Former Heat guard Voshon Lenard witnessed first-hand how Michael Jordan remembered everything that happened between him and players from a previous game to use it as motivation for the very next time he would play against them.
The 1997 Eastern Conference Finals between the Bulls and Heat was a series between the top two seeds that year. The Bulls had a 3-0 series lead and it looked like they were going to sweep the Heat to reach the NBA Finals, but Jordan went 0-of-11 from the field in the first half of Game 4 and it took him 15 field goal attempts to finally making his first shot.
Lenard thought he was responsible for Jordan’s struggles, and while Jordan turned it up a little towards the end of the game and finished with 29 points and eight rebounds on 9-of-35 shooting, Miami’s lead was just too big for Chicago to come back from.
The Heat won 87-80 to avoid getting swept. However, the Bulls bounced back in Game 5, beating them 100-87 to close out the series. Jordan had 28 points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks on 11-of-31 shooting in Game 5, but he got his revenge on Lenard until 1998.
How Lenard Upset Jordan Again
Lenard sealed his fate when the Bulls visited the Heat on January 7, 1998. At one point, Miami had a 25-point lead and Lenard said some trash talk to Jordan once the game was out of reach for the Bulls.
The Heat beat the Bulls 99-72 and Lenard knew that Jordan would eventually make him pay for his trash talk. Jordan always took mental notes on his opponents, and on March 10, 1998, Lenard learned the hard way not to trash talk Jordan.
Jordan gave Lenard an earful at the start, telling him “you can’t guard me!, not tonight,” “why are you even trying?”
Jordan backed up his trash talk, leading the Bulls to a 106-91 home win. He had a game-high 37 points with four rebounds and four assists on 17-of-30 shooting, while Lenard finished with seven points, four rebounds, and three assists on 2-of-8 shooting and 0-of-3 from 3-point range.
By the end of the night, Lenard understood that he made some big mistakes, especially his trash talk after hitting a big 3-point shot over Jordan in their previous meeting.
“Well last game we played he was uh he said let’s go one-on-one they were 25 points up, I said let’s start right from scratch zero zero let’s go one-on-one see who scored all the points,” Jordan recalled.
