Revisiting Jordan's worst Finals (96')

[Dray n Klay]

His game 3 performance on the road all but sealed it ... and then everyone got complacent. The rest of the team shot just as poorly. Jordan in particular just had a horrid shooting series. Looks he normally converted. Either way, MJ's worst Finals

'96 MJ

'08 Kobe
'07 LeBron
'11 LeBron
'04 Kobe
'00 Kobe

Is better than all the putrid ones from everyone else on this list, and he actually won. Even in his worst performance and it wasn't like someone on his team played better or carried him.

Jordan only managed to make 6 Finals in his career, so he has a smaller sample size to pick the 'worst Finals performance' from





What's easier, finding a horrible season from someone who played 16 years or someone who played 7?

More samples = higher probability

[SouBeachTalents]

Jordan only managed to make 6 Finals in his career, so he has a smaller sample size to pick the 'worst Finals performance' from





What's easier, finding a horrible season from someone who played 16 years or someone who played 7?

More samples = higher probability

Funny how he managed to double LeBron's FMVP count in less appearances

[Round Mound]

Jordan 3-peated despite Pippen averaging 17 ppg on 40.8% in 1996-1998 playoffs... Obviously, there were MANY second options better than that.

Pippen's sub-par play included 15 ppg on 34% in 1996 Finals (worst of all time for a 2nd option), and 15 ppg on 41% in 1998 Finals...

Otoh, during the first 3-peat, Pippen WAS one of the best 2nd options in the league.. But after Pippen, the Bulls were all role players - Jordan didn't enjoy multiple superstar teammates like Lebron always has, which is why his first 3 rings required 25% more scoring in the playoffs with equal assists to Lebron's 3 rings.

[B]Pippen

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

You guys really know nothing about the greatest player of all time.. You should be embarrassed to be talking on forums as if you have a clue.

No smallish, 6'4" player could ever hold down Jordan in a series.. If you had watched Jordan, you'd know this.

Payton had a couple good games against Jordan (games 4 and 6), but the dynamic would be completely different he guarded Jordan from Game 1..

Chances are, Karl switches Payton off Jordan midway through the first or second quarters of Game 1.. It would be an unorthodox "leap" for Karl to put Payton on Jordan from Game 1 in the first place, so the instant it starts to go bad, Karl would've switched back.. Regardless, Jordan would've had the entire series to figure out how to dominate the tiny Payton, just like he did in 1993 ECF against Starks.

Well Payton guarded Jordan well in one series, and probably would've done an even BETTER job had he got to do so earlier.

Admitting and stating the obvious is okay, 3ball. You'll be alright...

[SamuraiSWISH]

Jordan managed to make 6 finals and win 6 Finals. Along with 6 Finals MVPs.

Along with 5 MVPs (should've been like 8) and won a DPOY.

So LeBron and Jordan on the Bulls of this past year played the same exact amount of seasons. Even if we are including his injured sophomore season and his 17 game stint in 1995 ... yet

He has 1 more MVP
He has 1 more DPOY
He has 3 more Rings
He has 3 more Finals MVPs

You don't get awarded for first loser or finals appearances. Hate to break it to ya.

Congrats, your guy LeBron in the same amount of seasons has like half of Jordan's resume. Maybe in another 13 years after he goes 3 for 7 again ... in 26 seasons he'll match the amount of rings Mike has along with Finals MVPs.

Probably won't get that defensive player of the year award though. Or the extra MVP.

When your own former teammate and best buddy says you won't be as great as Jordan. I think he has better insight than anyone. He was there for 2011 and all the near chokes. He knows he's not as good.

[3ball]

I always wondered how that series would've played out had George Karl decided to put GP on MJ earlier. Probably the same result, Chicago in 6 or 7, [COLOR="Red"]but Jordan's series would've been THAT much worse.[/COLOR]

No smallish, 6'4" player could ever hold down Jordan in a series.. If you had watched Jordan, you'd know this.

Payton had a couple good games against Jordan (games 4 and 6), but the dynamic would be completely different he guarded Jordan from Game 1..

Chances are, Karl switches Payton off Jordan midway through the first or second quarters of Game 1.. It would be an unorthodox "leap" in the first place for Karl to put Payton on Jordan from Game 1, so the instant it starts to go bad, Karl would've switched back.

Regardless of whether you agree, Jordan would've had the entire series to figure out how to dominate the smaller Payton, just like he did in 1993 ECF against Starks - go look how that series went.. Since he would've had the entire series, his stats would've ended up BETTER than they were getting ambushed at the end of a series that was already over.

[TheWinningFam]

So LeBron and Jordan on the Bulls of this past year played the same exact amount of seasons. Even if we are including his injured sophomore season and his 17 game stint in 1995 ... yet

The product of playing in a shit 90s expansion era vs weak competition.

Probably won't get that defensive player of the year award though. Or the extra MVP.

Got robbed of the dpoy in 12-13 and very well could get mvp this season.

