“I Think That’s the Greatest Line in Basketball”: How a Scottie Pippen Trash Talk Led to Chicago Bulls Winning Their Fifth Championship

When you play alongside Michael Jordan, it’s pretty obvious you may pick up some of his tricks. So when his No.2, Scottie Pippen, trashed talked, it wasn’t any usual burn. It was a burn that messed with his opponent’s head and led the Bulls to their fifth championship.

Scottie Pippen delivered so the Utah Jazz wouldn’t

The NBA community knew Chicago Bulls small forward at the time, Scottie Pippen, as the contrast to MJ’s loud and arrogant personality. However, when the time was right, Pippen turned savage. His subtle sarcasm once helped bring victory to the Bulls.

It was Game 1 of the 1997 NBA finals. The Chicago Bulls were playing against the Utah Jazz. Pippen’s friend Karl Malone was up against him that night. However, it seems, the Bulls star decided winning was more important than friendship.

In the final stages of the game, when the scores were tied at 82 with 9.2 seconds remaining, the Jazz star was at the free-throw line attempting a shot to help his team win. Unfortunately, he ended up missing both free-throws. Many credit this failure to something Scottie said to Malone.

“Karl Malone was at the free-throw line and the game is on the line. I was pretty good friends with Karl actually so I just walked by him and said ‘the Mailman don’t deliver on Sunday'”, Pippen told ESPN’s The Jump.

“To this day, I think that’s the greatest line in basketball.”

Talking about if he expected his trash-talking to affect Malone’s game, Pippen revealed that he didn’t think that way until the former Jazz star actually messed up both of his attempts.

Malone’s two misses made sure the ball fell back into Michael Jordan’s hands, who was last season’s MVP, for one final possession. MJ seized it with a 20-foot jumper over Bryon Russell at the buzzer to lift Chicago to an 84-82 Game 1 win.

The win gave the Chicago Bulls their fifth championship title and sixth win over the Utah Jazz. We’ve got to say, one man’s misery really becomes another man’s pleasure.

Way to go subtle yet savage Scottie!