Pippen explains how he would defend James Harden and Michael Jordan, at a time when James Harden is making it impossible for defenders to stop his scoring spree
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Scottie Pippen was part of the famous Chicago Bulls team that won 6 NBA titles. Pippen was an important cog in the team, helping Jordan out massively with offensive and defensive duties.
But it was Pippen’s outstanding defensive work that made him indispensable.
Pippen was part of the NBA All defensive team for ten consecutive years and was a prized possession for Phil Jackson and the Bulls.
Pippen was the master of staying in front of his man during defense and was wonderful with chasing a player down in transition(or during a cross over) to put in a block from behind.
Now, with defensive standards having gone down in the league(or at least that is what the critics say), Pippen’s inputs should be valued.
The one player almost all teams are finding hard to guard is James Harden. His ball handling skills, step back threes and impeccable change of pace makes defenders literally dance to Harden’s tunes.
Harden has worked really hard on his step back threes and defenders haven’t found a way to guard him successfully. Also, Harden being left-handed gives him that extra advantage over his defenders, as there are not many left-handed dribblers in the league.
Now, on an ESPN show, Scottie Pippen was asked how he would defend James Harden, owing to Pippen’s brilliant defensive skills.
Pippen came up with a hilarious answer, admitting that he would need to be guarded from the time he gets off his car in the parking lot.
“Well first of all you have to start guarding James Harden when he get of of his car going into the arena.. even if he’s in the parking lot, I’m coming and finding him. He’s very comfortable” Pippen said.
Check out the video:
He then moved onto a more serious answer, explaining how Harden’s touches of the basketball will need to be minimised and teams will need to make it hard for Harden to bring the ball up court.
Pippen has asked defenders to make Harden work more towards making the moves that he is comfortable with. Letting Harden walk into an offensive position is giving him too much time with the ball, something that could be detrimental.
Pippen then goes into the specifics of how he would guard Harden, putting all the emphasis on letting him drive through to the rim using his right hand.
Pippen would pressure Harden’s left hand and lean towards it, forcing him to get out of comfort zone and drive to the rim more often.
Right after the Harden discussion ended, Pippen was asked how he would guard Michael Jordan.
Pippen had a pretty straightforward answer for that as well, confirming that he would do the exact opposite to what he did to Harden, because of the difference in playing styles of MJ and Harden.
While Pippen wanted to play Harden from the side or even from behind, he said that he would play Michael from the front, as Michael preferred way of scoring was driving to the rim.
The basic mantra that Pippen came with at the end was how it required a team to defend Harden, as an isolated defender could easily be beaten by the brilliance that Harden brings onto the court.
