The Greatest Game Nobody Ever Saw

the Dream Team Tapes. I'm Jack McCallum, and today I tell you what happened in Monte Carlo the week before the Dreamers went on to Barcelona for the Olympics. Some recap the team had its initial training in San Diego, went on to play the qualifying tournament in Portland. But Chuck Daily and the folks at USA Basketball didn't want to go to Barcelona cold, so they set up a week of pre Olympic training at a place where everyone goes when they want to train. Seriously, Monty Carlo. Yeah right,

it was a brilliant move. Really. The players may not have wanted to practice, but they knew the good times they could have in Monte Carlo. It wasn't as sybaritic as you might think. Most of them brought along their families. The team was going directly for Monte Carlo to Barcelona, and I remember looking at them when they checked into the Low's Monte Carlo. It looked like a group family vacation of millionaires, which is exactly what it was. Strollers, luggage, babysitters,

more luggage, more babysitters, more luggage. Charles Barkley was one of the few who was batching it, so the mind cannot begin to grasp what a great time he must have had in that have been for gamblers, models and

folks with few money. The fact that they were there at all was a testament to the compromises made for the Dream Team, because in the early years of his tenure as Commissioner, the late Great David Stern was fervent the anti gambling, having grown up following the college basketball point shaving scandals that wrecked hoops in New York City

for a long time. But he was also the leagu's guardian, and he recognized that a training camp and say, Fort Wayne, Indiana, was not the inducement he needed to get the players to buy in. So he began talking to a tennis buddy, New York Giants owner Bob Tisch, who also owned the Lowe's hotel, including a show piece property in Monaco. From there, Russ Grant, Externs Consigliari at the NBA and Lowe's chairman

Robert Hausman negotiated the deal with the principality. Plus this was only months removed from the revelations coming to light about Michael Jordan's off court gambling debts and his association with a convicted coke dealer slash money launderer with the Elmore Leonardish name of James slim Boeller. The NBA investigated and released a statement There appears to be no reason for the NBA to take action again. Michael subtexts were

embarrassed by this and wish he would stop. But there was Michael, along with many of the other Dreamers, gambling the night away in the Lows Casino entirely legally. It must be at it Magic. Johnson remembers one night watching Michael play. So I was sitting at his table, but not playing, just sitting it, and then he comes in. I said I was one. I'm wanted me a table up for you. So he says to me, I'm gonna be your most expensive Chiley that you've ever had in

you a lot. I'm gonna stand behind you, and cheered gold Jordan go. So he played all what is the end of five? Five? Five and five? N he was playing them all. They wrote up this table for him and he played all night. Now. Before the dream team arrived, the lows legendary hotel manager Henrie Lorenzi. I was told

he was legendary. I don't really know how to rate the legendary nous of hotel managers, but anyway, Henri was complaining about what he perceived as the unnecessary level of security insisted upon by USA Basketball, which had sent in an advanced team of people. Lorenza's point was that millionaires and movie stars, monarchs and models dined and drank and gambled and gamboled in his hotel. So what was the

big deal about a dozen guys and sneakers? Why tennis immortal Bjorn Borg is here right now, he told the NBA's Kim Bihooney. Then when the team bus pulled up, there was such a rush forward from the hotel guests where it had gotten around that two unfortunates crashed through the front doors of the entrance I see your point on there, said to Bihooni, probably in a marvelous French accent. Now, the scariest moment occurred a couple of days later, when the team was boarding a bus to go to practice.

A driver lost control of his car while gaping at the Dream Team. And here was a scene described by Pete Scurich, the Pistons team videographer whom Chuck Daly had brought over to chronicle practices and Games. Were parked out front of the hotel, getting ready to go to practice, and this car that was parked up on the hill kind of a parking brate went out and it came down the hill and a crashing of the hotel had penned us in. And for like a split time, I

thought this could be this could be terrorists. The Dream Team's arrival gave a whole new dimension to the phrase gap or delay, and the same thing would happen in Barcelona. Now, these trips to exotic locales always sound more bacchanalian than they really are, particularly for journalists, at least for this journalist.

