Joe Johnson recalls his first game against Michael Jordan: “He and Paul Pierce were talking junk”
Joe Johnson got starstruck when he played against the legendary Michael Jordan.
Joe Johnson had a respectable career in the league for almost two decades. Early in his career, he was a promising rookie with the Boston Celtics but was expendable enough to get traded to the Phoenix Suns mid-way into his rookie year.
During that short stint with the Celtics, he played against the Washington Wizards with a veteran Michael Jordan on the roster. It was a unique experience for Johnson, as he was a youngster going up against the iconic MJ.
“I played against MJ when he first came back for the Wizards. I was in Boston at that time,” Johnson said on The Dan Patrick Show in 2017. “Man, we beat them but I was kinda starstruck the whole game because I had to guard him. He and Paul Pierce were talking junk, I was thinking to myself, ‘Paul you got to chill out, I’m the one that has to guard him.’ As a rookie, I enjoyed that moment, and I still watch that to this day.”
#otd in 2001: @paulpierce34 blocks Michael Jordan in Wizards uniform, and rookie Joe Johnson finishes the play with a dunk on the other end ☘️ pic.twitter.com/7hUNF7f13O
— Tomek Kordylewski (@Timi_093) November 7, 2023
It was always fun to play against Jordan
Most of the young players in the 2000s put Jordan on a pedestal as the greatest to ever do it. They grew up in the 1990s during MJ’s prime and saw the highest peak of any player in NBA history. He stepped away from the NBA for a few years after winning the 1998 Finals with the Chicago Bulls but returned in the early 2000s to play for the Wizards.
It was a surreal event for most NBA players and the rest of the community because the GOAT was back in the league. One of the players who was in love with the idea was Johnson because he respected MJ for what he did in his career. It was a magical moment for a shooting guard who wanted to emulate the best player.
What made it even better for Iso Joe was that he had to guard Jordan. It was intimidating to go against the GOAT, especially when he was motivated by Paul Pierce’s trash talk. However, the Celtics won the game 104 to 95, with Jordan having a great game scoring 32 points and grabbing 8 rebounds.
Johnson ended up being a star guard
Iso Joe learned a lot from that game, seeing first-hand what it was like being MJ. Of course, it was an older version of Jordan, but it was still the GOAT. When he moved to Phoenix, he settled into a solid role as a reliable secondary scorer. However, he elevated himself to becoming the superstar guard in Atlanta with a clutch gene.
Johnson peaked in the 2006/07 season by scoring 25 points per game. He continued to be a star through the years, creating a reputation as a prolific clutch scorer. Iso Joe has eight buzzer-beaters in his career, which ties him with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. They are only second to MJ, which shows how much Joe has grown since that rookie year game against Jordan.
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