Scottie Pippen Doesn’t Understand Why Michael Jordan Got So Much Praise For Passing Ball To Steve Kerr For Game-Winning Shot In Game 6 Of 1997 Finals Between Bulls-Jazz: ‘There Was Nothing Heroic About What Michael Did’

Chicago Bulls icon Scottie Pippen doesn’t understand why Michael Jordan got so much praise for passing the ball to Steve Kerr for the game-winning shot in Game 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. 

Pippen is also upset that “The Last Dance” docuseries didn’t cover his steal to seal the 1997 NBA Finals. 

“In Game 6 of the same series, I deflected an inbounds pass in the closing seconds when the Jazz had a chance to tie the game or take the lead,” Pippen wrote in his book. “The steal was in the doc. Only no emphasis was given to who actually made it. The focus was on how unselfish Michael was by throwing the ball to Steve Kerr, who hit the winning jumper, just as Michael kept passing it to Paxson down the stretch in Game 5 of the 1991 Finals against the Lakers, when we captured our first championship. There was nothing heroic about what Michael did. Finding the open man was what Phil and Tex drilled into us from day one.”

Jordan had editorial control over “The Last Dance” and Pippen had several issues with the docuseries. 

“There is a great deal in the ESPN documentary that has no business being in there,” Pippen wrote. “And a great deal that should be in has been left out. Bottom line: the doc fails to give my Hall of Fame career the treatment it deserves. Coming from someone who was my teammate and, supposedly, my friend, there is no excuse. It was almost as if Michael felt the need to put me down to lift himself up.”

Pippen and Jordan are arguably the greatest duo in NBA history. The two basketball icons won six championships together and three-peated twice while going undefeated in the Finals. 

While Jordan called Pippen his best teammate of all time in “The Last Dance,” Pippen hated being dubbed “Robin.”

“God, I hated that term and being referred to as Robin to his Batman,” Pippen wrote. “Someone he felt he needed to pull along to approach every game and practice as intensely as he did; me, a team-oriented purist, offended when he tried to win games by himself.”

The Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Seattle SuperSonics and Jazz (twice) for their six NBA championships. Jordan won all six Finals MVPs. 

Pippen and Jordan are no longer on speaking terms. Pippen wrote in his book that he never offered Jordan condolences after his father, James Jordan, was murdered in 1993 and MJ wasn’t pleased by that. 

“Another opportunity, if you can call it that, came during the summer of 1993, and I feel horrible every time I think about it,” Pippen wrote. “Michael’s father, James Jordan, had been murdered. The two were inseparable. When I heard the news, I should have reached out to Michael right away. Instead, I went through the Bulls’ PR department, and once they told me no one from the organization had been in contact with him, I gave up. Having lost my own dad three years before, I might have been able to offer Michael some comfort. To this day, he and I haven’t spoken about his father’s death.”