Recently, Scottie Pippen announced that he and Bulls teammate, Michael Jordan, would
shut down the Splash Brothers of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, with Pippen guarding
Curry and Jordan on Thompson.

I got Jordan and Pippen shutting them down. Why? Because I think while the offensive
play of the game has continued to progress, the defense abilities of contemporary NBA
players is not what it used to be, when the game was so much more physical on the de-
fensive end. Basketball players, particularly Jordan and Pippen, were very physical and
I think if you pitted each duo against each other, Curry and Thompson would see a decrease
in their productivity. I think about Jordan and Pippen absolutely killing Toni Kukoc during
the '92 Summer Olympics and I believe that yeah, Curry and Thompson would get knocked
on their arses against MJ and Pip.

Pip/Jordan 8 days a week.

Jordan/Anybody vs. Anyone/Anyone, unless Wilt Chamberlain is one of the Anyones. Then I have Chamberlain's team.

.

[Edited 4/3/16 13:14pm]

Revolution said:

U got two great defenders who are taller than the warriors. No contest. Curry is a great shooter, but thats it. D up, and u take away his ONLY weapon.

I think Thompson may have an inch on Jordan but yes, Pippen, at 6'7 has three or four inches
on Curry. Also, Curry has a handle which may give Pippen some trouble. The thing is, though,
is that Pippen was so long and quick that I think he could recover enough in time after one of
Curry's dribbling flourishes. Thompson is a set shooter and Jordan would eat him alive.

Ultimately, I agree with you. Jordan and Pippen would shut them down in the 90s. But in
this day and age, because the flow of the game is suited for offense and hyper-activity on the
defensive end is no longer the norm, Jordan and Pippen would foul out by the end of the first
half!

missfee said:

Urgh...I'm so sick of the old school players coming out saying "well back in my day, we would've crushed Steph Curry and the Warriors"... Well it's not 1996, nor 1986, nor 1976, nor 1966, or 1856 either. It's 2016, let the Warriors shine and have their moment since RIGHT NOW IS THEIR TIME. Now I was a huge fan of the Bulls during the Jordan era, but the Warriors ARE talented in their own right, right now in 2016 and deserve to have their praise. Those who don't like it can either put up or shut up. [Edited 4/3/16 19:48pm]

You never out grow a competitive spirit. It's a part of playing the game.

missfee said:

Urgh...I'm so sick of the old school players coming out saying "well back in my day, we would've crushed Steph Curry and the Warriors"... Well it's not 1996, nor 1986, nor 1976, nor 1966, or 1856 either. It's 2016, let the Warriors shine and have their moment since RIGHT NOW IS THEIR TIME. Now I was a huge fan of the Bulls during the Jordan era, but the Warriors ARE talented in their own right, right now in 2016 and deserve to have their praise. Those who don't like it can either put up or shut up. [Edited 4/3/16 19:48pm]

The old school players like Oscar bring up legit points. NBA (& NFL) defenses are so watered down today it's pathetic. You can't touch wing players anymore. And don't get me started on defense in the paint.These cats wouldn't drive on Wilt, Bill Russell, Wes Unseld, Nate Thurmond,Paul Silas and Dave Cowens like they do now. As Walt Frazier says, "matador defense".

If Pippen & Jordan are playing by yesterday's rules, they'd slow down the 'splash brothers'.

duccichucka said:

Revolution said:

U got two great defenders who are taller than the warriors. No contest. Curry is a great shooter, but thats it. D up, and u take away his ONLY weapon.

I think Thompson may have an inch on Jordan but yes, Pippen, at 6'7 has three or four inches on Curry. Also, Curry has a handle which may give Pippen some trouble. The thing is, though, is that Pippen was so long and quick that I think he could recover enough in time after one of Curry's dribbling flourishes. Thompson is a set shooter and Jordan would eat him alive.

You're right. Jordan and Pippen are perhaps the best two on-ball defenders in league history.

Ultimately, I agree with you. Jordan and Pippen would shut them down in the 90s. But in this day and age, because the flow of the game is suited for offense and hyper-activity on the defensive end is no longer the norm, Jordan and Pippen would foul out by the end of the first half!

They would have shut them down today because they'd wear them down on both ends of the floor, DUE to the rules changes favoring offense. 23 and 33 would have benefitted from the changes, at least as much as the Splash Bros. Neither Curry nor Thompson are noted defenders. Jordan and Pip would light them up on the offensive end.