I was married. Nobody wanted to comport with me, though I did suffer the least sympathetic injury in sports writer history, a sprain thumb from operating the uncooperative controls of a jet ski that I had rented from a topless fender by the Lovely Mediterranean. It really hurts, I said to my wife, and a phone call shut up, she suggested.

The most fun I had during this entire summer happened when Newsday writer Jan Hubbard and I joined Barkley and Drexeler for a round of golf at the Monte Carlo Country Club, which was not as upscale as the name suggests, though it did afford beautiful views. A golfing hierarchy had

been established by this time. At the top was Jordan and Chuck Daily and whomever else was selected to play with them, and below that was everybody else, especially journalist Jan and Clyde, both with Texas roots, played against Charles and I, both with Philly connections. At that point, Charles had not suffered the bewildering sets of ticks and twitches that have turned his game into a mind puzzle of the first order, So I think it was a good match.

I mean, who really cares. But it really got interesting when David Robinson joined us, thus creating an illegal Fivesome. I wish somebody had filmed it. David was at that time just getting comple with his Christian faith and trying to figure out how it was supposed to work in a pro sports atmosphere where locker room language was pretty much everywhere. You know, it was something that was really emerging in my life, and uh, and I was just

really understanding it for myself. And you know, in locker room is not the place where everybody they don't want to hear that stuff. You know that you go in there and you know guys are like, look, number one, Christian guys, they're soft. You know, they know they're not gonna cut your throat out when it's time, and we want somebody who's going to cut your throat that one it's time. And so I think that that was part of the kind of one of the first impressions that

people had. But then the other one that people just didn't want to be around the guy and talking about faith. So David joins us, and our original foursome is cussing up a storm and David says something about toning it down very nicely, and we go another hole or two. But then Charles says some form of m effort to somebody, and David picks up his clubs and says he's going back to the range. He did it very nicely. He

didn't get mad about it. He just as I wrote in Dream Team, smiled beatifically, indicated that he would rather not be around that kind of language, picked up his clubs and walked away. It was a lesson to me. He did it, his teammates accepted it, and that's the way it was. And as soon as David walked away,

we began cussing again. Now on the way home, I was apparently driving the rental car a bit too, shall we say, haphazardly through the mountainous terrain of the rivieras on the same road where in two Princess Grace of Monico had suffered a stroke while driving, crashed her Rover Piece six, and died of injuries. The next day, we began speculating how the newspaper headlines would read if we died in a crash. Barkley Drexler, two others die and crash.

Hubbard said, they'll just leave us out. Jan I said, Barkley Drexler die in Monte Carlo crash shit, said Barkley. They won't even care about Clyde Barkley did. That's all

it would say, Oh, yes, basketball. Now. The Dream Team did practice, They did play an exhibition game against the French national team, and it was really, really lousy, except for the excited fans and the French coach whose name was Francis Jourdan spelled j O r d a n E, who figured that his name would give him special access to Michael Terry Lyons, one of the NBA's great public relations people, remembers that a group photo was taken and as Terry says, sure enough, there is your Dan with

his arm around Jordan's. Now. Because the Dream Team's performance was so lousy, and I say that despite a one and eleven to seventy one margin of victory, Chuck Daily again began having thoughts that the Dream Team could possibly lose and he would be consigned to eternal damnation without a trial. And so he told the team at practice

the day after the lousy game, We're gonna scrimmage. Stop screwing around, no matter what time you got in from drinking at Jimmy z S, a nightclub that opened at midnight. The most surprised and disappointed. Of the players was one l Bird remember that day because I came in there and I was over a stationary bike and that's where I were going to Steady, and all of a sudden,

they're looking over you gotta played. John Stockton, c was still battling the injury he had suffered in Portland, and Clyde Drexeler had a sore nee throughout the Dream Team summer. In fact, Drexler had at Scope when he got back from Barcelona, and to his credit, he rarely spoke about it. That left ten players for the scrimmage, and that meant Bird had to play, and Daily divided up the teams. On one squad Jordan's Malone, Pippen, Bird and Ewing, and

on the other Magic Barkley, Mullen, Robinson and Lightner. To this day, Jordan refers to it as East versus West, but Carl Malone, a Utah jazz man, is clear only not an Easterner, dividing up Jordan's Magic to find what happened next, As Dream Team assistant Mike Shaski put it to me in a remarkably unappealing metaphor, separating those two guys is what popped the pimple. But he's right now. The background, the Dream Team is practicing in the Stade

