Something which unites all top athletes around the world is the drive to prove everyone wrong. Whether it is Lionel Messi or Michael Jordan, they love to prove their doubters wrong. Apart from the exclusive content that ‘The Last Dance’ documentary presented to viewers, Jordan’s ‘I took it personally’ meme made it even more popular.

The context behind the line is Jordan taking criticism against him personally, which ultimately pushed him to perform better. After the match against San Antonio Spurs, Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets had a similar moment.

Speaking during the post-match interview, Irving mentioned what went through his mind after a teammate yelled at him.

Kyrie Irving ‘takes it personally’

After a brilliant outing against the Spurs, Brooklyn Nets superstar Kyrie Irving talked about the brilliant performance of teammate James Harden. 

He also talked about a very interesting moment that occurred between him and Harden during the third quarter. Speaking to the press he said, ” You know James kinda yelled at me, it’s not a negative yell. He was like, “Kai, get  the f***ing ball” in the third quarter.”

Irving adds, “ I kinda took that personally and I just wanted to come out in the fourth quarter with an aggressive mindset.”

Safe to say James Harden’s words had an impact, Kyrie Irving scored 15 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter itself. The two stars combined to score a whopping 26 points as the Nets beat the Spurs 117-102. Michael Jordan was famous for taking criticisms similar to this personally and performing brilliantly.

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Times when Michael Jordan took it personally

Arguably one of the greatest to ever play in the NBA, Michael Jordan has won it all. Apart from his skills on the basketball court, Jordan’s super competitive nature made him great.

One of the instances which give us an idea of his competitive nature happened to be with the 1992 Dream team. As the story goes, Magic Johnson and Jordan were fighting for the top dog status in the 1992 USA team.

The team consisted of heavyweights like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, and many more. During one of the practice sessions, Johnson challenged MJ. He said, “Look, man, if you don’t turn into Air Jordan, we gonna blow you out.”

What happened next was nothing less than legendary. Jordan took that personally and went on to destroy his Magic and his team during the training session. Johnson said, “Man, what did I say that for? He broke the huddle, hit a three, came back down and hit another three, came through the middle and just shook everybody.” This is just one of the various moments that makes Michael Jordan great.

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What is your favorite memory of Michael Jordan? Let us know in the comments below.