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Mission
Impossible
No one shuts down Michael Jordan, but the champion Detroit Pistons have
developed an intricate defensive system, called the Jordan Rules, that comes
close to containing him
By Jack
McCallum
Issue date: November 6,
1989
 For as far back as he can remember, Joe Dumars has played the tough guys. "Neal
Carter from Captain Shreve High in Shreveport," says Dumars, smiling at the
memory of his high school days in Louisiana. "Man, I just couldn't stop that
guy. I'll never forget him."
And what happened to Carter? "Lost track of him after high school," says
Dumars, who attended Natchitoches Central. "But if it had been up to me, he
would've gotten a scholarship
somewhere."
The man that Dumars is best known for guarding these days has a slightly higher
profile than Carter did. Michael Jordan is his name. Has a few moves. Can jump a
little. Definite scoring threat.
Dumars is the point man, the first line in a Detroit Piston defensive scheme
that possibly represents the most concentrated effort to contain one player in
NBA history. The Pistons' proficiency in executing that defense has been a big
factor in their success -- two appearances in the playoff finals and one
championship -- in the last two seasons. "Their philosophy is to stop at
nothing to stop Michael," says Doug Collins, who was fired after last season as
coach of Jordan's team, the Chicago Bulls. "And, basically, they've
succeeded."
"It should be the easiest defense in the league to tear apart," says Jordan,
his voice reflecting the frustration he feels about the Bulls' failure to
overcome the Pistons' scheme. "But we haven't done it. It's worked. They've
accomplished what they wanted to
accomplish."
It wasn't always that way. On the afternoon of April 3, 1988, Jordan embarrassed
Detroit by scoring 59 points in a nationally televised game that Chicago won
112-110. That wasn't the first time Jordan had worn out the Pistons -- he had
gone for 49, 47, 61 and 49 against them during various games in previous
seasons. But after the 59-point effort, Detroit coach Chuck Daly had seen
enough. "We made up our minds right then and there that Michael Jordan was not
going to beat us by himself again," says Daly. "We had to commit to a total
team concept to get it
done."
So Daly and his assistants at the time, Ron Rothstein and Dick Versace, created
a defensive game plan just for Jordan. Each Piston had specific
responsibilities: Jordan has the ball on the wing, you go there, you do this;
Jordan is posted up on the right box, you check him there, you watch for this,
and so on. Collectively these responsibilities became known as the Jordan Rules.
Result? In the 17 games (including playoff games) between the Bulls and the
Pistons since that 59-point outburst, Jordan has averaged 28.3 points, 7.6 fewer
than he did in his first 19 games against Detroit. The Pistons have won 14 of
those games, and in each of the last two seasons they have eliminated Chicago
from the playoffs. Oh, Jordan, the NBA scoring champion the last three seasons,
has had his moments against Detroit in those 17 outings -- he scored 40 in a
regular-season game on April 7, 1989, and 46 in Game 3 of last spring's Eastern
Conference playoffs -- but he has yet to erupt for what Versace calls "astro
points."
Remember, too, that the better the competition, the better Jordan usually plays.
When it comes to Detroit, there is another factor. Jordan doesn't like the
Piston players -- in particular center Bill Laimbeer and power forward Rick
Mahorn, now with the Philadelphia 76ers -- and the stakes are often quite high
when the teams meet. Still, he can't really break
loose.
In fact, the 46-point performance came when the Jordan Rules weren't in effect,
Daly and his staff having called them off before the playoffs because they were
concerned about the scoring of Chicago forwards Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant.
But after Jordan's Game 3 performance gave the Bulls a 2-1 series lead, the
Piston players, led by Isiah Thomas, urged Daly to reinstitute the rules. He
did, and Detroit won the three ensuing games as Jordan struggled to score 23, 18
and 32
points.
Against the Pistons, the wide-open spaces through which Jordan normally knifes
his body often close up. Getting open without the ball, which Jordan normally
does by maneuvering Astaire-like through his teammates' picks, takes on the
frantic character of a prison break when Detroit is the opponent. The Pistons
can't spell "uncontested" -- they prefer the technique of knocking Jordan to
the floor. "Sometimes I wish I could be my teammates looking at that
defense," says Jordan. "It must be nice. But it isn't nice for
me."
Much of the recent history of the Eastern Conference has been determined in
showdowns between Detroit's D and Jordan's O. Jordan has lifted Chicago past
other, more balanced, coulda-beens in the conference, like the New York Knicks,
the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks. He has not,
however, been able to subdue the one team that has turned guarding him into an
art
form.
Okay, it's not always artful. The Pistons' mean streak is a key factor in their
success with Jordan. To be blunt, they treat him rudely. Shots that would result
in three-point plays against other teams don't even come close when Jordan takes
them against Detroit, because he is usually careeemed, not merely fouled. The
Pistons have never claimed that they intimidate Jordan, but they have certainly
worn him down and chipped away at his seemingly indomitable will to score.