The problem with this debate is it focuses only on Bulls D v. GS's O. Curry and Klay would have to defend Jordand and Pip as well.

uPtoWnNY said:

namepeace said:

The problem with this debate is it focuses only on Bulls D v. GS's O. Curry and Klay would have to defend Jordand and Pip as well.

Omigosh, you are so right! On the offensive end, Jordan and Pippen would kill Curry and
Thompson. Oh my god - it would be no contest.

duccichucka said:

namepeace said:

Omigosh, you are so right! On the offensive end, Jordan and Pippen would kill Curry and
Thompson. Oh my god - it would be no contest.

Clyde observed that Curry coasts on defense. Jordan would eat him alive.....so would Jerry West. That mfer played some hellafied defense.

uPtoWnNY said:

duccichucka said:

Omigosh, you are so right! On the offensive end, Jordan and Pippen would kill Curry and
Thompson. Oh my god - it would be no contest.

Clyde observed that Curry coasts on defense. Jordan would eat him alive.....so would Jerry West. That mfer played some hellafied defense.

Kerr the GS Coach would try to hide Curry on defense by assigning him to the other guards, including . . . Kerr the Bulls Guard

The teams that have the best chance to upend GS are the teams with a 1 who can test him on defense. The Bulls would take the starch out of Curry's shots because he'd either try and fail to guard MJ or run around guarding the shooters, or even get banged on by Harp down low. GS could hide Klay or Curry at alternate times, but not both.

Jerry West was a great on-ball defender. Big O has a point: we have to remember that guards like Logo didn't have the 3-point as an option.

[Edited 4/4/16 16:50pm]

missfee said:

Urgh...I'm so sick of the old school players coming out saying "well back in my day, we would've crushed Steph Curry and the Warriors"... Well it's not 1996, nor 1986, nor 1976, nor 1966, or 1856 either. It's 2016, let the Warriors shine and have their moment since RIGHT NOW IS THEIR TIME. Now I was a huge fan of the Bulls during the Jordan era, but the Warriors ARE talented in their own right, right now in 2016 and deserve to have their praise. Those who don't like it can either put up or shut up.
[Edited 4/3/16 19:48pm]

I'd give a slight edge to MJ/Scottie as a duo. Seems like most people here haven't been watching the Warriors games though. Klay is one of the best on-ball defenders in the league. He's not quite as good as Scottie was but he's a better scorer- more than a set shooter-- so he and Scotty would probably be a wash. I give Jordan the edge over Curry but not by much. Curry is probably the most dynamic and the most skilled offensive player the league's ever seen-- he's much more than just a shooter. Jordan, however, was a great offensive and defensive player. He was probably the most physically gifted player the league has ever seen.

It really comes down to whether you think Curry could take MJ or the other way around. They'd both get theirs but Jordan would win in my opinion.

[Edited 4/4/16 23:41pm]

nursev said:

As a Pistons fan for life I hated Michael Jordan's ass and still do glad when that muthafucka retired Steph Curry coulda took him though...y'all need to give that young man his props.

So much for being objective, eh? I doubt Curry could guard Jordan; there's maybe three or
four wingmen who could, and Curry's not a defensive stalwart.

nursev said:

N truth be told Scottie Pippen wasn't shit without Jordan

I don't think that's entirely true. Didn't Pippen help lead the Bulls to the Eastern Conference
finals one year when Jordan was trying to play minor league baseball?

Jordan doesn't win six rings without Pippen, mind you.

nursev said:

N truth be told Scottie Pippen wasn't shit without Jordan

Ohh lawrd.............

whodknee said:

ordan, however, was a great offensive and defensive player. He was probably the most physically gifted player the league has ever seen.

No that would be LeBron James. At his size, the man can play AND defend any position on the court. I've never seen that in my 40+ years of following basketball. And I'm not comparing the two, because their roles were different. Jordan was the 2-guard scoring assassin, the late-game finisher(Kobe too). LeBron is more of a facillitator, a hybrid of Magic & Oscar.

For all you Curry fans, remember LeBron without his main guys, took the Warriors to six games before losing. So you can imagine what the 96 Bulls would have done (and they weren't even the best team of all time, IMO).

Dr. J, Pistol Pete, Jerry West, George Gervin, David Thompson, World B. Free - just think of what those cats would have done in today's NBA with the lax rules. Damn....

duccichucka said:

Didn't Pippen help lead the Bulls to the Eastern Conference

finals one year when Jordan was trying to play minor league baseball?

