Scottie Pippen gave Magic Johnson all he could handle during the 1991 NBA Finals.
With the Chicago Bulls trailing the Los Angeles Lakers 1-0, coach Phil Jackson made a decision to put the 6-foot-7 Pippen up against the 6-9 Johnson after Michael Jordan got in foul trouble. Pippen held Johnson to shooting 4 for 13 from the field.
The Bulls won107-86 to tie the series. They went on to win in five games for the first of six NBA championships in the 1990s.
For all the hype surrounding the Michael vs. Magic matchup, Pippen stood out on his own. He looks back at the experience guarding Johnson as an ultimate challenge he was ready to take on. Johnson was coming off perhaps the best postseason series of his career after he led the Lakers past the top-seeded Portland Trail Blazers.
Johnson averaged 20.7 points, 12.7 assists and eight rebounds in the Western Conference finals. Pippen held Johnson to 39 percent shooting the rest of the Finals.
Scottie Pippen discusses guarding Magic Johnson in 1991 NBA Finals
“I was ready for the challenge,” he said in an interview with Back In The Day Hoops on SI. “I knew that the NBA had all the promotion for the Michael/Magic matchup, but I think we knew from a team standpoint, that Michael was our best offensive player. We didn’t want to utilize him in guarding their best offensive player. That was a little moment there when he did guard Magic, but we found a better matchup and it worked out for us better throughout the whole series and not just for one game. “