In the 1991 NBA Finals....why did Phil Jackson put Scottie Pippen on Magic Johnson(GM2 - 5) instead of Jordan?

Question

Jordan started off gaurding Magic....then Phil Switched to Pippen!........and the Jordan lovers say MJ carried Pippen???...lol...yeah!..Right!

iknow balls - If MJ can gaurd a seven Footer...then why did 6'1" Allen Iverson break his ankles!!????.....lol.....

11 assists?.....typical Jordan Lover...making up stuff to Hype Jordan!!

what's next?......MJ "Willed himself to victory?"......yeah right!..only when Scottie is around to carry him!!!

Clyde.....Jordan is 6'6"..compared ti Pip who is 6'61/2".......who cares?.....Magic is 6'9".....and Phil started out with Jordan on Magic!!

Wey...your saying Jordan did'nt have long arms????......I though Jordan was the greatest???...now he needs someone else to gaurd the other teams best player?...so he can save himself?????..hold on!!!......you proved me right!!...Pippen was the real reason the Bulls won!!

Jakes - OH!..so your one of those obnoxious "Jordan Lovers"................eh?
How come? ............eh.................
Jordan needs another Pippen with him in order to suceed!...eh?..He never "made anyone Better"..this was a myth!..
He did'nt start winning until Pippen arrived!
Jordan played five years without Pippen, all five teams had losing records. Two of those teams didn't even make the playoffs.

Jordan's playoff record without Scottie was 1 win and 10 losses, and he never made it out of the first round


Pippen played six full seasons without Michael, plus most of 1995, and all six teams had winning records
Pippen reached the Conference Finals without Michael, and also won other first round series' without Jordan.

Pippen did far better without Jordan than Jordan ever did without Pippen.

Unless the Lakers Trade Lamar and get a HOFamer then MJ will suffer the same fate of Kobe!...but Kobe can actually lead his team to a winning record...lol........eh?????

He did'nt average 11.4...............
at least 10 of those assists Phil Made!!!! MJ pass it to Paxson!!!......
You guy's are always reaching!!!...lol

Answer 1

does anybody at all get it that the bulls and lakers couldnt win titles until coach jackson and winter came along with a more effective way for the teams to play offense, one that created spacing and actually allowed the teams most potent offensive players to play in space, and one on one with only weak side rotation help...which in turn gave the three point shooters rotating to the open side great opportunities...both teams were good and had nice personnel but did not play championship ball in consecutive seasons until coach jackson implemented more offensive discipline...

Answer 2

This just show you how much basketball now is like a chess match. It has become much more than just running and jumping. The science comes in. Defensively I think Phil felt that Jordan was of disadvantage (in terms of height) against Magic. Pip is a 6'7 guy with great wingspan and of good speed, Magic is 6'9 isn't it? So Phil felt that Pip can guard Magic defensively with ease and that would really boost Jordan's offensive game since he wouldn't tire himself guarding the great Magic Johnson. The logic is simple here tire Magic Johnson, that stops the offensive flow (since he plays PG) and let your best offensive scorer (Jordan) do the offensive chores for you. That became successful and that is why the Bulls are champions in 1991. Again, Jordan can't do this alone without any help from the other guys (especially Pippen who I think is the best complementary player to Mike) as to Kobe, Wilt, Bill Russell or any other players in history, Basketball is a team sport and there is no ONE or I in basketball.

Answer 3

Jordan could have easily done it without Pippen and Phil but he could not have done it without another player of pippens caliber. I think Phil's role in their championships is more than slightly overrated. However one player cannot win a championship alone (unless everyone else is terrible) that is why a supporting cast is needed. Although I think you are 99.9% right in the fact that it did not have to be Pippen playing with him and the coach didnt have to be Phil to win those championships. A great player makes everyone else around him better, that was the case with Jordan and Pippen, Jordan allowed Pippen to come into his own as a good player through many different ways. I believe that Jordan could have brought the same thing to the table with almost anyother team.

Answer 4

Because Phil Jackson wanted to try Jordan on Vlade Divac, the center. Jordan was able to hold his own against a 7 footer. Jordan played all five positions in the 1991 NBA Finals, and averaged 11.4 assists per game, #2 all time for assists in an NBA Finals, #1 all time by a shooting guard.

Can you believe this idiot? He thinks I'm lying. LOL. Too bad he can't look up the stats for himself. Jordan averaged 11.4 assists. He had 57 assists over 5 games. And he played different positions so that the Bulls would throw off the Lakers on offense by having different people guard the different Lakers on offense. That's one of the main reasons why he played all 5 positions in the 91 Finals.

Answer 5

Its because MJ wasnt big enough and better enough to guard Magic Johnson. MJ could guard guys his size or shorter (not Iverson) , but when it comes to versatile defense on multiple positions, Pippen was your man.

If you pit MJ against Pippen one-on-one, Pippen would win because of his size and his defense, and his talent.

MJ did all those things that jockers rave about, because Pippen LET HIM do it.

MJ failed in baseball because there was no Pippen there.
When MJ returned to basketball, he probably could have signed elsewhere, but he knew that he couldnt win jack without Pippen and Jackson, so he came back as a Bull, and it was not out of any loyalty to the Bulls, because if he was loyal to them, he wouldnt have left them to play baseball.

MJ was a great player, but he was no God. Larry Bird was probably being sarcastic when he said that whole God in a pair of sneakers whatever.

