First, 88 Jordan is in the conversation for greatest perimeter player we've ever seen. IMO it's not that close.
Unfortunately, most people here just don't remember or haven't gotten a chance to see it.
I just want to get that out of the way first.
And what we're not even addressing is the impact each player had on how the rest of their team performed defensively. This is Jordan in a landslide. Just watch how tenacious those Bulls were- Jordan held them constantly accountable.
Now, most people here would have forgotten all of the times Jordan shut down KEY players in the playoffs, and it happened at least one series every year.
copied from https://undisputedgoat.medium.com/the-case-for-jordan-as-best-perimeter-defender-of-all-time-60343be7bcbd(videos also in above link)
Playoff Defense and 1–1 MatchupsThere probably is not another perimeter player who took on as many tough matchups in the playoffs as Jordan did. There is a misconception that Pippen was the guy who always guarded the other team’s best player in the playoffs, because of the famous story when Pippen switched on Magic in Game 2 of the Finals and did a great job. But in the very next game, Game 3 of the ’91 Finals, Pippen fouled out at the end of the 4th quarter and after Magic had lit up Jordan + Pippen through 4 quarters, Jordan shut down Magic to 0–0–0 with 1 turnover in the OT.
In fact, Jordan had an elite defensive performance in every single one of his NBA Finals, including that Game 3 against Magic.
(look at link up top if you want to see)
’92 Finals — Drexler, a top 5 SG of all-time, had 25 ppg on a poor 40.7% FG in the ’92 Finals after 25 ppg on 47% in the regular season, and most of his points came in transition or on other defenders when Jordan was not guarding him. Jordan completely locked him down. Jordan also shut down Terry Porter, who averaged 21.6 PPG with 52% FG and 47% 3PT in the ’92 Playoffs. He is the only player to average at least 15 PPG on 50% FG and 45% 3PT in an NBA Finals run (min. 1.5 3PA/game).
Just imagine being Drexler against this defense
Drexler scored 7 on Jordan in game 2, 8 in game 4, and in game 1, nearly all points he had came when MJ wasn't guarding him.
This wasn't a small player like Derrick Rose or hobbled Steph. This was Clyde Drexler.
’93 Finals, Game 3 — Kevin Johnson scored 23 points before Jordan guarded him with 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter. KJ had 2 points the rest of the game including the 3 overtimes. Kevin Johnson is one of 3 players in history (Oscar + Isiah) to average 20–10 for 3 straight years, and before running into Gary Payton in the ’93 WCF, KJ averaged 19.6 ppg and 9.4 apg on 53% in the ’93 Playoffs which was just short of his 20–10 mark.
’96 Finals — With Ron Harper’s knee injury limiting him to 1 minute in both Games 3 and 5, Jordan shut down Gary Payton in both Game 3 and Game 5. Payton had averaged 22–5–7–2 on 50% through 3 rounds in the ’96 Playoffs, while sweeping the 2x defending champion Rockets and beating Stockton/Malone’s Jazz.
’97 and ’98 Finals — Jordan did not guard Stockton for long periods of time, as this was past his defensive peak. Jordan’s off-ball was huge, however, including the Flu game in which all 3 of Jordan’s steals came off of Stockton’s passes. His on-ball on Stockton was also good the few times when he did guard Stockton, and his off-ball and help defense on Karl Malone was also key, including the championship winning steal and shot in Game 6 of the ’98 Finals
LeBron is 0-7 in game winning/tying FGs in the finals. And is 20/116 or 17% in game winning/tying FGs in the 4th/OT for his career. That's historically bad 
