Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen wholesomely described the chemistry they share during their chase to clinch their 5th championship together.
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Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are arguably one of the greatest duos in NBA history. The Chicago Bulls pair shared the same locker room for slightly more than a decade (1987-1993, 1994-1998) and managed to lead the franchise to 6 championships in 8 years.
During the 1997 NBA Finals, the two were asked to speak about their camaraderie.
In the short feature, Scottie initially spoke about the core group that the organization surrounded him and MJ with. Giving them a lot of credits for the past championships, Pip said:
“Two guys or one guy can’t win a championship. Michael never won anything before I got here. Me and Michael never win anything till we had that core guys with Bill Cartwright, Horace, and Paxson. But we feel like that we’ve been the backbone of winning.”
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Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen speak about the other’s importance
Further in the clip, the two icons wholesomely open up about the bond they share in the court.
“His Airness” went on to claim that there couldn’t be any conversation about great tandems that didn’t feature the both of them.
“When you talk about tandems, duos, there is no way you can’t talk about the two of us. We’re capable of taking over games, offensively and defensively,” Michael said.
Pippen then went on to state that they were always in sync on the court and that they shared the same goal of taking things to a higher level.
“We see a lot of the same things out on the court. We kind of analyse what goes on in the game… Everything has been special because we’ve tried to take it to a higher level. A level that no one has ever been able to reach,” Scottie said.
Finally, Air Jordan disclosed that his teammate was one of the major reasons, alongside Phil Jackson, why he decided to return to basketball after retiring in 1993.
“He’s one of the reasons I came back. Him, Phil, the camaraderie that we had of winning.”
Michael Jordan And Scottie Pippen | A little featurette during the 1997 NBA Finals#NBA #BullsNation pic.twitter.com/dUp5ImbM30
— The Jordan Rules (@Rules23Jordan) August 31, 2022
Sure, the duo has their set of differences off the court. However, we are yet to witness a tandem quite like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on the hardwood.