Michael Jordan has found himself in the news recently, and it’s not because of anything he had said or done. It was just another case of a current player talking about MJ, and while they usually pay their respect to Jordan, Ja Morant wasn’t really in the mood for that.
Morant claimed in an interview with Taylor Rooks for Bleacher Report that he’d cook Jordan one-on-one, and while most of NBA Twitter destroyed him for those comments, some claimed otherwise. They pointed to that iconic clip of Allen Iverson crossing up Jordan as proof that he wasn’t as good on defense as people claim and that someone like Morant could be able to score on him. While Iverson did get Jordan on that instance, an NBA fan on Twitter showed some footage of MJ clamping down AI, and he wondered why this clip isn’t shown more often.
MJ Locking up Allen Iverson 👀👀👀 (1998)
They never show this clip for some reason pic.twitter.com/Exj7V24dsM
— A1Hoopz (@A1Hoopz) July 11, 2022
The idea that MJ would get cooked on defense was always a bit absurd. He was one of the premier defenders in the league for over a decade and was voted into first-team All-Defense 9 times. He also won Defensive Player of the Year in 1988 and deserves some respect for his play on that end. Great offense always has a shot at beating great defense, which is what happened on that famous Iverson crossover, but as we see later, it wasn’t a regular occurrence. Jordan also spoke about their one-on-one matchup after the game, stating that while Iverson would beat him on the perimeter, he would take him in the post.
Here is a look at head-to-head stats between Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson:
For clarification and a fair view, we will split the stats from when Jordan was in his prime in Chicago, and when he was in Washington:
Michael Jordan vs. Allen Iverson 7-6 (6-1 when MJ was in Chicago, 1-5 when he was in Washington).
Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls) vs. Allen Iverson (Philadelphia 76ers)
Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls): 24.4 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 3.0 APG, 2.7 SGP, 0.6 BPG, 45.5 FG%, 34.5 MPG
Allen Iverson (Philadelphia 76ers): 27.1 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 4.9 APG, 1.9 SGP, 0.7 BPG, 46.8 FG%, 39.4 MPG
While at first glance it might seem like Iverson outplayed Jordan during their matchups while he was at the Bulls, that’s not necessarily the case. One important thing to note here is that Iverson played almost 5 MPG more than MJ, but scored only 2.7 PPG more than him. The reason for the disparity in minutes is probably that the Bulls had a lead against the 76ers, and Jordan was mostly on the bench during the 4th quarter.
Michael Jordan (Washington Wizards) vs. Allen Iverson (Philadelphia 76ers)
Michael Jordan (Washington Wizards): 22.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.8 APG, 2.2 SGP, 0.7 BPG, 44.6 FG%, 35.8 MPG
Allen Iverson (Philadelphia 76ers): 33.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.7 APG, 2.2 SGP, 0.3 BPG, 42.2 FG%, 44.0 MPG
As you might expect, this was a totally different kind of duel, with Jordan aged 39 and 40, going up against Iverson in his prime. The difference is huge in this case in points, as Iverson scored over 10 PPG more than MJ and played 8.2 MPG more than the greatest player of all time.
If we compare career averages and scoring awards, though, Jordan is clearly the winner with 10 scoring titles to 4. If we look at points per game, MJ leads the all-time list with 30.1 PPG, and while Iverson was great with 26.7 PPG, that’s still not enough to be better than Mike. Also to take into account is that Jordan’s highest-scoring season saw him put up 37.1 PPG, while Iverson’s highest-scoring season saw him average 33.0 PPG.
In the end, we are talking about two of the best scorers in NBA history and they had great duels in their time. Iverson had the upper hand when MJ was with the Wizards but it’s clear he wasn’t exactly cooking Jordan during his time with the Bulls. Iverson being Iverson meant that there was always going to be epic moments like that crossover which no one will ever forget but at the end of the day, Jordan is Jordan.
