Dominating and ruthless duo in the 1990s, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen reigned terror over an entire generation of players. But when a future league star landed at 19 in an intense match involving the two men, with several criminals around the field, the Hall of Famers obviously preferred to clear off!
Today cold because of Scottie Pippen’s great unpacking towards Michael Jordan, MJ and Pip will remain one of the leading duos in NBA history. With 6 titles won in 1991 and 1998, number 23 and number 33 wrote their legend together, crushing everyone in their path. Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson, Gary Payton and so many others can attest to this…
Among their countless memories, Jordan and Pippen likely recall a pick-up game in early 1995, when MJ was deep into his first retirement. Playing in the hall, in front of a few figures from the local criminal scene in particular, the two men were joined by a certain Kevin Garnett, high school circuit sensation. The rest is the “Big Ticket” itself that tells it best, at the microphone of the “Knuckleheads” podcast…
Kevin Garnett, 19, shocks Pippen and Jordan with his words
I had just missed the equivalent of the baccalaureate, and I was in a bad mood. I was hanging out with a couple of my guys from the neighborhood, and one of them comes up to me and says, “Yo we gotta go to the gym, Michael Jordan is playing a pick-up game.” We arrive there, 200 people look behind the glass. There are several gangsters in the crowd, guys from the local scene that I recognize. As soon as MJ sees me, he says, “Oh! Let the big one in there”. They give me shoes, and I go.
Jordan put me straight on Scottie. Pippen clapped his hands like “let’s go”, and the echo in the room was… Wow. It was my first time playing against these guys. Scottie was like, “Why are you putting that flushed kid on me?” Give me the ball”. He shoots 3-point, swish. I look at him, he had a face like: “It’s too easy”. There direct I asked for the ball, it was a natural reaction. I scored, and it looked like I had won the title!
I was so happy that I went to Pippen and said to him: “I don’t think you have understood who the n**** I am”, he got angry, he threw the ball at me, I I shoved him, and I said to him: “The guys who are with me outside, I can make them kill you here and now”. The boss of the neighborhood entered the field and said: “No, no, youngster, none of that”. He calmed everyone down. But the game was over.
MJ was like, “Kid, I like you, yeah yeah!” “, but I assure you that he left at full speed! I looked around, and actually I just trashed the whole game, everyone left, it was over. It was the time, with my guys we didn’t care, we had no limits.
If there’s one thing Kevin Garnett has never done in his life, it’s back down in the face of adversity. Always sure of himself, the then 19-year-old Big Ticket simply caused chaos in a pick-up game including Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. One way, already, to earn their respect the hard way before landing in the NBA. A great memory…
