10 seconds left, tied up, ball in Jordans hands. Who do you chose to defend him?

[TheMan]

Artest was pretty quick in Chicago and early Indiana. And i believe there was a quote where MJ said that he wished he could have gone up against Artest's defense when he was in his prime (and MJ played with Artest a lot over the summers when he was making his Wizards comeback).

Also, not saying Lebron could guard MJ, but dismissing him as a defender and using one instance as evidence is ridiculous. Fine, go ahead and say that he didn't cover Marion that well, but he locked down Rose, Pierce, and Igoudala that year. This year he played great against Melo and Granger, and did better than Battier could do against Durant. So, I win 5-1 or 6-1.

A couple of things, Rose was on a gimpy ankle that took away some of his explosiveness ( Rose had no trouble smoking past LBJ in the 2010 first round series), all LBJ was doing against Rose in the ECFs was play off Rose, inviting him to shoot and funneling Rose to his help D, it was a team effort and LBJ wasn't on Rose except a few possessions at the end of games where he could play off him and force him into jumpshots.

This crap about LBJ "locking down" Rose needs to stop, it's a myth like LBJ being able to defend all 5 positions

[TheMan]

Judging by watching tapes of teenage Kobe vs Prime MJ...and Young Kobe vs old MJ...


no doubt Prime Kobe would be able to guard MJ.

Kobe had the foot speed/desire to make MJ take a ill advised shot.

and on the other side...no way MJ could guard Prime Kobe....Kobe by basically anything he wants.

OTOH, Kobe takes "ill advised shots" no matter who's on him

the second bolded part is just a retarded kobe stan spewing his usual ignorant crap ,congrats idiot.

[tmacattack33]

A couple of things, Rose was on a gimpy ankle that took away some of his explosiveness ( Rose had no trouble smoking past LBJ in the 2010 first round series), all LBJ was doing against Rose in the ECFs was play off Rose, inviting him to shoot and funneling Rose to his help D, it was a team effort and LBJ wasn't on Rose except a few possessions at the end of games where he could play off him and force him into jumpshots.

This crap about LBJ "locking down" Rose needs to stop, it's a myth like LBJ being able to defend all 5 positions

Yet Rose himself said "It's pretty hard for me when I'm being guarded by a guy who is 6 inches taller than me yet can keep up with my every move" (not the exact quote, but it was similar).

[Smoke117]

Hmm...I'm surprised there are not more people saying Gary Payton.

He held MJ to .414 FG in the 1996 Finals. In the closing game, MJ went 5-23 on FG, and had 7 assists and 5 turnovers.

That was probably MJ's worst Finals Performance out of his 6 appearances. Looks like Payton did a good job.

That whole shit is a myth. I dislike MJ more than anyone, but frankly Payton didn't even defend MJ the first couple of games. He started out on Pippen who was ailing from various injuries and wasn't moved onto Jordan till they were down 0-2 or 0-3. He didn't hold Jordan to anything either, Jordan was just missing shots he usually makes. Go watch that series again and it's clear as day that Gary Payton was not containing anyone, but Michael Jordan was just missing shots he would usually make.

[Optimus Prime]

Kobe Bryant
Scottie Pippen
John Starks

Edit: Forgot about Joe Dumars. Thanks for posting a ton of pictures though. :\

[AlphaWolf24]

OTOH, Kobe takes "ill advised shots" no matter who's on him

the second bolded part is just a retarded kobe stan spewing his usual ignorant crap ,congrats idiot.

jordan didn't think they were ill advised shots when he ws sittin on the bench crying atfer Kobe dropped 55 on him..

did he?


did he?


ay my name...say my name!




back in my pocket kid..

[TheMan]

Stupid kids know your history!!!

It's not like Dumars locked down Jordan, MJ still put up big numbers against the Pistons, it was more like the young Bulls not being ready to knock down Detroit...

[CavaliersFTW]

Pippen had similar length actually.

7-2 wingpsan on a 6-7.5 frame

vs

7-4.75 wingspan on a 6-9 frame...

Those are their measurements. Pippen was long, but Durant is significantly longer.

[AlphaWolf24]

It's not like Dumars locked down Jordan, MJ still put up big numbers against the Pistons, it was more like the young Bulls not being ready to knock down Detroit...

you mean ballhogging / shot jacking your way to a lost...

Mj was shooting like 28 - 30 times a game....Detrit would merk though..

[EllisGW]

How can anyone say Kobe lol. He let Gilbert score 60 on him.

[TheMan]

Yet Rose himself said "It's pretty hard for me when I'm being guarded by a guy who is 6 inches taller than me yet can keep up with my every move" (not the exact quote, but it was similar).

Yet LBJ himself has said that no one stops Rose, it takes a team effort...not the exact quote but something to those lines...

[code green]

Payton and Pippen

If Tony Allen isn't biting on fakes that day, he'd be my choice for a current defender. LeBron's gotta be up there too.

[CavaliersFTW]

Prime Kobe could stay in front of him...Kobe's longer arms would make MJ miss the pull up.

... both have a similar wingspan but technicaly MJ's were measured at 6'11.25 and Kobe's "just" 6'11... I'm sure MJ was defended by players with arms longer than that too. You can't defend a prime MJ any more than you can defend a prime Kobe - good scorers will score regardless of defense.

[Vertical-24]

Choices you can't go wrong with:

- Scottie Pippen (one of the most versatile defenders of all-time, one of the best man-to-man of all time (imo the best) )

- Prime Rodman (severely underrated on this site as a defender, in the Bad Boy days would run guys into the dirt when playing man to man. And the guy could get into nearly anyone's head. MJ while mentally strong could even be suceptible to the Rodman Mind Game lol)

- Ron Artest (extremely gritty, physical defender. Would try to stick to MJ at all times, and is another player that loves to get into the head of the offensive player. Great choice.)

- 2000 Kobe Bryant (all jokes aside, Kobe in 2000 was one of the greatest man-to-man defenders i've ever seen. Extremely great defender with amazing lateral quickness and energy, brilliant defensive instinct. Due to Kobe's competitive nature, he would attempt to completely shut MJ down and would be a brilliant choice to defend Jordan)

EDIT: Dumars was also a good choice guys. Strong hands and great lateral quickness as-well. Put up as a good a defensive effort against Michael as anyone.

[tmacattack33]

That whole shit is a myth. I dislike MJ more than anyone, but frankly Payton didn't even defend MJ the first couple of games. He started out on Pippen who was ailing from various injuries and wasn't moved onto Jordan till they were down 0-2 or 0-3. He didn't hold Jordan to anything either, Jordan was just missing shots he usually makes. Go watch that series again and it's clear as day that Gary Payton was not containing anyone, but Michael Jordan was just missing shots he would usually make.

Well that actually makes it more impressive than. Because MJ (at least statistically) played worse in the last 3 games of the series than the first 3. And games 4 and games 6 were his worst games.

I did watch a youtube video of a lot of Jordan's shots just now, and he was getting guarded by Hawkins a lot, so you may be correct.