Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen
Credit: USA Today Sports
Michael Jordan not being able to reach an NBA Finals without Scottie Pippen by his side for every single one of his 6 championships is an underrated aspect of MJ’s legacy. Pippen was an extremely integral cog in the Chicago Bulls machine that was put together by GM, Jerry Krause. In the early days of their success however, Jordan couldn’t help but bring up the shortcomings of his fellow peers to not just anybody but Bulls owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, who has an estimated net worth of $2 billion as of 2023 according to ‘celebrity net worth’.
Advertisement
Reinsdorf was better at maintaining interpersonal relationships with the Bulls players, especially Jordan, than Krause was which is something that isn’t all too common. Of course, Reinsdorf was a businessman at the end of the day and so to keep MJ’s unhappiness with his $25,000,000 contract at bay, he cut him into his investment plans. This didn’t last all too long as the league got wind of it and shut it down.
Michael Jordan expressed his unhappiness with Scottie Pippen to Jerry Reinsdorf
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, in hindsight, were a match made in heaven on both ends of the floor for the style of play that was popular in the 1990s. Off the court, they were cordial but they weren’t exactly the best of friends.
Prior to them actually winning a title together, Pippen and Jordan went through a few painful Playoff defeats. None were more excruciating than losing Game 7 of the 1990 Eastern Conference Finals which is infamously referred to as the ‘Scottie Pippen Migraine Game’ where Pip got a splitting migraine that led to him seeing double at times.
MJ went over to Reinsdorf’s house in January of 1991 according to Sam Smith’s ‘Jordan Rules’ and told him how he felt about Scottie’s prior performances.
“Grant was playing well, but he couldn’t be trusted, and neither could Pippen. “You know he hasn’t shown up for our two biggest games yet,” Jordan pointed out, referring to Pippen’s famous injury and migraine in those final playoff games against Detroit,” read the excerpt from ‘Jordan Rules’.
Pippen would go 1-10 from the field during this Game 7 while Jordan would go 13-27 for 31 points in a blowout loss to the Pistons. The Pistons would win the title this year while playing Clyde Drexler’s Portland Trailblazers and luckily for the Bulls, MJ decided he had had enough.
Michael Jordan and the Bulls went right back to the gym
In the ‘Last Dance’ docuseries, it was outlined how the Chicago Bulls didn’t sulk following their 3rd straight postseason loss to Isiah Thomas and company. Instead, they all headed to the gym and barely even took a vacation. Michael and the Bulls were determined to get over the Detroit Pistons hump.
Jordan took up Tim Grover’s services and his workout regimen to put on muscle was highly publicized at the time. He put on close to 15lbs of muscle for the sole purpose and taking on the punishment that the Pistons were dishing.
Clearly, this level of determination worked out as the Bulls swept a slightly injured Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals en route to gentleman sweeping Magic Johnson’s Lakers in the Finals.
Scottie redeemed himself in the ECF as he started off Game 1 with 18 points, 5 blocks and 6 steals and would continue to dominate on both ends until the Finals’ end. He would even take on the onus of shutting down Magic Johnson after Game 1 of that series.
