Contrary to what all of us thought about Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen’s relationship, they weren’t the best of friends off the court. His Airness and his incredible sidekick were something special on the floor, but after the games ended, they were like two regular co-workers and not the good friends everybody thought they were.
At least that’s what Scottie claims in his book and recent interviews, where he started to take shots at Jordan for how he was portrayed in the award-winning docu-series The Last Dance. He didn’t like the 10-part documentary at all, especially the part where Scottie gave up on his team during the 1994 playoffs series against the New York Knicks.
With less than 2 seconds on the clock and the Bulls looking for an agonic win, Scottie believed he would take the last shot for Chicago, but Phil Jackson had different plans. He drew a play for Toni Kukoc, which didn’t sit well with Pippen, who refused to enter the game after that.
In the end, Kukoc made the shot and the Bulls won even without Scottie on the floor. That controversial situation was included in the final cut of the documentary, and Pippen wanted to know why Jordan allowed that.
In his book, Unguarded, Pippen addressed that decision, revealing that Jordan apologized to him and admitted that he would feel the same way if he was the one under the spotlight.
“I asked why he had allowed the 1.8 seconds game to make the final cut,” Pippen wrote, via Sports Casting. “He didn’t say much other than to apologize and acknowledge that if it were him, he, too, would be upset. I didn’t press any further. I knew it would do no good.”
That play is still making noise today, with Pips even saying Phil Jackson giving the ball to Kukoc was a racist move, raising many eyebrows around the league. Still, he hasn’t shown any remorse about self-benching, as he claimed he would have done the same thing if he had the chance to do it all over again.
The fallout between Jordan and Pippen is still whichshocking for many basketball fans. They were great together on the court, they cared about each other and always talked candidly about one another. It’s sad to see that their relationship has taken a bad turn or it was never as good as we believed.
MJ is yet to address all the comments Pippen has made about him over the past couple of months, but it’s not hard to imagine how he must feel after learning what his best teammate ever has said about their relationship and the way Michael treated him and the rest of the Bulls players during their championship runs.