In a sense, Kobe is more like Pippen because he let Shaq do what he does in the paint. what else could Shaq do? he couldnt shoot 1 feet away from the basket, and you couldnt count on him when it comes to clutch shot.
Kobe was, is , and will be your man in the 4th quarter.

Answer 6

Oh, so your one of those obnoxious MJ bashers, eh? Pippen made Jordan, of course. That's why he couldn't make it to the playoffs very much, or deep at all when jordan retired...but everytime he came out they were a killer team....yeah, Pippen really carried him. See how awesome he was in portland? Yeah i thought so. He really deserves to be in the top 50 players...Yeah, MJ's unrivaled numbers mean nothing, because he had a highly- over-rated nobody that wouldn't have been anything better than Ben Wallace without him. No.1 Back then...You were able to be more brutal when you guarded people...You could practically mug them. Hence why Pippen was "one of the best defenders ever" and hence why Kobe is "as good as Jordan" when Jordan faced defense literally twice as hard to score on.....People with your ignorance tick me off...Anyway, to answer the first part of your question, instead of your clueless remarks, He played Pippen on Magic, because, frankly, Pippen was a better defender. Not a better player, or even in the same league, by any means. A better Defender.

By the way...did you ever even watch them play? I watched some of the games in their playoffs series in the early 90s.....Pippen was a good role player, nothing more...When points were needed in the clutch, everyone just watched Jordan go to work.....Or, maybe your one of those Bashers who is 13 years old...In which case, you don't deserve to even be mentioning him....

At your additional info: Actually, i hated Jordan while he was playing (I am a Pacers fan and he always beat my team) but looking back i admire him, and enjoy watching him play.. Oh, alright....So...Let's compare the '02-'03 stats when they were not playing together, shall we? Pippen played for the Portland Trailblazers, and Jordan played for the Washington Wizards at the time...PPG: Pippen: 10.8, Jordan: 20.0. Rebounds per game: Pippen: 4.30, Jordan: 6.10. AST Per Game: Pippen: 4.30, Jordan: 3.80. Blocks Per Game: Jordan: .48, Pippen: .39. Turnovers per game: Pippen: 2.56, Jordan: 2.11..........And it goes on and on....Jordan was also OLDER at the time....As i often see posted: Too Easy!!!

Answer 7

Because the long-armed Pippen can be more effected in slowing down the Magicman than MJ. And besides Phil is reserving the strength of His Airness for offense. They needed the scoring of Jordan more than his defense in this series.

Answer 8

Pippen is one of the greatest defender of all time so that's the reason. That doesn't mean Jordan could not guard Magic it simply mean Scottie give the team a better chance to contain that almost 7 foot PG.

Answer 9

What does this prove? No one but Phil Jackson will ever know that- maybe MJ was tired, or was having an off defensive night. Oh yeah, Pippen totally carried MJ... he switched him defensive man for one night. You're totally right!
You're starting to get pretty desperate!

Answer 10

Because Magic was torching Michael. He destroyed Jordan in Game one and drew two quick fouls in the first quarter of game two.

Jackson then decided that Jordan had had enough trying to guard Magic, and switched Scottie over to him. Scottie then held Magic to 4-13 from the field, and the entire series turned in favor of the Bulls.

Jordan, meanwhile, had been switched over to James Worthy, who was playing on crutches. LOL


Jeez, Jake - you REALLY need to brush up on your NBA history. Alpha correctly points out that Jordan never made it out of the first round of the playoffs (and had a 1-10 playoff record) without Scottie.

All 5 of Jordan's Pippen-less teams had losing records.

Meanwhile, Scottie played six full seasons without Jordan, and all six of those teams had winning records. Pippen played 16 full seasons in the NBA, and all 16 teams had winning records. Jordan played for FIVE losing teams.

Scottie also advanced further into the playoffs without Jordan
than Jordan did without Pippen. Scottie got out of the first round in his first year without Michael (1994, after the entire world predicted the complete collapse of the Bulls after Jordan's retirement) and also reached the conference finals without Jordan. And again, JORDAN NEVER MADE IT OUT OF THE FIRST ROUND WITHOUT PIPPEN.

Not only that, but Jordan never even made the all-defensive team without Scottie. The five years Jordan played without Pippen correspond exactly to the five years Jordan DIDN'T make the all-defensive team.

Meanwhile, Scottie made the all defensive team FOUR times without Michael... Scottie made FIRST TEAM ALL DEFENSIVE in both 1994 and 1995 (Jordan's first retirement) .

Then, Scottie goes to Houston, and STILL makes all the all-defensive team.

Then, Scottie goes to Portland, and AGAIN makes the All-Defensive team.

Scottie clearly was able to make the all defensive team no matter WHERE he played, and no matter who he played WITH. On the other hand, Jordan NEVER made the all-defensive team until after Scottie and Horace Grant (and later Dennis Rodman) arrived. Before they got to Chicago, Jordan's defense was about on the level of his hitting in baseball.

Clearly, Jordan's defense was HIGHLY overrated. Chicago did not begin to get recognition as a good defensive team until Pippen got there and they were able to advance past the first round of the playoffs.

I guess we could say that Michael without Scottie was like a bald-headed Kobe Bryant LOL

Answer 11

because in times of need Pippen is the overlooked and underrated work horse while jordan was the guy who took all the credit while pippen did it all. Its like an iceburg. Mj is the top who is shown to the public while Pippen is the bottom that is ten times larger and does so much more work in keeping the iceburg afloat