When discussing Michael Jordan ’s Chicago Bulls team that secured six championships, the obvious rivalries that come to mind are often the Detroit Bad Boys Pistons and the Utah Jazz. However, according to the five-time MVP himself, the first true rivals that his Bulls encountered were, in fact, the Milwaukee Bucks - as they repeatedly humbled them in the regular season.
Jordan on how his Bulls struggled against the Bucks
A year before Mike’s arrival in the league in 1984, the Bucks had won four of their six regular-season games against the Chicago Bulls. Then, in the 1984-85 season, Jordan witnessed his team being defeated by the Bucks in three of their contests. When the two teams met in the first-round series in the playoffs, Terry Cummings and Sidney Moncrief taught Chicago a lesson by combining 56 points per game in the series to eliminate the Bulls in four games.
In the 1985-86 season, Mike sought revenge, but the Bucks remained a formidable challenge. They beat Chicago in five of their six-game regular-season series. It was clear that while the Bulls were still developing, Milwaukee continued to give them a harsh reality check.
In his interview with Marvin R. Shanken, the six-time Finals MVP acknowledged that Milwaukee had a psychological edge over his Bulls.
"We had some rivalries. Early on, it was Milwaukee. We couldn't beat Milwaukee. They were just 45 minutes to an hour away. They were a strong team and they constantly kept beating us. Even when we got in the playoffs, they kept beating us. Then we got to a point where we started beating them," Jordan said . "Then the rivalry went from Milwaukee to Detroit."
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The arrival of the Bad Boys
After the Bucks, the Bulls were eliminated by the Boston Celtics via two consecutive first-round sweeps it wasn't big enough to be considered a rivalry per se. However, the intensity of the Bulls' matchup with the Detroit Pistons escalated after they were eliminated by the Pistons in the second round of the 1988 playoffs.
To make matters worse for Jordan & Co., the Bad Boys knocked them out in two consecutive Eastern Conference Finals. Michael was filled with frustration by how aggressively the Pistons played in those series but noted that his rivalry with Isiah Thomas stemmed from the fact that he became a fan favorite among basketball fans in Zeke’s hometown.
"Isiah was from Chicago, and he wanted to come back and show he still dominated Chicago. I was the new guy in Chicago, and people were supporting the team. It became a dogfight between us. There was some real hatred there. On the floor, it was that whole physicality of the game, and that's what was happening on the basketball court. Anybody going into the paint was going to get knocked down," Jordan added. "If you got stitches, you got stitches."
The 14-time All-Star concluded by stating that once the Bulls defeated the Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, he and his teammates were confident that no team could stop them from winning championships. But, psychologically speaking, it was the Bucks who first got into MJ’s head before the Pistons rivalry took center stage.
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