When your own former teammate and best buddy says you won't be as great as Jordan. I think he has better insight than anyone. He was there for 2011 and all the near chokes. He knows he's not as good.

Lebron was the third option in 2011, without wade's missplay in game 4 they go up 3-1.

[LostCause]

Lebron was the third option in 2011, without wade's missplay in game 4 they go up 3-1.

Played like a third option. That wasn't his designation though

[3ball]

Well Payton guarded Jordan well in one series

Payton did an okay job on Jordan for 2 games.

I say "okay" because he needed a lot of help - Youtube uploader "Nobody Touches Jordan" did a video showing Payton guarding Jordan in Game 4, and it shows that Jordan was double-teamed 10 of the 20 times he caught the ball with Payton guarding him - all 10 double-teams are shown in gifs here.

and probably would've done an even BETTER job had he got to do so earlier.

It's simply unfortunate that Payton was put on Jordan after the series was already over, plain and simple.

Anyone that watched Jordan knows that if he had more time (like the entire series) to work on Payton, he would explode on Payton at SOME point in the series, or dominate from the outset.. As would be expected, no one had sustained success guarding the goat scorer - it's impossible, as Payton found out in their first 1997 meeting when Karl put Payton on Jordan again, and Jordan dropped him off for 45.

[Round Mound]

Nobody could guard Jordan. But lets not overrate him by saying he did everything on the team. That title belongs to Pippen who was THEE BEST PLAY MAKER AND DEFENSIVE PLAYER on the Bulls team.

[OldSchoolBBall]

Nobody could guard Jordan. But lets not overrate him by saying he did everything on the team. That title belongs to Pippen who was THEE BEST PLAY MAKER AND DEFENSIVE PLAYER on the Bulls team.

Pippen was not a better playmaker than Jordan, and he was only the better defender after MJ's first retirement.

[LostCause]

Payton wasn't guardiang Jordan face up and just shutting him down. When that situation occured more times than not Payton received help. What Payton DID do to Jordan though was play him extremely hard to deny him the ball. This either caused MJ to get the ball in a bad spot, not get the ball, or if he got it a trap was on the way (Seattle was known for using modern defensive tactics back then). Believe it or not Payton was one of the worst defenders the Sonic had for Jordan when they were 1 on 1 and Jordan had the ball in his hands

[Round Mound]

Pippen was not a better playmaker than Jordan, and he was only the better defender after MJ's first retirement.

[B] Yes He Was: Pippen Was The Better Passer = He Had That Since Entering The League as a Rookie: Jordan Had To Develop His Passing as The Years Progressed From His Rookie Season (He Never Reached Bird

[3ball]

Payton wasn't guardiang Jordan face up and just shutting him down. When that situation occured more times than not Payton received help. What Payton DID do to Jordan though was play him extremely hard to deny him the ball. This either caused MJ to get the ball in a bad spot, not get the ball, or if he got it a trap was on the way (Seattle was known for using modern defensive tactics back then). Believe it or not Payton was one of the worst defenders the Sonic had for Jordan when they were 1 on 1 and Jordan had the ball in his hands

trapping is a modern tactic?.. are you serious?

do you realize how much easier it was to trap when there's no spacing and the on-court players aren't spread out?

here's a video where MJ is trapped 12 of 13 times during a 2 minute stretch of the video (6:40-8:40).. NO ONE is trapped like that in today's game, because the players are spread out by spacing so defenders must travel a further distance to trap - this makes it HARDER and often prohibitive/punitive to trap..

I find it amazing that anyone can watch today's spaced-out game and think that somehow it's a tougher scoring environment.

[3ball]

Pippen Was The Better Passer = [COLOR="Red"]He Had That Since Entering The League as a Rookie: [/COLOR]

Nonsense..

Pippen averaged 2.1 apg as a rookie and 3.5 as a 2nd year player, compared to Jordan's 5.9 as a rookie.

Pippen [COLOR="Red"]Could Distribute To His Teamates In Much The Way and Flow of What Lebron and Grant Hill Did or Do.[/COLOR]

Nonsense..

Pippen's handle wasn't that sophisticated, so he wasn't that good at breaking his man down off-the-dribble and tossing a "dime" like a point guard - Jordan was FAR better at this..

Pippen's passes and assists were ordinary passes for the most part, where he doesn't break his man down or make fancy passes.. For example, Pippen could never play point guard like Jordan did in 1989, where Jordan averaged 30/9/11 for 24 games at PG, including 10 triple-doubles in 11 games.

Pippen Was The Better Passer

Assist Percentage 1991-1993 Playoffs:

Jordan: [COLOR="Red"]31.1%[/COLOR]
Pippen: [COLOR="Red"]23.3%[/COLOR]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...yoffs_advanced
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...yoffs_advanced


Assist Percentage 1996-1998 Playoffs:

Jordan: [COLOR="Red"]22.3%[/COLOR]
Pippen: [COLOR="Red"]22.0%[/COLOR]

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...yoffs_advanced
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...yoffs_advanced
.