The Pistons aren't just ornery, though. They also have talent and commitment.
"Other teams could play the same way but wouldn't get the Pistons' efficiency,
because they don't have the people," says Jordan. At least three Pistons are
known throughout the league for their skills on D -- Dumars and forwards Dennis
Rodman and John Salley -- and Thomas and guard Vinnie Johnson are smart, tough
defensive players, too. Moreover, says Detroit assistant coach Brendan Suhr,
"Our players believe the defense will work. That's important. If you go into
this thing with anything less than a full commitment, it won't
work."
Here are several other elements that help the Pistons contain Jordan:
Not only are the 6 ft. 3 in. Dumars and the Pistons' back-up Jordan-
stopper, the 6 ft. 8 in. Rodman, outstanding man-to-man defenders, but they
present him with contrasting defensive styles. Dumars is basic. He gives Jordan
space so that Dumars can always be in position to, above all, stop the drive,
but that's not to say he plays Jordan loosely. On the contrary, he carries the
message of this 1963 Little Peggy March hit every minute that he's assigned to
Jordan: "I will follow him/ Follow him wherever he may go./ There isn't an
ocean so. . . ." You get the picture. "Joe is strong, physical, sound," says
Jordan. "He doesn't do anything spectacular, but he gets it
done."
Rodman plays phone booth defense on Jordan, right up on him, inviting a drive to
the hoop. While Dumars rarely even makes a swipe at Jordan's shot -- he had
only six blocks last season, none on Jordan -- Rodman is tall enough and quick
enough to go after the 6 ft. 6 in. Jordan's shot and get it from time to time.
"Rodman's kind of a flopper (a player who constantly falls down in an effort to
draw a charging call), and he gets some calls," says Jordan. "But he's got
very quick feet, and he can get away with playing me that close.
Sometimes."
Daly also assigns Johnson, a muscular defensive player along the lines of
Dumars, and Thomas, a cagey, steal-oriented defender, to Jordan from time to
time, too. "You must have that initial guy, a guy like Dumars, to accept the
physical and mental challenge of playing Michael," says Collins. "If you
don't, Michael will kill you, regardless of how great your principles
are."
The Pistons have big, agile and quick defenders on the weak side, i.e.,
on the side away from Jordan when Jordan has the ball. Rodman and Salley are two
of the best. As we shall see, they must be able to confront Jordan if he gets by
his defender and must be quick enough to switch over and harass the other
Chicago shooters when Jordan gives up the ball. The reason that other Bulls,
especially Pippen and Craig Hodges, have often missed painfully open shots is
that Rodman or Salley was usually flying at them as they released the ball. Last
season the weakside defenders played an important role in helping Detroit limit
opposing teams to .447 shooting, second best in the league after the Utah Jazz's
.434.
The Pistons have smart defenders off the ball. Laimbeer will never make
anyone's all-defensive team, but he's extremely valuable when the Jordan Rules
are in effect. His specialty is clogging, which in this case is not a Scottish
dance but a technique to keep Jordan from slipping through the cracks in the
defense, rather like a football linebacker. Laimbeer, lead-footed but quick-
witted, performs this function extremely well (so did Mahorn), and veteran
backup center James Edwards isn't bad at it
either.
In Thomas the Pistons have a quick defender who knows the intricacies
of the zone defense. When Detroit is playing under the Jordan Rules, Thomas
often has the job of bouncing around on the perimeter, sometimes making an
all-out effort to double-team Jordan but always carrying the message that he
might be coming. Larry Bird plays the same role, albeit closer to the basket,
for Boston. Sure, sometimes Thomas doesn't aggressively double-team the ball and
should be whistled for illegal defense, but he rarely is, because he's active
enough to look as if he's playing one of Jordan's teammates
man-to-man.
Detroit has offensive-minded guards who force Jordan to expend energy
on defense. No, Dumars, Johnson and Thomas don't fit the big-guard profile of,
say, Dale Ellis of the Seattle SuperSonics and Rolando Blackman of the Dallas
Mavericks. But they're scorers, and Jordan has to play them hard. And that makes
life tougher for him at the other end.
Though he will only address the subject of defending Jordan in general terms,
Dumars says there are probably three or four rules to follow when Jordan has the
ball and one or two when he doesn't. "The thing I keep telling myself is, Make
him work as hard as he can for everything," says Dumars. "Don't give him
anything uncontested. A lot of players are concerned with him dunking on them or
making some kind of fantastic move. You know what? That doesn't bother me at
all. That means he's worked that much harder to get something and expended that
much more energy. What I don't want is for him to start pulling up and hitting
easy, unspectacular jumpers.
"The key to playing him is discipline. You can't gamble on him. You must wait
for him to make a move. Early in my career I used to be so hyped up when I
played him that I practically faked myself out. I'd be jumping all around,
reacting to everything, every head shake or pump fake. Fundamental, man-to-man
defense is the only thing that will work against him. And sometimes that
won't."
