Scottie Pippen backs down, says Michael Jordan the greatest – NBA Update
Basketball Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen has backed down from his earlier comments about Michael Jordan and LeBron James that caused a furore in the basketball world. He clarified that he considers Michael Jordan as the greatest
player ever to play basketball.
Pippen caused controversy after the Eastern Conference Finals when Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls. LeBron James played superbly throughout the series and Scottie Pippen went a little far in heaping praise on the Miami forward.
Pippen stated that Michael Jordan was the greatest scorer, but as an all round player LeBron James was perhaps the greatest to play the game.
Scottie was criticized to no end by fans and analysts alike after the comments were aired. The criticism was vindicated later in the NBA Finals when the Miami Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki of the Mavs outshone
every other player in the Finals, including James, and walked away with a Finals MVP trophy.
One of the criticisms levelled at Pippen was that King James hadn’t won any NBA World Championships yet and he should have waited to draw any comparison until after LeBron was a champion. As things turned out, James fell at the
last hurdle - again.
It was the second time LeBron James reached the NBA Finals and ended up on the losing side. To add insult to injury, he played at a low level throughout the Finals and was particularly poor in the last quarters, when the games
were supposed to be taken over by him.
Fast forward a few days and Scottie has come out to dismiss the notion that he suggested James was a better player than Jordan.
“The comments that I made were basically giving LeBron some props as a player, not to dismantle any player like Michael,” Pippen said. “We all know that he’s the greatest player that ever played the game.”
Pippen added that he was speaking in the context of the Conference Finals and his comments were not based on overall achievement in an NBA career,
“I think it was taken a little bit out of context. I felt like I was drawing more of a conclusion from the statistics more than the accolades…”
Scottie Pippen is a former teammate of Michael Jordan as the duo played for the Chicago Bulls to win six NBA World Championships. Pippen was the most important player in that team after Jordan and the two players had great chemistry
on and off court.
Pippen clarified that Michael Jordan did not take offence to his statements and that the two are on good terms even now,
“I talk to Michael all the time,” Pippen said. “There was no problem between me and Michael. I think [the media] chewed into it a little too much.”
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