Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were the greatest duo in basketball, winning six NBA championships from 1991 to 1998. Jordan was always perceived to be better than Pippen, with the latter being described as his ‘sidekick.’ Scottie was, however, taller and bigger. His game also appeared to be more multi-faceted.
Interestingly, in 2013, MJ was asked who would win if he and Pip played a one-on-one game. Although he gave a diplomatic answer, the Chicago Bulls legend did hint at a potential result.
“I honestly don’t know,” said Jordan, when interviewed by SLAM. “I don’t know what would happen, but there’d be a lot of talkin’ going on. Sometimes we are on opposite teams in practice and go at each other. That’s always fun, but my team usually wins.”
MJ says Pippen amazed him
As the two best players on the team, Chicago head coach Phil Jackson would put MJ and Pip on opposite teams. Their squads would compete against each other during the Bulls’ scrimmages, and the games were always competitive.
Being one of the most competitive players ever, Jordan never took it easy on his foes, even if they were his own teammates or if it was just practice. But while he claimed that his team almost always beat Pippen’s five, the five-time NBA MVP acknowledged how talented his ‘sidekick’ was as a basketball player.
“I’m telling you, Scottie does a lot of things on the court that amaze me. He moves really well has those long arms and legs, and basically has no weaknesses. Also, he’s matured and is confident in his role on this team. At times, he amazes me,” Mike said.
All part of Phil’s plan
In a separate interview, Pippen confirmed that Phil would usually put him and MJ on opposite teams in practice. According to Scottie, that was part of the Zen Master’s strategy to get the most out of his players.
“That was part of Phil’s practice philosophy—to get two guys out there who wanted to win all the time and put us on separate teams. Now, you’ve got two guys who have to get their group together; they have to use their leadership, not just their ability to do what they can do on the court. Ultimately it’s whose team wins gets the last laugh,” said Pippen.
Jordan likely almost always got the last laugh during practices—Scottie also said during the same interview that the toughest matchup of his NBA career was MJ in practice. But it’s no shame losing to the greatest player ever. Still, that likely proved who was better between the two.