Go Jazz! Warriors - awesome season!

[Tequilasun]

Tequila, you call the Worm a good supporting case???? Pipen hasn't done anything since MJ left.... Would be interesting to know why you say this..

The Worm, yes. The dude was/is mental, but he took a lot of the media heat off Jordon. He also was a rebounding machine. I remember one year they played the Heat(?) in the playoffs, and he completely shut down Shaq. Got in the dudes head, and wreaked him. Saw him do the same to Karl Malone more than a couple times.+

# Named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1989-90 and 1990-91
# Named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team seven times (1988-89 to 1992-93, 1994-95, 1995-96) and to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 1993-94

Pipen is no Jordon, he wasn't going to carry the bulls after Jordon left, and they wholesaled the team more or less. The between Jordon years, he did ok as the "point" man, but he wasn't stellar. Probably one of the best supporting players to play the game though. With a Jordon/Pippen Team, you couldn't just concentrate on one (as if it would really matter with Jordon) but it gave them both a chance to shine. Here's his career highlights... the dude was no slouch

# Six-time NBA World Champion (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 and 1998)
# Name is scattered across the NBA’s all-time leader board: 40th in total points (18,940), fourth in steals (2,307), tied for 16th in steals per game (1.96), 23rd in assists (6,135), 13th in minutes (41,069), 16th in minutes per game (34.9), 32nd in three-point field goals made (978)
# Ranked first in Bulls history with 664 three-pointers and 2,031 three-point field goals attempted
# Ranked second in Bulls history in: points (15,123), field goals (5,991), field goal attempts (12,444), free throws attempted (3,576), offensive rebounds (1,687), defensive rebounds (4,039), assists (4,494), steals (1,792), seasons played (12), games played (856) and minutes (30,269)
# Ranked third in Bulls history with 5,726 rebounds and 774 blocked shots
# Participated in postseason play in 16 of his 17 NBA seasons, making the playoffs in each of his first 16 seasons
# Second in NBA history with 208 playoff appearances (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 237)
# Owner of two NBA Finals records: most three-point field goals attempted in a career (117), most three-point field goals made in one game (7, tied with Kenny Smith)
# Holds career playoff record for most three-point field goals attempted (660)
# Member of the NBA All-Defensive Team from 1991-2000 (First Team member seven times)
# Selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996
# Seven-time NBA All Star (1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997)
# 1994 All-Star Game MVP
# Made All-NBA seven straight years (1992-1998)
# Two-time Olympic gold medal winner
# Has recorded 20 career triple-doubles, including four in the playoffs
# Ranked atop the all-time All-Star Game leader board in 3FGA with 22 (second), 3FG made with 7 (tied for 4th) and steals with 17 (eighth)
# Career highs of 47 points, 18 rebounds, 15 assists, 9 steals and 5 blocked shots


There were others who stepped up and either made big shots or contributed, but the Bulls won because they were a Team. A highly talented one to say the least, but Jordon was the leader of an exceptional team.

[Moki]

I agree that he had a decent supporting cast, but without Jordan that team would have not been in the finals. Jordan saved so many games that would have eliminated the Bulls earlier. You are forgetting to mention to Steve Kerr - the most accurate three-point shooter in league history. Still, without Jordan they went no where until Jordan came back. Houston can thank Jordan that he took those two years off.

[da.bell]

I would agree with you. MJ is definately a very, very good player and could be considered the greatest to play the game. However, MJ didn't do so well when he was with the Wizards playing ball with them. Now, that leads us back to Pipen/MJ combo. I think this is why they did so well and maybe a few others around them but it was these two that did it mainly.

[Moki]

I think that Jordan just got a little old and slow like Stockton and Malone did in their final years.

[da.bell]

He definately didn't have a lot of good players on the team either. At the time, the Wizards were thinking that everyone would take the MJ salary reduction since he worked for them and played for them. However, I don't think that went over very well with the players becuase they had some bad players on the roster from what I understood.

[talltigeguy]

Tequila knows his Pippen stats!

Basketball is a team effort, and the Bulls might not have won like that without multiple guys on the roster.

Speaking of Rodman, - Do you know how hard it is to get 20 rebounds in an NBA basketball game? It is a monumental task, and he did it routinely. It took someone of MJ's caliber to keep him on track.

MJ also was one of the top 5 defensive basketball players of all time.


I think the Jazz will be better at beating the suns than the Spurs. The warriors were a run and gun team too...it is a matter of the Jazz being able to take advantage of the other team's weaknesses...like the warriors and suns lack of rebounding.

[da.bell]

I think that this goes back to what Moki was saying. If it wasn't for Pippen/MJ era, the Jazz would have had two rings. So what do you think about that comment?

[Tequilasun]

Tequila knows his Pippen stats!

No, NBA.com does though! I get a bit defensive about Pippen, he was one of my favorite players, Saw him play at Central Arkansas when I was a kid. The dude was totally overshadowed by Jordon.....but who wasn't! Jordon was one of my other favorite players.

I think that this goes back to what Moki was saying. If it wasn't for Pippen/MJ era, the Jazz would have had two rings. So what do you think about that comment?

No doubt about it, the Jazz were good. They had no flair though, nothing to root for. Seriously hearing the Biter (Marv Albert) say "Stockton to Malone" 13,000 times a game gets old. They were good though, got to give them that. I think "the Mailman" is one of the top 5 worst nicknames ever. I'd rather watch Barkley play than Karl. Stockton always intrigued me, I feel like he had way more ball skills than just tossing over the pick and roll.

I always thought that Jeff Hornacek was a true talent on that team. He used to impress me.

But I really know nothing about Basketball...seriously, I'm just a casual fan who hasn't watched more than an hour of the NBA since ~2000.

I'd rather mow my lawn with scissors than watch Shaq or Kobe, or AI.

[da.bell]

I'd rather mow my lawn with scissors than watch Shaq or Kobe, or AI.

Who wouldn't???? All these guys do is talk about "Me. Me. Me"... They aren't team players. The closest person to a team player would be Shaq and that is questionable.

[G-MONEY]

CAN YOU DIG-IT

[xpjim1]

Kobe's a team player. Kobe says"The lakers are my team" all the time!!! I say trade Kobe. No body wants to come play with him in LA.

[Moki]

No doubt about it, the Jazz were good. They had no flair though, nothing to root for. Seriously hearing the Biter (Marv Albert) say "Stockton to Malone" 13,000 times a game gets old.

Yeah, the jazz are blue collar, methodical, slug it out basketball.

I'd rather mow my lawn with scissors than watch Shaq or Kobe, or AI.

Agreed! Talk about role models of what I want my kids never to become.

[talltigeguy]

When the team ran sprints, jordan was first. He worked harder than anyone else.

I agree, the jazz would have 2 rings if it were not for those bulls.

No Kobe fan here, either. Too selfish. Can you imagine essentially forcing a 'I go or shaq goes' kind of scenario? Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face...Now no more championships in LA.