The Freedom of Information Act doesn't pertain here. Daly doesn't have to make
the Jordan Rules public, and he won't. But, hey, this isn't molecular biology,
right? Through interviews, common sense and even a few hours of film- watching,
the following would seem to cover much of Detroit's game plan against
Jordan.
The guiding principle is that a defender is never left to guard Jordan
unaided. Jordan's position on the floor dictates whether the Pistons trap him
with a second defender or have the second defender play "help and recover"
(that is, run at Jordan to stop his dribble, but then scramble back to his own
man; Salley is a master at this ploy). The closer Jordan is to the basket, the
more the Pistons go with the trap. When he is above the sideline hash mark (28
feet from the baseline), they usually play help and
recover.
Even when Jordan is far from the basket, perhaps bringing up the ball
as a point guard on a wide-open floor, Detroit runs a second player at him,
someone like Salley or Rodman. This reduces the amount of open court that he has
to work with and often forces him to give up the ball to a teammate. The Pistons
always want someone else to handle the ball. Not sometimes.
Always.
When Jordan has the ball on the wing, the Detroit player guarding him
forces him toward defensive help. Most often that means turning Jordan to the
right when he's on the left side of the floor and to the left when he's on the
right
side.
If Jordan happens to get isolated with one man and is in a potential
scoring position, the Piston defender will try to force him to go left. They
think he makes a stronger, more explosive move to his right. So does
Jordan.
When Jordan tries to run a pick-and-roll, Detroit traps him. That means
that two men, the one guarding Jordan and the one guarding the Bull setting the
pick, run at him. The Pistons do this with remarkable efficiency, partly
because that second defender is usually the 6 ft. 11 in. Salley or the 6 ft. 11
in. Laimbeer. The tall trappers make it almost impossible for Jordan to
deliver the ball to a teammate rolling toward the basket, and their aggressive
charge toward Jordan usually forces him to
retreat.
When Jordan posts up near the basket, Detroit typically puts three men
on him, with Dumars most often behind him, using his strong hips and legs to
"body" Jordan away from the basket. When the entry pass comes in from the
point guard, Thomas leaves that guard and double-teams Jordan. If that means the
point guard is free, so be it. Meanwhile, another defender, perhaps Laimbeer or
Salley, will have come over and planted himself in the lane, maybe on the
baseline side, maybe toward the middle. Dumars will then turn Jordan toward that
help. Jordan loves the baseline. "Even though there's less room down there, I
can be more creative," he says. But by and large, the Pistons take it away from
him.
When Jordan comes off a screen set near the baseline -- his most
frequent maneuver when he's playing shooting guard -- a host of Jordan Rules
come into play. Dumars must follow him around the screen -- no matter if he has
to go into the bleachers -- to prevent Jordan from making a backdoor cut and
receiving an alley-oop pass for an almost certain dunk. The Piston -- usually
Laimbeer -- guarding the Bull setting the pick will step out to make Jordan
receive the ball farther from the basket. In addition -- and this is important
-- that man will guard against Jordan's making a "tight curl" off the top of
the screen and suddenly looping back into the middle to take a short pass on the
dead run, a circumstance that is almost always disastrous for the defense.
In most cases Jordan will have to step back and take the pass on the wing. Then
Thomas will come over, creating a double team, and the process begins all over
again. If Jordan puts the ball on the floor, at least two players stay on him,
pushing him toward even more help. If he passes, the weakside defenders adjust
to play two Pistons against four Bulls or one against three. As long as Jordan
is out of the picture, they love those odds.
What's more, the Pistons make it even harder on Jordan and Chicago's coaches by
varying the timing of their traps and help-and-recover maneuvers. Sometimes they
come as soon as Jordan touches the ball, other times not until he has made his
first dribble, other times not until he has begun to penetrate. For Jordan,
facing Detroit is a nonstop physical and mental challenge. Think of it from
Jordan's standpoint: This isn't a cat-and-mouse game; it is a cats-and- mouse
game.
So Chicago knows that the Pistons have their million-dollar baby wrapped up in
chains. What can the Bulls do about it this season? On paper, anyway, it seems
simple: Hope that Hodges's jump shot is more accurate in pressure situations
than it was last year. Hope that rookie point guard B.J. Armstrong of Iowa is
good enough to start -- thereby enabling Jordan to return to shooting guard --
and that he can exploit the nooks and crannies in the Detroit defense. Hope that
another rookie, 6 ft. 11 in. Stacey King of Oklahoma, becomes enough of a
scoring threat inside to make the Pistons pay for enforcing their rules; the
current pivotman, Bill Cartwright, is not.
"As Michael's supporting cast gets better, this defense is going to be tougher
to play," says Dumars. "Jordan is the constant. We know what he can do. It's
what everybody else does that matters." So far, that hasn't been
enough.
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