Pippen jumped to Jordan’s defense and clapped back at Barkley.
At the end of January 1996, the Chicago Bulls had an impressive 38-3 record. Naturally, people were talking about the Windy City squad even potentially breaking the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers’ historic 69-win season.
The trio of Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen welcomed their early success. They knew they were doing something special.
“It’s gone fast,” Pippen said via the Los Angeles Times. “Forty-one games, we must be having some fun. It’s going smooth and easy. It’s been a good season so far. It can be a great one.”
“It’s special already,” Jordan said, “but we have to go out and play the remaining 41 games with the same attitude.”
Barkley wasn’t impressed
The 1995-96 campaign was Jordan’s first full season back after he took a year off playing baseball. Following their heartbreaking playoff loss to the Orlando Magic — Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway and Co. beat them in five games — many felt that an 18-month layoff took away MJ’s basketball powers.
However, the 1995-96 season served as resounding proof that Jordan’s skills were still at an all-time high.
Still, he had doubters even throughout the Association. Even his friend, the Phoenix Suns forward Charles Barkley, said Michael would never be the dominant player he once was before taking a break from basketball.
“They’re good, but that’s it,” Barkley said. “Michael Jordan is a very good player now, but he will never capture what he was a few years ago.”
The Bulls’ superstar didn’t respond, though Pippen clapped back at Barkley. He also reiterated how Jordan had reached a level of dominance.
“Who cares what Charles thinks?” the superstar forward said. “We’re just going to keep on rolling.”
Asked to rate his first half of the season on a scale of 1 to 10, Pippen smiled and said: “Thirteen. And Jordan? He’s about a 15.”
MJ and the Bulls’ dominance
The Suns were Jordan’s last victims in the 1993 NBA Finals before he retired. In the season that the Bulls guard was out, the Suns lost to the Houston Rockets — the eventual champions — in the Western Conference Semis. The following season, they fell again to the Rockets, who snagged another NBA championship.
Though MJ didn’t publicly react to Charles’ words, his track record suggests that he probably took them personally.
The Bulls did break the Lakers’ 69-win season by racking up 72 wins. To complete their victory lap, Jordan and Co. snagged their fourth NBA championship. His basketball comeback was considered a mighty success, and he honored it to the city that embraced him.
“One of the reasons I came back is that I always wanted the city of Chicago to be remembered as the best city in the United States,” Jordan said during the championship parade. “I wanted them to be remembered as champions, not once, not twice, not three times, not even four times. All these gentlemen who have never experienced winning the championship, this is what Chicago is all about.”
Jordan accomplished his mission, turning the ’90s Bulls into arguably the greatest dynasty in NBA history. Barkley — and probably many more — doubted the legendary No.23. He responded the only way he knew how — with dominance.
