The TRUTH of the Chicago Bulls vs Los Angeles Lakers 1991 Finals | Michael Jordan VS Magic Johnson
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- Опубликовано: 4 май 2024
- Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls have been questioned on the toughness of their Finals opponents. Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers are an opponent that gets overlooked. This video will provide a deep dive into the 1991 Los Angeles Lakers and the legendary 1991 NBA Finals.
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MJ and The Last Dance gave too much credit to Pippen’s defence on Magic as the primary contributor. But in fact like you said, it was mostly MJ who defended Magic. That’s why it’s very infuriating that Pippen turned against MJ like that in the recent few years blaming the docuseries unfairly painted him badly.
In the 1991 NBA finals, the Lakers were without their second and third best player
on the other hand people disparage pippen bc his offense was less than other all time greats. but his defense was so damn good, objectively a fair bit better than jordans, stats don't reflect it but he was a big time harasser and shot changer/alterer. he gave people hell, I gotta have a lot of respect for pippen and rodman and bill laimbeer
@@johncraftenworth7847 I'm sorry John, Pippen was great defensively but Jordan was the superior defender. You are correct in your assertion though that stats should not be the only consideration when assessing defensive impact, so let's get their defensive stats/accolades out of the way first...
In their 9 seasons together...
Jordan has more...
- DPOY (1 to 0)
- Top 5 finishes in DPOY (7 to 5)
- Top 8 finishes in DPOY (10 to 8)
- Steals titles (3 to 1)
- All Defense 1st Team Selections (9 to 8)
- Steals per game, MJ 2.5 spg/ Pippen 2.1 spg
- Seasons with 200+ steals, MJ has 6 (most in NBA history), Pippen has 3
- Seasons with 200 Steals + 100 blocks, MJ has 2 seasons, Pippen has 1
- Defensive Win Shares, MJ 58.7 / Pippen 52.7
(Averaged the same number of blocks per game and almost the same number of rebounds per game MJ 6.3/Pippen 6.7, keep in mind Pippen's size advantage)
Moving on from Stats/Accolades... Jordan has always been regarded as a better defender than Pippen for their overall careers. Only after their careers ended did revisionism start the myth that Pippen was the better defender and guarded top threats more often. Out of 24 playoff series, Jordan - not Pippen - guarded the better perimeter player more often. Specifically, Jordan guarded the better perimeter player during 13 playoff series, while Pippen guarded the better perimeter player 11 times. Look at Game 7 of the ’98 ECF. With the season on the line in that Game 7, Jordan was the one that guarded the Pacer’s best player, a red-hot Reggie Miller who had 22 points on 7/12 through 3 quarters, before getting shut down to 0 points in the 4th quarter by Jordan. If Pippen really was a better defender than Jordan, then Phil Jackson would have put his trust in letting Pippen shut down Reggie in the 4th quarter with the entire season on the line. But that wasn’t the case.
Pippen was a more versatile defender because his size allowed him to guard positions 1-4 but versatility does not mean better. Jordan was a far superior lockdown and post defender, could guard positions 1-3 but also had the ability to block 7ft centers! MJ's incredible basketball IQ combined with his excellent fundamentals, agility, lateral quickness, 48" vertical and quick, giant hands made him a suffocating, intimidating man to man defender but he was also an elite help defender and absolutely lethal when it came to closing down passing lanes.
Phil Jackson's quote on Jordan's defense (May of 2013)...
“He could break through virtually any screen and shut down almost any player with his intense, laser-focused style of defense.”
Wilt Chamberlain's quote on Jordan's defense (Nov 1996)...
“There are guys who play Jordan who are afraid to put the ball down and afraid to pass. They’re always looking and saying, ‘Where the hell is Michael?’ He’ll steal the ball or cause you to do something you don’t want to do."
Additionally, and this is a crucial point that most people overlook, Jordan was not only contributing significantly on defense, he was also carrying the offensive load for the Bulls every single year AND leading the league in Scoring! Pippen and Rodman did not have to carry that kind of offensive burden, though Pippen did contribute more offensively than Rodman. Dennis edges Jordan as the better overall defender due to his rebounding and post defense but MJ's Defensive Resume solidifies his case as the greatest Perimeter Defender in NBA History.
This was not Magic's greatest team, that's a given. But discounting how great Magic Johnson still was is what annoys me. He still had A LOT to give. He was easily the 2nd best player in the world during that time.
hey the fact of the matter is that the greatest MVP of the 80s was larry bird, the celtics team overall wasn't equal to lakers talent, but they fought well
Kids today have short attention spans. Idk what to tell you bro. MJ is my goat 🐐
Shannon: “MaGiC wAs 73 yEaRs oLd!!” ‘91 Magic: 31 yrs old, #1 in triple-doubles, #2 in assists, #5 in FTs, #5 in FT%, 19.5 PPG, 7 RPG, 12.5 APG, 48 FG%, 90.5 FT%.
His worst team of his entire career.
