WillyJakkz wrote:SeattleJazzFan wrote:mj was a better defender than pippen. that is no slight to pippen as he was great defensively and often guarded the best wing scorer on the other team to allow mike more energy for the offensive end, but mike was the best wing defender in the world - arguably the best wing defender of all time.
Yet he got abused by Magic Johnson so Pip had to guard him...
I'm of the Pip was the better defender camp. More versatile.
That was only for one game head to head. After Gm2, CHI hard doubled Magic every time he crossed the arc if not the halfcourt line. But Magic did work over Mike on the low block 1:1. It's hard to stop a pass out or a hookshot from a taller player who not only had a post game and headfakes/footwork that many forwards lacked, but who could hit a hookshot with either hand. When he hit a left handed hook, it was not a fluke, that's how pat he had that shot. Last guy to use a true hook with the right amount of finesse (and big hands to get the english on the ball). Mike's D was kinda neutered against a pass first guy in general. What is there to stop when a guy backs you in and then waits for the double and kicks it to a perimeter shooter? That's what Magic wanted to do in the halfcourt. He'd mix in some basket spins in with that and made the play less predictable. Pippen was taller w/ wingspan and hands so he could look Magic in the eye and bother his vision more than anything else. Pip had the most prototypically perfect SF physique in SF history imo. So much so that Jerry West seemed to take Devean George out of some podunk Div 3 school because he merely had a similar (but not quite) frame. Not even that could help poor Dev, I'm afraid. Brain didn't connect with body.