When you’re playing against Michael Jordan, you could always do with some extra motivation. Pat Riley was good at that, according to one of his players, Mark Jackson. Riley was with the New York Knicks then, and they had an infamous rivalry with the Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. In 1992, that rivalry was at its peak. So the coach had to pull out all his cards to motivate his team. Jackson revealed to his son Bluu on The Mark Jackson Show two instances of when Riley’s singular tactic worked and failed.

In 1992, the Knicks had on their team, Patrick Ewing, a close friend of Jordan, and Charles Oakley, a former Bull. Apparently, there was a perception that these two would be soft on Jordan. “They had ties to him,” Jackson told his son “So at times they was perceived to be a little soft on Jordan.”

Jackson said not only was the perception false, but Riley instead turned them into key figures they could use against the Bulls legend. “Pat Riley was really speaking to those two guys to set the tone as the enforcers and we did it. We delivered and we won.”

He was in fact referring to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The series was tied 3-3 when the Knicks won 100-86. Jackson credited Riley’s coaching tactics as the factor that pushed them against His Airness.

Jackson described Riley as a good motivational speaker. But Riley also apparently showed the team visuals of how Jordan embarrassed them in previous games to get them motivated.

But sometimes his tactics don’t work. Unfortunately, Jackson discovered that in the same series.

Pat Riley stretched his strategy too far

After the Knicks tied the series, Game 7 was a winner-take-all. With so much riding on this game, Riley pushed too hard and “fell short,” according to Jackson. He described the locker room atmosphere where the coach broke into a long speech. Jackson said they didn’t need a long-winded speech that sapped the energy they had.

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As history goes, the defending NBA champs routed the Knicks with a 110-81 win. Jordan rained 42 points on New York and Scottie Pippen made a triple-double record. The Bulls blew past Cleveland in the next round and went on to win their second consecutive title in the Finals.

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Would it have been different if the Knicks weren’t supposedly numbed by Pat Riley’s speech? What would history look like if the Knicks had won that series? Let us know in the comments.

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