the first time Heat recorded a win over the Bulls in playoff history. But Lenard’s trash talk sealed the deal for the rest of the playoffs. Jordan and the Bulls closed the series with a dominant victory.

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