?Carried Pins in Their Belts??: Michael Jordan?s Coach Once Revealed His Own Dirty Tactic Which Could?ve Been a Disadvantage for the Bulls

Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls turned into a championship-winning only when the former coach Phil Jackson joined the team in 1989. The 11-time NBA champ coach made critical efforts to bring Michael Jordan and his Bulls teammates together despite their differences and MJ’s frustrations due to repeated playoff failures. During one of the seasons, the Bulls were finding it hard to win on the road. Jackson revealed his own dirty tactic that was a disadvantage for Michael Jordan and co. when they traveled to Portland to face the Trail Blazers.

Phil Jackson played a crucial part in bringing Michael Jordan and other Bulls stars together in order to create a team capable of winning the championship. Moreover, his experience of winning two championships as a former NBA player also helped Jackson realize why the Bulls struggled on the road.

Phil Jackson admitted to a dirty tactic followed by his former team

As per Sam Smitrh’s 1991 book The Jordan Rules, Phil Jackson won the 1973 NBA championship with the New York Knicks, who were believed to be the smartest team to have ever played the game at the time. However, they were also involved in one dirty tactic that was prevalent in the league to ensure success for the Knicks.

Jackson once revealed a questionable ball tactic that the Knicks used to turn the game in their favor. As per the book, “‘We used to deflate the balls because we were a short team and didn’t want long rebounds,” Jackson said, adding that most of his teammates carried pins in their belts to deflate the ball when they would get a chance.

Jackson revealed that a softer ball helped the Knicks offensively due to their heavy reliance on passing the ball. Moreover, the former Bulls coach laid out that the deflated ball also restricted the opponent teams from running well against the Knicks; as the ball would not come as fast as they expected while dribbling.?

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Meanwhile, Smith pointed out in the book that Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls suffered a similar problem when they traveled to Portland to play against the Trail Blazers.

How the softer ball tactic affected the Michael Jordan-led Bulls?

According to the book,?“When the Bulls were in Portland, they found the balls softer. Why, since the Trail Blazers liked to run? Because they crash the boards, and soft balls will stay on the rim longer for offensive rebounds, which was an advantage over the Bulls, who liked to run.”

Thus, despite having a running game similar to the Trail Blazers, the Bulls were at a disadvantage against the team while playing in Portland due to deflated balls that they were not habitual to playing with.?

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Elsewhere, the book also revealed some of the questionable tactics followed by other teams during their home games. Smith shared that the Bulls always shot poorly in Washington, as the lights were usually poor in the arena. Moreover, in the LA sports arena, the backboard was suspended awkwardly; resulting in the unusual bouncing of the ball while the Celtics overheated the visiting team’s locker room to exhaust them.

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