“The Last Dance” delved into the infamous LaBradford Smith game, once known by historians of the game and those that closely followed Michael Jordan's career with the Chicago Bulls. Smith had gone for a scorching career-high 37 points on 15-of-20 shooting as a member of the Washington Bullets.
The Bullets lost that March 19, 1993 game to the Bulls. David Aldridge of The Athletic (then with The Washington Post) recalled just how it all went down:
“Some of them were against Jordan, but more were scored on Scottie Pippen,” wrote Aldridge. “The Bulls won, but the story was Smith. You didn’t have to be a genius to figure that out. Me, being no genius, wrote about him for the next day’s Post.
I talked to Smith afterward. He was very respectful of Jordan. At no point did he boast or brag. I went to the Bulls’ locker room. Jordan never said anything derogatory about Smith. In fact, he blamed himself for a poor performance, but said he’d be ready the next game – which, unfortunately for Smith, was the next night in D.C.”
Tale has it Smith said “good game, Mike” as the Bulls were walking off the court, something Jordan might have taken as a slight, given his poor shooting performance. Jordan then took that as a motivating barb, torching the Bullets for 36 points in the first half alone during the back end of their back-to-back affair.
According to Aldridge, the only reason he didn’t match Smith’s 37 by halftime is because he missed a free throw.
After the game, Jordan didn’t make reference to any beef between him and Smith.
Jordan would later admit he made the whole thing up — most think, as a way to motivate himself and bust out of the horrid shooting slump he showcased in that first game.
Aldridge knew something was off, as Smith was nothing but respectful after the game. His colleague Melissa Isaacson of The Chicago Tribune noticed the same.
According to Aldridge, Bulls coach Phil Jackson, was critical of Jordan in the team’s postgame meeting after he was outclassed by a relative no-name player.
That evolved into Jordan taking Smith's 37 points as a personal diss.
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