1st-year head coach Mike Dunleavy after 9 years with the great Pat Riley.
After 11 years, his entire career, with the great Michael Cooper as 6th man, he now has Terry Teagle.
For only the 2nd time in his 11-year career up to that point (1st yr in ‘90), he has someone other than the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as his big man.
Now he has a 22-year-old kid from Serbia named Vlade Divac.
With significant downgrades to frontcourt, bench and head coach, and a completely different, super-slow (3rd-lowest pace) style after a decade of Showtime, he not only led THAT team to the Finals, but led them past BY FAR the toughest WC playoff opponent of Magic’s career, the 63-win, #2 net rating ‘90 & ‘92 NBA Finalist Trail Blazers.
Shannon’s absurd comment is so laughable as to cause one to wonder how he ever got this job.
sports medicine just wasn't the same, careers ended earlier in that era. believe me
@@johncraftenworth7847 “Believe me,” eh?
I watched that era of sports and am quite aware of the difference in sports science now, thank you. The facts regarding ‘91 Magic speak for themselves.
In the 1991 finals against Magic Johnson...MJ avg'd 11.4 to Magic's 12.4...but scored 31.2pts to Magic's 18.6...I'd say being 1 assist per game under the greatest point guard of all time and scoring 13 more ppg is a big statement...
It was a great series for the Bulls to show what they were about to become. Their Defense was amazing. The coaches called it unleashing the dobermans. It was smothering from beginning to end. Magic played great did everything he could. I think it was The best Magic ever played he did everything but couldn’t overcome the Bulls. Lakers actually won game 1 on last second shot by Perkins so they had the confidence but the bulls wore them down as the series went on.
G8 video!! The fact that the «experts» say that Magic was old, shows how biased they are😂😂
Not experts just keyboard warriors on Twitter and YT comments
it's more like "the lakers team was past it's peak" they did really well to get to the finals that year, blazers were objectively a better team
Magic Johnson was the s***. If you never had the opportunity to see them play, you missed out. The rivalry that he and Larry Bird had was epic. The dude was the original big smooth. Grabbed the rebound start a fast break and have such a high basketball IQ do you know whether or not to take a shot or dump it off to the trailer or frontman. His defense was bad, far from great but he used the size and the speed to cut off anyone that he was defending. And if we really have to take it there think about this, Magic Johnson's health was on the decline and at that point in time he didn't even know it and he still went out there and gave 100%.
Also remember Divac had better numbers than Kareem, so LA was better at that position. Now what?
You sound dumb. Not only is Divac nowhere near the player Kareem was the fact that Magic had to rely on Divac to score shows how weak that team was
@@melvynsngltn27
You're rebuttals are weak Smellvin ...go to bed
@@bwink23 whatever queen boy 🌈
@@bwink23lol seems that smellvin deleted his comment
but he didn't have the experience or unstoppable shots like kareem
Wonderful! Thank you for defending both Magic and Jordan in this video!!!
The problem with these Tiktok-dependent revisionists is that they have no patience, humility and objectivity to watch an 11:22 minute video 😞
Yeah. I mean, what have we come to as a society that most people no longer have a 10 minute attention span? Forget about getting someone to sit and read a book....
Ten minutes... smh
People forget Pippen was getting cooked by James Worthy that's another reason why the "switch" happened
finally a person that actually knows what happened in those finals, and iirc, Pippen only guarded Magic in game 2, the rest of the games Jordan was on Magic.
It’s kind of crazy to me how we get better information from RUclipsrs than we do from nationally televised talkshows who we assume are telling us the truth
Kareem wasn't good his last yr so divac was an upgrade and magic was only 32. Worthy Scott and the rest of the guys were even younger. Sam Perkins was like a modern big guy cuz he could shoot threes and spread the floor plus he was a good shot blocker. Jordan and the bulls gave the Lakers the gentleman's sweep which i predicted even tho i was only in the 8th grade.
Byron Scott was already in decline after 1989. James Worthy got hurt in the WCF I give Chicago alot of credit but that was by far the weakest team Magic ever played on
@@melvynsngltn27 Agreed. Magic played on teams with five _other_ hall of famers. The most fortunate NBA player of all time outside of Bill Russell and Robert Horry.
@@cyber6sapien he played against teams that had multiple hall of famers too bad he couldn't play the weak Knicks, Pacers and other teams to win championships
@@melvynsngltn27 Also missing Michael Cooper and Kurt Rambis, plus led by rookie coach Mike Dunleavy instead of proven veteran coach Pat Riley. '91 Lakers were a faded shadow of the Lakers teams that won five titles in the 80s. Still a good team, but no longer a great one.
@@270yis7 well said
4:13 9 teams with at least 50 wins!
