With Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen leading the way, the Chicago Bulls were the dominant force in the NBA in the 1990s. The Bulls three-peated twice in the decade, first from 1991 to 1993 and then from 1996 to 1998.
While those Bulls teams dazzled on offense, they were phenomenal on defense, too. Jordan and Pippen were exceptional defenders, and a clip went viral on X showing how hard it was to score against those teams in the 1990s.
Imagine trying to score on MJ, Pip & the 90's Bulls 😳 #NBADefenseWeek pic.twitter.com/n13S5LhBtP
— Chicago Bulls Archive (@BullsArchive) August 7, 2025
Talk about suffocating defense. Throughout NBA history, there really haven’t been too many instances where the two best players on the team were this good on the defensive end.
Jordan won Defensive Player of the Year in 1988 and made the All-Defensive First Team nine times, tied for the most in NBA history. He also led the league in steals on three occasions and was just a menace on the defensive end.
As for Pippen, he made the All-Defensive First Team eight times and the Second Team twice. He is one of five players in NBA history to make an All-Defensive team 10 times, and he led the league in steals once as well.
As if it wasn’t bad enough for the opposition to deal with Jordan and Pippen, the Bulls acquired Dennis Rodman from the San Antonio Spurs in 1995. Rodman had won two Defensive Player of the Year awards in 1990 and 1991 with the Detroit Pistons and shone in Chicago.
Rodman was named to the All-Defensive First Team in each of his three seasons with the Bulls. He finished his career with seven of those to go with one Second Team selection.
The 1995-96 season was the first in which Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman played together, and the results shouldn’t be surprising. The Bulls set the then-NBA record by finishing the regular season with a 72-10 record. Their defensive rating of 101.8 was the best in the NBA.
While Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman deservedly get a lot of credit for the Bulls’ defensive dominance during that second three-peat, there is one more individual who deserves a mention. Guard Ron Harper didn’t have the defensive accolades of the three stars, but was an excellent defender in his own right.
A starting lineup consisting of these four would have given the opposition sleepless nights. Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was part of that Bulls team, and he explained why they were a defensive powerhouse.
“Chicago was an unbelievable defensive team,” Kerr said. “They were kind of ahead of their time, with all the switching that goes on now. We started Ron Harper, Scottie Pippen, MJ, Dennis Rodman, and Luc Longley, and one through four, those guys would switch everything. Teams didn’t really do that back then. Rodman guarded Shaq in the East Finals when Shaq was with Orlando and held up. He held up pretty well.”
The Bulls never finished outside of the top four in defensive rating during their second three-peat. If you take the first one into account as well, they were never outside the top seven. It’s often said that “Defense wins championships,” and the Bulls certainly proved that was the case.
