Having led the franchise to no less than six NBA titles over two stints, Michael Jordan is an icon to fans of the Chicago Bulls, as well as widely being considered to be the best player to ever step foot on a basketball court. For as much as 'MJ' is beloved by the Bulls' fanbase, they turned on him in a major way during the 1993 NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
Jordan was seeking his third-straight NBA Championship at the time, but they faced formidable opposition to come out on top in the Eastern Conference. Standing in their way were the New York Knicks - led by multiple-time All-Star Patrick Ewing.
The Bulls knew just what it took to go all the way to the Championship but, if they were going to make it past the Knicks, they needed all of their big stars in prime condition - including Jordan.
The Knicks, who had gone 60-22 in the regular season, demonstrated their quality by winning the opening game of the series 98-90 at Madison Square Garden. With only two days until the next game would take place, the Bulls didn't have long to wait before they had their shot at redemption.
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While every player has a different way of preparing for a big game, going to a casino and gambling in the early hours before a contest isn't the sort of pre-game ritual that is going to go down well with fans, particularly at the business end of the season.
So, when witnesses reported seeing Jordan in an Atlantic City casino on the same day that he was to do battle with the Knicks again - a media storm was created.
Michael Jordan Reportedly Lost A Staggering Sum Gambling Before the Game
NBA legend later claimed he was made to feel like a criminal
A report from the Los Angeles Times claimed that Jordan had left the casino in question at 2:30am, having lost an eye-watering $500,000. Michael would dispute the time that he left the casino - insisting that he had been in bed by 1am and had a full eight hours of sleep before joining his teammates at practice by 10am on the morning of the game. What he did not do at that time, however, was deny the hefty sum that he was believed to have lost.
Speaking to the media in the aftermath of the incident, Jordan declared:
"The times were all out of context. Anybody who saw me there at 2:30 is lying…you show me the guy who saw me there at 2:30, and he’ll have a lawsuit on his hands! [I came] came home at a respectable hour so I can get eight hours, get ready for the next game. And that’s the truth."
If Jordan was hoping that the Bulls' performance on the court would help deflect some of the negativity around his late-night casino visit, he was to be disappointed. Although he hit a game-high 36 points, 'MJ' missed 20 of his 32 shot attempts on the night as the Bulls fell to a 96-91 defeat.
While they went down by two games early in the series, Jordan and the Bulls roared back to take victory in six games [4-2]. The team's star man shone especially brightly in Game 4, where he would put up 54 points.
With the Bulls now comfortably in the 1993 NBA Finals, Jordan made sure to address the controversy surrounding his ill-time casino visit in an interview with NBC. Unhappy that he was being portrayed as a gambling addict, 'Air Jordan' argued:
"It was unfair that I was being considered a criminal for doing something that's not illegal. "Gambling is legal, and betting is legal. For what I bet, yeah, it's a little bit more than I wanted to lose. I didn't bet to lose, but I lost it, and I paid off all my debts. I didn’t want to go to NBC, anyone else, to let him know ‘Hey, I lost $500,000’. My family's not starving. My wife, if I had a problem, would have left me."
Ultimately, the saga that was Jordan's casino visit didn't end up harming the Bulls' NBA Championship quest. Phil Jackson's men went on to claim a third consecutive title, defeating the Phoenix Suns 4-2 in the finals.
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