He beat a stacked warriors team averaging 26 10 and 13 which was right around his best prime numbers. That warriors team had Mitch Richmond Tim Hardway and Chris Mullins. A big 3.
if they won 5 titles in the 80s and none in the 90s (I didn't research I can't remember when shaq and kobe started winning) you can safely assume that this lakers team peaked in the 80s. time waits for no man
Shaq and Kobe won their first championship in the 1999-2000 season
he uplifted pip for the lakers game, never trash talked pip, and i really like the last part, "now pip, you should do some convincing, but if phil would be there, mj would be there to win our 7th? he wouldnt gonna miss that out"
If Magic’s career had not been cut short, it would have been MJ as the GOAT, Magic next, and then a huge gap, and everyone else following them.
no one really thinks Magic was more valuable to his team than Bird was to his, or that magic was the better individual talent. we only understand magic was great and led the better squad. I think isaiah thomas could have led that lakers team to titles as well, as he was also a top 10 all time pg. I have penny as the greatest "what if" point guard
Nah, Bird had a slight individual edge over Magic and that’s no slight to Magic. Magic had more stacked teams overall and they were both amazing.
Magic was still in his prime that’s a fact
Agreed with everything u said great content however no hate against lebron he was stat padding in that game remember, who dominates the ball in that system; while in the triangle u can’t dominate the ball I’m willing to bet the he had the most turnovers on his team in that system which would indicate that but all in all great points enjoyed the video
If not for two last second 3 point FGs, one by Philly and one by LA, this bulls team is 15-0 in the playoffs. Steamrolled everyone. I was glued to the TV during those games. What a time to be alive!
wth? penny and shaq's magic beat them, and I don't think either team could have beaten rockets the years that they won...hakeem's rockets peaked late. hakeem was legitimately a Larry Bird type team booster, made his whole team better
@@johncraftenworth7847 Shaq wasn't in the league yet in 1991. I was only talking about the 1991 playoff run.
It was a mismatch of systems. The lakers started the year with a losing record because players were still adjusting to a slower paced, big lineup system. Which is the antithesis of showtime basketball. The bulls were faster, more athletic, had size as well, made the lakers look like they're standing still. Scott and worthy were injured most of the finals and michael cooper just retired before the season started. Team wasn't the same.
The only thing I disagree with is the part where you just bluntly say Magic was the best player of the 80s like it’s a given, when Bird had 3 MVPS in a row 84, 85, 86. It was close between the two so it’s strange to just say Magic like that.
He had I think 22 assists in the game 5 loss. This is with his two best options Byron Scott and James worthy out. With worthy healthy they mite beat the bulls
if you're saying this the bulls greatest finals opponet...then that add fuel to the fire that lbj faced greater final opponets.
Michael Jordan was a hell-of-a-lot better than Scottie Pippen. He should have been sent down to the G League. Or better yet - the Zed League! I can't stand Scottie. Remember when he said MJ was not a good basketball player? He was a little bit delusional and out of character. Maybe he was drunk, high or had some sort of mental issue. I don't know. But I wish him well.
Please remember Kareem Abdul Jabbar had retired two years prior
Yeah at like age 42 and way past his prime!
Kareem hadn't been Kareem for years. Bro, the last year the 80's Lakers won the chip.... KAJ averaged like 15ppg.
@AnHebrewChild I know. Kareem best years was from 1971 to 1983 but even though he was no longer in his prime/peack he was still helping them win. Please remember when they won back to back he was definitely just in all star player.
@@marqueswatts7489 up until 1987 he was still averaging over 20 points a game though... when he was 39 he was averaging 17.5....
@johnnythekid4601 I'm not denying your stats. Kareem in 87 was technically still a great player but he was not in his prime/peack by then but still an All Star player on a high level and that's why a lot of people agree that the 87 Lakers were the best of all time.
I said all along that laker team was a really good team and better than the Lakers that the pistons beat
The first final is always the toughest, if you get through it you three peat. And the only other since MJ is Le bron 😂😂😂😂,
Nah Kobe three peat with shaq and Kobe win back to back without shaq , and shaq was supposed to be the most dominant
The lakers were well out of their primes. He averaged less than 20 pts a game where if lebron did that, that’s horrible lol
nick wright makes his wife wear a lebron jersey before he will even kiss her
Lakers would've won this in 7 if Kareem and Riley were still with the Lakers. People only see "Bulls win in 5" and forget that Kareem retired two years prior, and Riley resigned the year after that.
Kareem would’ve been like 42 and then if Bulls won people would’ve used it as an excuse. Hell, they say Magic was old and he was only 31
@@suntansuperman26 The only reason they're saying Magic was "old" during that Finals is because of the timing of his first retirement (which, by the way, NOBODY saw coming at the time).
Lol alriiighty then lol, lakers were done bro, it was Mike's time to shine, and mine didn't have multiple hofers playing with him
This 1990-91 Lakers team was not at full strength by the Finals end. James Worthy was effective until he re-agrvated his ankle injury. Byron Scott was in a slump prior to his shoulder injury. Magic was the only constant besides Sam Perkins timley game winning shot in game 1. But MJ and the Bulls were on a mission. I do think The Laker would have won had they not been injured.
Nobody was beating the bulls at that time, NOBODY, it was their time to shine