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Horace Grant Had A Deep Hatred For Michael Jordan And The Chicago Bulls According To Penny Hardaway
Retired Orlando Magic point guard Penny Hardaway revealed that former teammate Horace Grant kept an underlying hatred towards Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls during his tenure with the Magic.
Horace Grant, drafted by the Bulls in 1987, spent seven seasons playing with the team, and had an instrumental role during their first three-peat. Averaging 15.1 points, 11.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game on 52.4 percent shooting in the 1993-1994 NBA season, Grant was able to capture his first and only All-Star appearance in his career. But it also was his final run with the team, as Grant decided to join the Magic the following year.
With the chance to meet in the Eastern Conference playoffs, Grant apparently was driven by ‘deep hatred’ towards his former team. In an appearance on ‘Uninterrupted’s WRTS: After Party’, Hardaway revealed that Grant’s personal issues with Jordan and how the Bulls handled his contract all played a part on what would’ve become his revenge season.
“He was locked-in. He was just saying ‘I want to beat these cats so bad’. He really wanted to beat them. He had a deep hatred because they didn’t renew his contract and all the stuff that Michael supposedly did to him personally. He was like I want to beat these dudes. For him to have that on his side the very next year, it was crazy,” Penny Hardaway said.
The only team to knock off Jordan in the 90's? @Iam1Cent and the @OrlandoMagic #MagicAboveAll
Penny breaks down how it happened on #WRTS After Party w/ @pr_RWTW @mavcarter & @sburrell24: https://t.co/19bhjSFl9f pic.twitter.com/jcAaJlNzr9
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) May 11, 2020
The 6-foot-11 power forward knowingly didn’t disappoint. He helped the Magic top the Chicago Bulls in six games in the second round of the 1995 NBA playoffs. Forming a formidable frontcourt with Shaquille O’Neal, the Bulls, who were lacking a dominant paint presence, were unable to contain the two opposing big men together.
Grant and the Magic matched up with the Bulls once again in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals. However, the veteran power forward got injured in Game 1 and missed the rest of series. The Chicago Bulls with a newly-added Dennis Rodman eventually prevailed and advanced to the Finals. Nonetheless, Horace Grant and the Orlando Magic had made their mark as the only team to defeat a Michael Jordan-led team in the 1990s.
