For all of Scottie Pippen‘s spectacular performances alongside the GOAT, Michael Jordan, his Mona Lisa in the NBA was undoubtedly his campaign for the Chicago Bulls during the 1993-94 season. With MJ off at the diamond, trying his luck at professional baseball, Pip was left to lead the team. He responded by averaging 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists on elite defense (2.9 steals and 0.8 blocks), proving once and for all that he was more than just Jordan’s sidekick.
However, despite his individual success, Pippen’s stellar reputation took a hit during Game 3 of the 1994 Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks when he refused to return to the court after head coach Phil Jackson drew up a play for Toni Kukoc instead of him. This infamous incident has been discussed and analyzed endlessly, gaining more prominence when it was featured in the documentary “The Last Dance.”
Reflecting on the incident, then-head coach Phil Jackson recounted the profound hurt Pippen’s actions inflicted, a pain so deep it brought veteran center and team co-captain Bill Cartwright to tears.
Bill couldn’t hide his emotions
While the maelstrom over Pippen’s controversial sit-out was temporarily quelled when Kukoc hit a buzzer-beating jumper that gave the Bulls a 104-102 win, Jackson knew he had to address the squabble once he got to the Bulls’ locker room.
“The team was hurt. And when I went down to the locker room — you know, I usually give them a little bit of space, and I take out my contacts to do that, wash my face in cold water — and our lavatory was right beside the shower room,” he narrated.
“And in the shower room, I heard our other co-captain, Bill Cartwright, crying — sobbing, actually. And I went in the shower and I said, ‘Bill, are you okay?'” Phil continued. “And he said, ‘Yeah, I’m just so hurt that Scottie, you know, broke up what we were doing as a team.'”
Bill’s hurt was understandable. After all, many fans and pundits didn’t give the Bulls a snowball’s chance in hell that season and for good reason. Without Jordan, the undisputed king of the NBA, they had far too many holes to plug.
However, they proved all the doubters wrong by finishing the regular season with a 55-27 record. And while Pippen was the catalyst, the Bulls got strong contributions from Horace Grant and B.J. Armstrong, who became All-Stars, Kukoc and Steve Kerr, who competed for the Sixth Man of the Year award.
The Bulls overcame a lot that season
Jackson eventually made his way into the locker room. He spoke to Pippen and the team, saying, “Scottie, you know, this is something that is against all principles of team play, and you know, I could express our disappointment in it, but I think Bill, as a co-captain with you, could probably talk about it better than I can.”
Bill then spoke in a calm yet stern tone, expressing his true feelings about the late-game incident.
“He was in tears about what happened because we cared about Scottie; we cared about our group,” former Bulls guard B.J. Armstrong said. “We had come too far and done so many things and experienced too many things to allow anything on the outside to disrupt this group.”
Pippen and the Bulls moved past that chapter and pushed the Knicks to a seventh game, but lost. A few months later, Jordan returned to the roster and the Bulls went on to win three more championships. However, that incident will forever be a stain in Pippen’s career, one that he has openly acknowledged and apologized for.