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Pippen for Finals MVP?
Posted: Thursday June 11, 1998 11:35 AM
By Lacy J. Banks
The Chicago Sun-Times
Scottie
Pippen for Finals MVP?
That's not a bad idea given the fact that Michael Jordan
has won the award the last five times the Bulls advanced to the deciding
dance.
``That's your call, guys -- that's not mine,'' Bulls coach Phil Jackson
said when he was asked if he felt Pippen was on line for his first and
perhaps final Finals MVP trophy. ``In my situation, it's hard to [say] who
would be in that position. And I really don't like to think about it until
we're finished. But I would say that between Michael and Scottie, you got a
real tough choice [to make].''
Wednesday night, however, with all due respect to Jordan's
game-high 34 points and Dennis Rodman's
14 rebounds and crucial defense and free-throw shooting, Pippen saved his
best for his possibly next-to-last game as a Bull.
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Pippen scored 28 points Wednesday and has played stellar defense throughout the Finals. (AP) |
He scored his playoff-high 28 points on 9-for-18 shooting, grabbed
nine rebounds and dished out five assists to help power the Bulls to an
86-82 victory over the Utah
Jazz.
Leading 3-1, the Bulls now stand one win away from their repeat
three-peat.
And if that win should come Friday night, Pippen warns us all not
to jump to conclusions and think that his outstanding play of late means
that the Bulls' uniform he has worn throughout his 11-year feels good on
him again.
``No it doesn't. ... It just seems that way,'' Pippen said.
``I'm just trying to get through one more game and that's pretty much it.
Then I can stick [his uniform] in a trunk.''
So as the clock appears to be winding down on Pippen's career as a
Bull, we'll just have to take Jordan's advice.
``The world will have to wait and see what happens,'' Jordan said.
``Sure I understand that Scottie wants to take his uniform and put it in a
trunk. I want to put mine in a trunk, too. They give out new ones next
year, anyway.''
Wednesday's win wasn't pretty. It featured 15 lead changes and
eight ties. Outside of poor shooting--the Bulls shot 37 percent and the
Jazz shot 42.3 percent--it wasn't a messy game, either. The Jazz only had
10 turnovers and the Bulls had nine. But it was a physical affair and,
lacking good shooting, the Bulls had to rely on their staple to make few
points loom large.
``It was our defense,'' Pippen said. ``We didn't shoot the ball
particularly well. We didn't shoot foul shots particularly well. The key
throughout this whole series has been that we've been able to play defense
and make them turn the ball over. Especially in the fourth quarter.''
Pippen got the Bulls off to a good start from downtown. He swished
three of his five three-pointers in the first period, shooting 3-for-4, and
the Bulls led 21-19 after the period that saw Jordan have to shoot eight
times to make three.
Jordan would finish the game shooting 12-for-27 while Pippen
sparkled shooting 9-for-18.
``Terrific'' and ``sensational'' were words that Jazz coach Jerry
Sloan used to describe Pippen's game.
``Scottie came out and got us off to a good start,'' Jordan said.
``He was great.''
But Pippen, for years the NBA's most underpaid superstar,
impressed Sloan as much with his defense as his scoring.
``Pippen is very, very difficult to play against,'' Sloan said.
``When they run that guy [Pippen] to you, then you don't respond to it, now
you're back to square one. ... Now we got to hurry our shot a little bit
more and they had us hurrying shots because we didn't react.''
So while the Bulls stand one win away from their sixth
championship in the last eight years, with another game like this Friday
night, Pippen could get his first Finals MVP.
Copyright 1998, The
Sun-Times Co.
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NBA Finals
