The Chicago Bulls have struggled badly for more than 25 years since Michael Jordan left the organization. Yet the team's glory years are still front of mind for many Bulls fans and even some ex-players. That includes Scott Williams, who was recently wrote a book called “Through the Fire,” and was a guest for Trill Withers, a sports celebrity interviewer. The ex-Bull gave his opinion on a number of issues, including Scottie Pippen's infamous “hiccup” in a playoff game.
Hiccup is a nice way of putting Pippen's incident in a playoff game against the New York Knicks in 1994. This occurred during the finals seconds of Game 3 when head coach Phil Jackson designed a play that did not include Pippen taking the final shot of the game.
Jackson wanted Pippen to make the inbounds pass on the play that would have teammate Toni Kukoc taking the last-second shot. Pippen refused to go along and sat out the final seconds. He thought the play should have been for him. He had been the Bulls' No. star behind Michael Jordan for years, and now that Jordan had left the team to play minor league baseball, Pippen wanted the shot.
“Well, something that was completely out of character for Scottie and I understand where he was coming from,” Williams said.
“But in Jackson's, I guess, defense, we had run that same play earlier up in Milwaukee to success with Scottie inbounding the ball because Scottie was our best passer. And the worst thing about last second shots is not getting a shot. So you got to have somebody that can inbound that ball and get it where it needs to be to get yourself right. The timing has got to work. And Scottie was better than PAX and better than BJ.
“Armstrong and certainly taller to be able to get it over any kind of defender that they might put on the ball. So that was the only disappointing thing that Scottie made his point that ‘I want the last shot.' Phil Jackson told him to stand down and then he wouldn't. And that was the only negative thing about that. But hell, a hall of Famer, a great teammate, good friend, I'm not going to hold 6 seconds of poor decisions against a man or as a career.”
Scottie Pippen was widely criticized for he end of game actions, and was briefly labeled a selfish player. However, he was able to get back in the good graces of the team and Chicago fans as players like Williams came to his defense.
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