Maybe the most impressive thing is not that Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are capable of scoring 40 points in the same game. Or that they can pick each other up when one is having an off night. Or even that they are two of the greatest talents ever to play in the NBA.
Maybe it is simply that after seven years of playing on the same team, they can flourish together consistently; that they are at peace with their talent, their game and each other like never before.
Maybe, after all the hyperbole associated with a Bulls team seemingly destined for greatness, this is one label that can be affixed without much debate.
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are the greatest twosome in NBA history.
The comparisons come tumbling out, from today and eras past, beginning with George Mikan and Slater Martin, through Bill Russell-Bob Cousy; Cousy-Bill Sharman; Oscar Robertson-Jerry Lucas; Elgin Baylor-Jerry West; Willis Reed-Walt Frazier; Wes Unseld-Elvin Hayes; Oscar Robertson-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Abdul-Jabbar-Magic Johnson; Julius Erving-Moses Malone; Shaquille O’Neal-Anfernee Hardaway.
But it always seems to start with Baylor and West.
From a statistical standpoint, there is no comparison, for these two Lakers Hall of Famers were as prolific as they come. They averaged a combined 69 points and 26.5 rebounds in the 1961-62 season and a combined 50 points or more in 10 of the 11 seasons they played together.
In their best season together, on the 1991-92 championship team, Jordan and Pippen averaged 51 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and four steals a game. This season, they are close–53 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists and four steals. They have averaged more than 50 points and 13 rebounds in all but two seasons they have played together, and at least four steals per game in all but one.
Jordan and Pippen have won three NBA titles with the Bulls, whereas Baylor retired before the Lakers won the 1971-72 championship. Is it premature to thrust Jordan and Pippen in the category of best-ever twosome? Many say no.
Baylor, now general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers, has no problem with the comparisons.
“It’s very difficult to compare eras, but based on what they’ve accomplished, yes, they definitely belong. They’re two outstanding players together and there are no words to describe Jordan.”
Forget the numbers, says Matt Guokas, NBC commentator and former player and coach.
“Not to take anything away from Jerry and Elgin, but it was a different game then,” he says. “They averaged 115, 116 points back then. Now it’s down to under 100. You almost shudder to think what Michael and Scottie would do in a Western Conference setting with a wide open-type game.”
What makes the Jordan-Pippen tandem that much more impressive is their versatility and defensive ability. Furthermore, they each possess many of the same skills, unlike most great duos made up of one big man and a guard or forward.
“They’re unparalleled,” says Orlando General Manager Pat Williams. “There has never been a pair of bookend players like Pippen and Jordan and never two guys as multidimensional. They can be whatever they want to be.”
Utah coach Jerry Sloan says their defensive ability is what makes them special.
“As far as we’re concerned, they’re out there by themselves,” he says.
Another trait unique to Jordan-Pippen is that they are both still in their prime, in contrast with many of the great tandems mentioned previously. .
“In a lot of those cases, you catch one guy at the tail end of their career,” says Seattle assistant Bob Weiss. “Oscar Robertson was a very, very good player with Kareem, but he certainly was not as stupendous as he had been. Michael and Scottie are hitting it at the same time.”
Ernie Grunfeld, New York Knicks general manager, snickers when asked about the two as a tandem.
“I always thought Michael Jordan and anybody was the greatest tandem,” he says. “Pippen, though, is not just anybody.”
It did, however, take Pippen several years to reach the rarified status of Jordan.
“Scottie has matured tremendously over the last year,” Bulls GM Jerry Krause says. “People around the league are saying that he’s the best in the league right now, and he’s playing with the best to ever play the game. That’s a tremendous tribute to Scottie.”
It wasn’t always that way. And Krause believes Pippen may never have reached that status if not for Jordan.
“Michael made Scottie a much better player by playing against him in practice every day,” he says. “No doubt if Scottie had gone somewhere else, he would not be as great as he is now.”
There was a time not long ago when Pippen had difficulty finding his niche. Typically, he would scan the box score after a game and grumble about the number of shots he had compared with Jordan. Part of the solution has been Jordan’s increasing ability to accommodate Pippen’s game.
Baylor, who started two years before West, says sublimating his own ego was key to their success.
“Jerry and I had a great relationship from Day 1 when he was a rookie,” Baylor says. “I did everything possible to make him feel a part of it, which I’m sure helped. Neither one of us had a great ego because we were there for the same purpose.”
But part of Jordan and Pippen’s success together can also be attributed to Pippen’s patience and tenacity as well.
“It still happens on occasion, where he’ll get only three or four shots in a half,” Bulls assistant coach Tex Winter says of Pippen, “but then all of a sudden, he has the ability to explode.”
Everyone agrees that Jordan’s retirement helped Pippen’s development.
“Just being the focal point and having to thrive under that kind of pressure made a difference,” Bulls coach Phil Jackson says. “Before, Michael had always taken the pressure off him to be a scorer.
“But now that Michael is back, (Scottie) scoring is not necessary for us to win and (he) is that kind of guy who will do whatever is necessary. That’s what’s so important about his game.”
That, and added confidence.
“The talk that he’s very, very valuable to this club, to the point where Michael says he’s the MVP of the league, has helped Scottie tremendously,” says Winter. “He plays with more relaxed abandon now and he’s more comfortable now than he has ever been.”
Others have noticed as well.
“Not taking anything from Pippen’s game, but when all the pressure is on him, maybe he hasn’t handled it as well as when Michael is there,” says Wes Unseld, who formed two great tandems with Earl Monroe and Elvin Hayes. “I think he’s at a level of comfort when Michael’s there and now, I don’t think it’s premature at all to call them the best. I can’t think of a better duo than those two.
“You can play your tail off as a team and still come down to a situation where you’ve got to have a basket,” Unseld says. “If you have one guy who can do that, you’re darn lucky in this league. To have two is just unbelievable. And the Bulls have that.”
