The beef between Scottie Pippen and Larry Johnson

Pippen didn’t think the move helped the Knicks, a team that was one of the biggest rivals for the Bulls during the ’90s. Pippen believed New York lost their toughness. Johnson didn’t like Pippen’s comments but he refrained from giving Pippen a response.

When the Bulls and Knicks first met in the season for a game in Chicago, you could see the physicality Johnson was playing with while guarded by Pippen. Still, the rivalry between the two was lost in the game as Jordan had his own spat going with Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy.

Gundy famously called Jordan a “Con Man” earlier in the season and MJ went off for 51 points while yelling at Van Gundy towards the end of the game.

After the game, Johnson finally responded to Pippen, saying that Pippen “poses no threat to him” and that Pippen knows what he thinks about him, which is “nothing.”

This led to Pippen responding to Johnson and Pippen taking the trash talk to the next level by saying, “He’s garbage. He might as well have been sitting over there with Spike Lee. All he’s doing is being a cheerleader for them. He’s trying to get the monkey off his back.”

When the Knicks and Bulls met for the second time in the season, this time in New York for an intense game in March, the Knicks fared better, winning 97-93 and while Johnson only scored seven points on just 2-4 shooting, his defense really bothered Pippen.

Pippen shot just 4-18 as he scored just 14 points, while the game remained close thanks to Jordan’s 36 points. This, Johnson used as fuel in his post game trash talk to Pippen.

“He needs to shut his mouth now. All he needs to do is to give the ball to 23. That’s his best play right there. ‘Here, 23. Bail us out.’ He needs to shut his mouth.”

Johnson doubled down on his trash talk of Pippen, saying, “He’s a bum. He shut himself down. Mike gives all them boys guts over there. If it wasn’t for Mike…”

Pippen, of course, had a response for Johnson, reminding him of all his success compared to the lack of achievements Johnson had up to that point in his career.

“I’ve accomplished things accidentally in my career more than he’s accomplished on purpose. His defense on me was nonexistent.”

When the Bulls and Knicks met a month later for yet another game in New York, all eyes were on Pippen and Johnson. This time, Pippen was ready for Johnson’s physical defense. Pippen torched Johnson, scoring 32 points through three quarters, including 13 in the third quarter alone.

In the fourth, the Knicks switched Johnson onto Jordan, who proceeded to drop 20 on his head in the quarter. Pippen finished with 33 points, while Johnson scored 19 as the Bulls won 105-103.

Even though Jordan scored 20 in the final period, it was Pippen who was the unsung hero of the game. First, he stole the ball from Johnson with about 27 seconds remaining in the game with the score tied at 103-103.

Then, Pippen came up big, blocking Charles Oakley’s shot as time expired, helping Chicago to secure the win and essentially winning the rivalry over Johnson.

The two teams would meet one more time during the regular season, and it would be the last game of the season for both teams. Johnson struggled in the game shooting just 1-8 from the field and scoring only three points.

Pippen had a decent game scoring 12 points and recording 12 assists and the rivalry between Johnson and Pippen was pretty quiet, at this point, but Johnson’s Knicks did achieve something great at the expense of Pippen.

The Knicks won the game by a score of 103-101 but more importantly, the win prevented the Bulls from winning 70 games, which would’ve made it two straight years for Chicago winning 70 plus games.

And the final shot for the Bulls was a three to win by Pippen, who hit nothing but the backboard on his attempt. This certainly was a victory for Johnson, but since Pippen went on to win his fifth NBA title, it’s safe to say Pippen was the real winner.

The real reason for the rivalry

Let’s take a moment to look back at the origins of the rivalry between Pippen and Johnson and try to understand why Pippen started this feud in the first place. One compelling reason that many point to as the catalyst for Pippen’s strong remarks is the stark difference between Johnson’s lucrative NBA contract and Pippen’s undervalued contract.

Johnson earned $5,004,000 during the 1996-97 season while Pippen earned just $2,250,000 as he was famously on that terrible contract with the Bulls.

Was that the cause of Pippen’s dislike for Johnson? Or was it just another case of an intense ’90s NBA rivalry?