The media framed the 1991 NBA Finals as a duel between Michael Jordan 's Chicago Bulls and Magic Johnson 's Los Angeles Lakers . MJ, then in his seventh year in the NBA, looked to establish his legacy as a champion, not a mere scoring machine. Meanwhile, Magic looked to add to his already-impressive resume.
But as the series progressed, a different matchup heated up. In an interesting turn of events, small forward Scottie Pippen stepped up to defend the Lakers' point guard. Fans were used to seeing Johnson bully smaller guards into oblivion, but that wasn't the case this time around.
But in the 1991 NBA Finals, Magic struggled against the 6'7" Scottie. It wasn't merely because of Pip's size but his defensive intensity. Bulls guard John Paxson witnessed how the young Pippen rose to the occasion on the NBA's biggest stage.
"The thing you have to remember about Magic is he was playing the point guard position at 6'9"," said Paxson, per nba.com. "He rarely had someone of Scottie's athleticism and length who could guard him 94 feet. Scottie picked Magic up in the backcourt on dead balls and made him work."
Johnson was not your ordinary guard, which meant he had an answer for the Arkansas' native's defensive tricks. However, the fact that Earvin wasn't in his comfort zone was extremely helpful in neutralizing the potent Lakers offense.
"Magic was good and he wasn't going to turn it over a lot, but Scottie made him work to get the ball up the floor," Paxson continued. "Then, once he made it to the frontcourt, he had a long, athletic guy on him to disrupt his passes into the post and around."
Pippen's lockdown defense on Johnson trickled into the Bulls' defensive schemes. Since they had a guy who contained the five-time champion one-on-one, they only worried about their duels.
Paxson, Bill Cartwright, and the others no longer had to rotate or fret about mismatches. This allowed Jordan, who also had a knack for defense, to read the offense and disrupt passing lanes, which led to fast-break opportunities.
"It allowed us to do some things," Paxson added. "I got to stay home on Byron Scott. It allowed Bill Cartwright to battle with Vlade Divac. Horace was able to roam a little and find his way, while Michael, being off the ball, was able to gamble at times and get into the passing lanes. So while it may not have been in the original game plan, good coaches and good teams adjust. We found something that really disrupted their tempo."
The numbers were indelible proof of the Bulls' defensive dominance. The 1991 Lakers, who averaged 106.3 points per game in the 1990-91 season, failed to reach 100 points four times in the 1991 NBA Finals.
While Magic averaged 12.4 assists, slightly under his 12.5 average for the season, he also committed 4.4 turnovers — the third highest in his NBA Finals career.
Perhaps the best indicator of Pip's stellar defense was the Bulls' 4-1 win over the Lakers. All those individual numbers pale in comparison to that shiny Larry O'Brien trophy and your NBA championship ring.
