Since ESPN's The Last Dance retold the story of Michael Jordan and his notorious, competitive spirit, stories have been flooding in from all sorts of people about their experiences competing with the NBA Legend. Not all of them are NBA players either, as Black-ish's Anthony Anderson had a particularly hilarious story about the time he and Jordan went one-on-one in dominoes, which ended with Anderson pissing him off.
Anthony Anderson shared the story with Stephen A. Smith during the ABC special After The Last Dance, a follow-up special about the program. When pressed for a memory of Michael Jordan, Anderson revealed a story about a vacation with Jordan that went awry due to some games between the two of them:
We were in the Bahamas at the opening of The Cove many years ago, and he challenged me to a game of dominoes. I had a pair of aluminum red Jumpman dominoes. He said ‘Meet me in my cabana at 12.’ I met him at 12, we played, I never lost a hand. For the next three days MJ refused to speak to me or allow me to be in his presence. I’m like ‘Yo MJ, we’re on an island! We’re here together! We’re here for the same thing!' He wasn’t having it man.
As The Last Dance showed, Michael Jordan doesn't like to lose. Apparently, that translates to more than just basketball, as Anthony Anderson got the cold shoulder from the NBA icon for the entirety of their trip after their game. The upside is Anderson got the privilege of saying he dominated Jordan in something, which is not something I'd imagine many people can say at all.
Luckily, the bitterness and resentment of those dominoes games hasn't remained as the years have gone on. Anthony Anderson said that the two are able to laugh about it now, and that he's ready to let Jordan have another go at him in dominoes should he ever ask for it:
That’s just how competitive he is. It’s a moment that we laugh about to this day. He’s yet to challenge me in a rematch. I’m waiting though.
After The Last Dance is not the first time Anthony Anderson has told this story, and it's worth noting that other tellings make it a bit more obvious why Michael Jordan was so upset. In a 2011 interview with Conan O'Brien, Anderson revealed that Jordan had a massive lead over him and was talking trash with only 25 points left to score until he won. Anderson ended up pulling ahead and threw down some exceptionally heavy trash talk as he slammed the final domino on the table. It certainly makes Jordan's anger more understandable though, even so, Anderson was only engaging in trash talk Jordan started.
Black-ish has been renewed for Season 7 at ABC, and ESPN is already working towards creating the NFL's version of The Last Dance with Tom Brady. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for updates on both, and for the latest news happening in television and movies.