Louis du and All Purpose Arena in Monte Carlo. There are a few people inside. Remember, we journalists could not watch practices, and on this day, Chuck Daly had kicked out a few USA Basketball reps who were not happy about it, and a few other assorted people. Chuck, one of the audience, lean and mean assistant P J. Car Lesimo, and a referee from Italy who had been hired by USA Basketball. I'll be damned if I ever could find out this guy's name, were handed whistles and daily told

his charges to play for real. They did, but we the journalists, didn't know that until we showed up later for the post practice quotes, and there seemed to be tension in the air. Magic was clearly piste off about something. Jordan was strutting around, being more jordan Esque than usual.

Gradually we found out that Jordan had beaten Magic's team in a heated scrimmage, and there had been a lot of trash talking, and over the years it became a kind of urban legend because not many people had seen it, and there was apparently no videotape. But when I started researching the book Dream Team, I figured somebody had it

and I called up Pete Scorage, the Pistons videographer. I mentioned a couple of minutes ago, Pete, did you film every basketball minute from San Diego, Monte Carlo and Barcelona. He said, I think so, and I invited myself to his house, and after we watched c D after Seed, we finally stumbled upon it. For me, it was like the holy Grail. I was now about to see the greatest game that nobody ever saw. This is me informing Jordan that I had a tape of that game. We

want to be like that on tape. What comes through in the tape is not the quality of play, though a few interesting things happen. It's the quality of the smack talk. And though it has come down through the years that it was a mass smack talking jamboree, really it was almost entirely Michael and Magic. This little bit will give you a flavor. As the game starts to turn, can we say inevitably towards Team Jordan's Magic begins complaining that the refs, well, really the ref because p J.

Car Lesimo never blew his whistle is favoring Jordan's. That is the only did and moved the bull stadium right here. That's all they did. In case you didn't get all that, that was Magic and then me asking Pippen what Magic was saying him laughing about it, and then Magic clearly stating his opinion they just moved Chicago Stadium to Monte Carlo. What Jordan Magic were really doing was playing King of

the Hill. Magic did not want to give up a spot, and Jordan was telling him exactly what the deal was. On more than one occasion he said, hey man, this is the nineties. The eighties are over. It was more than idle trash talk, and it was a moment in time, and the subject of whose league it was came up on several occasions. Now Magic backs off that a little bit these days, but that was exactly what was going on. As Larry Bird remembers, the best player in our league

before that started, I had no problem. You know, we had our run. You know I had my run. My run was over. My run was over a couple of years before that. I think Michael really handles something very well over there. But is up there one night and we're talking and your mind you're making still repeat at this time. The conversation Bird is referring to took place during a night in Barcelona, which we'll get to in the next episode. But the idea of whose league it

was was the subplot of this scrimmage. What had happened, say, was that Magic's team got off to an early lead and Jordan's team came back to win. The final was forty four to forty, but much of the blame has

to be put on Magic. He got suckered into playing Jordan's game one on one, and later after it was over, Pippin told me that Barkley was upset that Magic had allowed himself to become a one on one player that was not Magic's m O, and his desire to go at Jordan's might have cost his blue team to win over Jordan's White team, which should not have mattered because

what is blue and white? But really, watching Magic and Jordan's square off against each other, and I watched that tape dozens of times trying to pick out the best parts for the book provided an excellent opportunity to reflect on the arc of their careers. Now, don't get me wrong, Magic was a star from the first second of his rookie year. He won a championship, he was the finals m v P. The instant stardom that had been predicted for him was exactly what happened. But strangely, he should

have been even bigger. He should have been the first Jordan's and he was not. Here's David Falk's shoes because they's a personality. And I thought that Michael had the style, the electricity, the charisma. Whods how good he was and he was to be very exciting to sell shoes. But I think Magic didn't have to Invanair Jordan's. He was Magic and College when he had the nickname, he was in the best market in the country. He won a championship as a rookie, back to back College in the pros.