...and if not for Hue Hollins' phantom call in the Knicks series, they might have won the title against Houston.

uPtoWnNY said:

duccichucka said:

Didn't Pippen help lead the Bulls to the Eastern Conference

finals one year when Jordan was trying to play minor league baseball?

...and if not for Hue Hollins' phantom call in the Knicks series, they might have won the title against Houston.

Exactly............without Mj.

Graycap23 said:

uPtoWnNY said:

...and if not for Hue Hollins' phantom call in the Knicks series, they might have won the title against Houston.

Exactly............without Mj.

The Bulls WITH Michael Jordan had a losing record against the Rockets for the entirety of Jordan's career. The Bulls WITHOUT Jordan would not have stood a scintilla of a chance beating the Rockets for the NBA title.

nursev said:

As a Pistons fan for life I hated Michael Jordan's ass and still do glad when that muthafucka retired Steph Curry coulda took him though...y'all need to give that young man his props.

As a Lakers fan I hated you both backinaday . . .

(I did love Dumars though.)

The Chef is on pace to become an all-time, perhaps top-10 great. But this is part of the ritual for stars and teams on the rise -- they're compared to the stars and teams of old. Magic went through it. MJ went through it. Shaq and Kobe went through it. LeBron is still going through it. Now Curry and the Warriors.

As I see it, if Curry weren't getting his propers, we wouldn't even be putting him in this convo.

RodeoSchro said:

Graycap23 said:

Exactly............without Mj.

The Bulls WITH Michael Jordan had a losing record against the Rockets for the entirety of Jordan's career. The Bulls WITHOUT Jordan would not have stood a scintilla of a chance beating the Rockets for the NBA title.

Maybe, but it's not Jordan's fault that the Rockets couldn't get out of the West to play the Bulls
in their six final appearances. And it's not like the West was so stacked in the 90s like it is
now. I'm not saying it should've been easy for the Rockets to get to more NBA finals than the
two convenient years during Jordan's absence, but c'mon...

duccichucka said:

RodeoSchro said:

The Bulls WITH Michael Jordan had a losing record against the Rockets for the entirety of Jordan's career. The Bulls WITHOUT Jordan would not have stood a scintilla of a chance beating the Rockets for the NBA title.

Maybe, but it's not Jordan's fault that the Rockets couldn't get out of the West to play the Bulls
in their six final appearances. And it's not like the West was so stacked in the 90s like it is
now. I'm not saying it should've been easy for the Rockets to get to more NBA finals than the
two convenient years during Jordan's absence, but c'mon...

Of course it wasn't his fault, just like it wasn't the Rockets' fault he was serving a two-year gambling suspension when they did make it to the Finals. It's just the way it worked out.

But the fact remains that Jordan had a losing record for his career against the Rockets. Mainly because of Vernon Maxwell, who was probably the only player that could get in Jordan's head. So if the Bulls WITH Jordan would have had a tough time with the Rockets in a Finals match-up, it stands to reason that the Bulls WITHOUT Jordan would have had no chance.

RodeoSchro said:

Graycap23 said:

Exactly............without Mj.

The Bulls WITH Michael Jordan had a losing record against the Rockets for the entirety of Jordan's career. The Bulls WITHOUT Jordan would not have stood a scintilla of a chance beating the Rockets for the NBA title.

I know you're a homer, RS, but here's where stats are tricky things. You rightly qualified the first part of your post. The next post isn't supported if you look at the head to head matchup data I found, which you yourself cite.

In Jordan's early career (84-86) the Rockets were 5-1 v. the Bulls, including the year (1985) where Jordan missed most of the season.

In the next several years after (87-90), after Pip and Ho Grant joined the team, the Bulls went 4-4 v. HOU.

During the 1st title run (91-93), HOU was an impressive 5-1 against the champs, including 2 sweeps in 1991 and 1993.

WITHOUT MJ (94-95), the Bulls played HOU even -- 2-2 (Jordan may have played one of those games).

During the 2d title run (96-98), including a nearly back-to-back 70-win run in 96-97?
went 5-1 against the once-back-to-back champs in Houston.

What does that tell you (assuming data is accurate)?

- The Rockets were a really good team that whole time.

- The Rockets dominated the Bulls when MJ had little or no help.

- The Rockets proved their abilities against the Jordans prior to and during the first run (strengthening your arguments).

- Between the first and second threepeat runs, the Bulls played the Rockets EVEN (undercutting your "scintilla" argument).

- The Rockets COULDN'T SEE THE BEST BULLS TEAMS, during the second run (undercutting your "losing record" argument).

(Stats from interbasket.com)