Who defended Jordan the best?

[Sonic R]

Gerald Wilkins.

He did such a great job in the 1992 playoffs

[juju151111]

I still think that some of the best defense ever played on Jordan was Starks during the first 2 games of the 93 ECF. The guy shut down and outplayed Jordan in his prime.

lol go watch the gms on youtube MJ had a injured wrist in the 93 ecf.

[dynasty1978]

The media.

[pethuel03]

payton and jumars. They make jordan pist off hahaha

[Loki]

[QUOTE=Se

[plowking]

Guess you didn't actually watch the series, but just looked at the numbers. LOL @ Rodman outplaying Jordan, btw. Rodman played great, but no.

Gary frustrated Jordan so bad that Jordan was having a hissy fit on the court. Rodman was overrated that series, Kemp got the better of him.

[Se]

Guess you didn't actually watch the series, but just looked at the numbers. LOL @ Rodman outplaying Jordan, btw. Rodman played great, but no.

I was 14 at the time, and watched every game. Rodman did outplay Jordan. Without him, they would've been screwed.

Payton didn't play great offensively, but his defense was key on Jordan until the 3rd game I believe. I think it was game 5 when Payton shut down Jordan, if I'm not mistaken.

[Loki]

Gary frustrated Jordan so bad that Jordan was having a hissy fit on the court. Rodman was overrated that series, Kemp got the better of him.

You're crazy. LOL @ "hissy fit." Jordan got upset because of a foul that was called and bit his jersey to keep from saying anything to the ref. What a joke.

[plowking]

[QUOTE=Se

[plowking]

You're crazy. LOL @ "hissy fit." Jordan got upset because of a foul that was called and bit his jersey to keep from saying anything to the ref. What a joke.

So you're saying he didn't defend him well at all? Get off it. He defended him amazingly, and he was the best player, I am not arguing that, Rodman was no where near Jordan that series. He got completely outplayed.

[Loki]

[QUOTE=Se

[plowking]

No question, but that doesn't mean that he outplayed Jordan. Jordan drew the bulk of Seattle's defense and still shot better (~42%) than his 2nd through 4th options (Pippen 34%, Kerr 30%, Harper 37%, Kukoc 42%) despite averaging many more ppg and seeing much more defensive pressure. How badly would these guys have fared if Jordan wasn't even there?

Rodman's rebounding (especially his offensive rebounding) was crucial, but not as crucial as Jordan's production at or better than his team's efficiency while drawing the bulk of the defense and creating opportunities for others.



Neither Payton nor anyone else "shut down" Jordan. This is why I said that you must have not watched the series (or at least not recently). I want you to watch all 6 games and note the following:

- Jordan routinely doubled and trapped hard the entire series; rarely is he defended 1-on-1 by Payton or anyone else. Seattle swarmed him, which was easier to do because, like Jordan, his teammates were ice cold and couldn't make the Sonics pay for overcommitting on Jordan.

- Jordan getting the shots he wants against Payton and everyone else yet missing several wide open looks each game. I'm talking open layups, open baseline 16-footers, offensive putbacks etc. that he usually makes. He was just off that entire series for whatever reason. And it wasn't fatigue, either, since he was bricking these type of open looks in the first quarter/half of games as much as down the stretch of games.

Assuming Jordan makes these shots (like he usually does), he shoots 44-47% for the series and we're not even having this discussion. But since he was off, and bricked numerous open shots each game, all we get to hear about is how Payton supposedly "did a job" on Jordan. Umm, no. Again, anyone can watch the series and verify this for themselves. Sorry, but when I see Michael freaking Jordan hit the SIDE OF THE BACKBOARD on a wide open baseline J, something is wrong, and it has nothing to do with Payton's defense. And even when Payton did defend Jordan (which he did do a great job of, mind you -- it's not like MJ would have shot 50% for the series), he had tons of help with constant doubles/traps and masked zones. Where was Payton's vaunted defense the next year when Jordan put 45 on him and Seattle on like 70% shooting?


Again, all anyone has to do is watch the series and see for themselves that what I'm saying is true. As an aside, it's funny to me how people compare this series and Kobe's '08 Finals simply due to the shooting percentage. If you actually watch the series, a different picture emerges. Jordan stayed within his game, got the looks he wanted by and large, and missed them, resulting in a poor FG%. Kobe never got any good looks nor did he work hard to get good looks, resulting in a poor FG%. There's a difference there.


Watch the series.

Yer, you're right. No one can shut down Jordan. No one has ever stopped him.

[SHEED_ gangsta]

me

[willds09]

It was definitely joe dumars, mj said himself on one of his basketball tapes in tha early 90s, plus pistons bust that a$$ like 3 times in a row in tha playoffs

[Chicago76]

Here's a head to head comparison w/ Ron Harper, Joe Dumars, and Jordan's averages during the pre-retirement period from 89/90 to 92/93:

Pts/Game: 32.0 avg, 28.5 vs. Dumars, and 24.7 vs. Harper
Reb/Game: 6.8 avg, 6.1 vs. Dumars, 7.2 vs. Harper
Ast/Game: 6.5 avg, 4.6 vs. Dumars, 5.7 vs. Harper
Stl/Game: 2.7 avg, 1.8 vs. Dumars, 2.5 vs. Harper
Turnovers/Game: 2.8 average, 2.7 vs. Dumars, 4.7 vs. Harper

Dumars did a better job on the rebounding and assist part, but Detroit was a great rebounding and defensive team. Jordan's lack of rebounds probably had more to due with Rodman, Laimbeer, and Mahorn than Dumars. The factors that have more to do w/ man defense are pts and turnovers. In both of these categories, Harper did a lot better job.