I mean, Magic should have been enormous. The market, had a great style. You know, he was flashy and and anyone at you could have owned the world at Margarine, and he had somebody, you know, confident representing him. There was no doubt about how good Magic was going to be. He was exactly as advertised. A six ft eight inch point guard with over the top leadership skills. But there were some doubts about Jordan's and let's remember that he was the third pick of the draft, not the first.

Like Magic was a key. Malajawa went first in Kentucky center Sam Bowie went second to the Trailblazers who passed over Jordan because they already you know, had their Michael Jordan's in Clyde Drexeler. People thought he'd be like Clyde Dresher type, like a guy the uncle free flash. I mean, truthfully, Jackie, if I went back out of my archives and took out my notes in draft, people questioned whether Michael had a good enough jump shot to shoot, whether he could

really handle ball enough. And they knew he could jump, you know, they knew it could dunk. They had a lot of questions about his skills. That was David Falk. Again, Look, let's not shed any tears for Magic. He has turned himself into quite possibly the most successful athlete turn businessman ever. But as an endorser, he never got close to Jordan's and he should have been the first superstar endorser, the

first true basketball crossover sensation. I also watched the tape again and again to compare Barkley and Karl Malone to an even greater degree than Michael Magic, who didn't play the same position. The matchup of the Dream Team was Barkley Malone both power forwards, so Charles was more the height of a small forward or even a guard. Malone didn't really want to get into the specifics of who

was better, but Charles did. We talked about it here during my interview with Barkley for the Dream Team book would have been called Malone, Hey, We'll more places and quite more seasons. Wasn't a rebounder? You had more rebounding, wasn't a path But I don't think he did better score And that come down to farm. The law comes across as cocky, of course, but that's Charles. He respected the hell out of Malone, still does and they are

good friends. What it always comes down to with Malone and Barkley is, Wow, what if Charles kept himself in the same kind of shape and worked as hard as the mailman did? How good would he have been? Then? One of the most interesting aspects of the greatest game nobody ever saw happened late, with the issue still in doubt, Bird who looks a hundred years old throughout most of the game, makes a steal and begins dribbling full speed. Okay, full speed for Bird at thirty five and bad back

speed toward the basket with Barkley in hot pursuit. Okay, Barkley in hot pursuit after a night of carousing speed. When he gets near the basket, Bird fakes a behind the back past. He always had this knack of these exaggerated fakes that were really deceptive, and Bartley bites and Bird goes in for the layup. When I showed the clip to Chris Mullen, he calls to his wife, Hey, Liz,

come here, watch Larry on this play. And when I asked Jordan if he remembered the play, he said, hell, yeah, I've referred to this before among his own Dream Team teammates. There was this kind of reverence for Bird. Now, when the scrimmage was over and we the press were allowed in, we caught the sight of Jordan's singing be like Mike from the Gatorade commercial and Magic moping, and we knew

something had gone on. And some of the better reporters, like Jan Hubbard, pieced together bits and pieces of the scrimmage, but we never thought would be able to see it in detail. So when I found the videotape and thank God for Pete Scurage, I was ecstatic because it was an archaeological discovery as much as anything, and what it demonstrated was not a boy's to men moment, but rather a men to boys moment. Just a bunch of superstar athletes playing like kids and reacting like kids. Winners act

like Jerk's, losers act like spoil sports. So the greatest game nobody ever saw capt off Monte Carlo. It was on to Barcelona, where the world at large waited to see these guys. The attention and adulation can't get any bigger, I thought to myself, and boy was I wrong. See you next time for episode seven, Viva Barcelona. I'm Jack McCallum and thanks for listening. If you enjoyed The Dream Team Tapes, please follow, rate, and review wherever you get

your podcasts. The Dream Team Tapes is written and hosted by Jack McCallum. Executive producers Mark Francis and Scott Waxman, executive producer for I Heart Media. Is shown to tone. The Dream Team Tapes is a Diversion podcast original series in association with I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.