How Michael Jordan turned the 'Space Jam' set into his comeback gym - ESPN

Michael Jordan had seen enough.

With rising UCLA sophomore and national champion Kris Johnson defending him, reigning NBA All-Star Cedric Ceballos wouldn't let the youngster go away easily. Ceballos had been «busting my ass,» Johnson told ESPN, and talking smack while doing it.

At North Carolina, a poster of five-time NBA All-Star Marques, Kris' father, hung in Jordan's dorm room. Jordan had recently taken Johnson under his wing. So with Ceballos picking on Johnson, Jordan took action. He would guard Ceballos and Kris switched onto another All-Star, Reggie Miller.

«I'm like, 'OK, all right, what's going on over here?' And then Mike just systematically just went to attack Ceballos on multiple possessions,» Johnson told ESPN.

In Johnson's words, Jordan «dismantled» Ceballos with multiple buckets in a row and delivered the trash talk back. Rocking the patent leather Jordan 11s, he jab faked with the ball palmed looking down and expressing his disdain that Ceballos wore 23 in the league — Jordan's jersey number.

Johnson and Jordan won the game, a pickup held on the Warner Bros. lot in the summer of 1995 while Jordan filmed «Space Jam.» The intensity of those runs rivaled a playoff atmosphere, and that interaction with Ceballos showed Johnson something.

«My takeaway, wow, Mike's a crazy motherf---er. He's really in real life, he's really that dude,» Johnson said.

Jordan had just returned to the NBA after leaving to play baseball. The Orlando Magic defeated him and the Bulls in the playoffs, celebrating emphatically on the Bulls' home court.

It marked the first time since 1990 that Jordan's Bulls didn't play in the NBA Finals. For all intents and purposes, it wouldn't be a normal offseason. Add in a potential distraction with