Scottie Pippen Offers Take On Beginning Of Chicago Bulls Dynasty

Scottie Pippen’s recent trip down memory lane is the kind of nostalgia that’s equal parts refreshing and painfully overlooked. Sure, we’ve all heard the epic tales of Michael Jordan’s dominance in the ’90s, but Pippen tossed us a reminder that maybe, just maybe, MJ didn’t win those rings single-handedly. Shocker, right?

Instead of the predictable Jordan superhero narrative, Pippen threw some love at the unsung heroes. Specifically, John Paxson, who might have left more casual fans scratching their heads and thinking, John who? But true basketball nerds already know Paxson wasn’t just some guy warming the bench and cheering for “His Airness.” Paxson was, for lack of a better phrase, that dude.

A Forgotten Soldier In the Bulls’ Dynasty

Pippen didn’t hold back reminiscing about Paxson’s importance to the 1991 NBA Finals run against the Los Angeles Lakers. According to Pip, Paxson wasn’t just a player filling up space on the court. He was a crucial cog in the Bulls’ machine that pushed them to their first NBA rings. Mind you, this was the same Lakers team still flexing their “Showtime” muscles from the ’80s. Magic Johnson and company weren’t exactly rolling over for anyone.

Now, game film doesn’t lie, and if you rewind to Game 5—which ultimately closed out the series for the Bulls—it’s hard not to appreciate Paxson’s clutch gene. The man dropped a cool 20 points that night, with 10 of them coming in the game’s final four minutes. While Jordan was busy being MJ, Paxson was out there draining mid-range jumpers like his life depended on it. Those shots practically sealed the Lakers’ fate, and yet Pax gets about as much credit as the guy handing out Gatorades on the sideline.

Pippen’s Defense Was the Secret Sauce

What’s hilarious, in a semi-tragic way, is that Pippen’s performance in that series somehow gets overshadowed by the larger-than-life MJ narrative. Paxson himself admitted as much, crediting Pippen’s defensive clinic on Magic Johnson as the game-changer. Imagine this for a second: a lanky, athletic Pippen making Magic WORK just to get the ball across half court. That wasn’t normal. How many forwards were disrupting one of the smartest point guards the game has ever seen?

Paxson didn’t downplay it either. “Magic wasn’t going to turn it over a lot, but Scottie made him work to get the ball up the floor,” Paxson said. That relentless on-ball pressure cascaded throughout the Bulls’ lineup, leaving the Lakers looking like they had no idea what hit them. Matchups started falling into Chicago’s lap like hotcakes. Meanwhile, Michael Jordan roamed off-ball like a shark just waiting to pick off passes and create turnovers. The Bulls were embarrassing the Lakers, and it all started with Scottie’s quiet brilliance on D.

Seriously though, how often do we give proper respect to Pippen’s overall game? He was locking down point guards, running the offense, and cleaning up on the boards all at once. Yet, the narrative always seems to go, “Jordan was the scorer, Jordan won the rings, and Jordan did everything short of DJing the afterparty.” Give me a break. Pippen was practically the Swiss Army knife of that entire dynasty.

The Paxson Effect Wasn’t a One-Off

If you’re still thinking Paxson’s contributions were a fluke, consider this gem from the Bulls’ 1993 Finals showdown against the Suns. It was Game 6, another series-clinching moment, and who do you think hit the game-winning three-pointer? That’s right, our boy Pax. Just calmly knocked down the most crucial shot of the game while MJ and Pippen were double-teamed like crazy. You might not see Paxson’s jersey hanging in the rafters next to Jordan’s, but that man earned every one of his three championship rings.

And no, Paxson didn’t have the flash of a Reggie Miller or the gravity of a Ray Allen, but when the chips were down, and someone had to deliver? Look no further. He may never crack an NBA Top 75 list, but he doesn’t need to. His place in basketball history is as rock solid as the shots he sank.

Why This All Matters

Here’s the bottom line for everyone worshipping Jordan’s god-like status in basketball (which, fair enough, he earned): it wasn’t a solo act. Guys like Pippen and Paxson don’t make SportsCenter highlight reels or get movie biopics, but their skillsets and unshakable roles in tense moments are what made those Bulls teams completely oppressive.

Think about how important role players are to dynasties across sports. The Warriors had Andre Iguodala; the Spurs had Robert Horry. The Bulls? They had an unassuming, sharp-shooting guard like Paxson whose quiet heroics deserve way more credit than they get. And alongside him was Scottie Pippen, the “Robin” who could’ve been a “Batman” for any other franchise unlucky enough to not have Jordan.

Players like Paxson remind us that even in a sport obsessed with superstars, winning championships takes more than just a leading man. Sometimes, it takes forgotten soldiers, to borrow Pippen’s words.