A Journey in 5 Games: Scottie Pippen
'88 ECQF G5 - With the Bulls season in jeopardy in G5 of the 1988 first round, Chicago head coach Doug Collins decided to tinker with his starting lineup; The card he landed on was a raw rookie by the name of Scottie Pippen. Pippen hadn't started a game all year, so the peculiar decision seemed precarious at best and downright idiotic at worst; a disaster waiting to happen. As it would turn out, though, it was everything but. The unfazed rookie finished the game with 24 points, vindicating Collins, and the Bulls moved on to the second round for the first time in the Jordan era. A glimpse at greatness.
'91 ECF G3 - Even after the Bulls took a commanding 2-0 lead over the Detroit Pistons in the 1991 ECF, there still existed blind faith in the defending champs’ ability to bounce back and make it a series. That was, until G3 of it. When Scottie Pippen signified once and for all that the Pistons were dead demons, when he affirmed the antics that had previously gotten the best of him had since been rendered futile. He dropped 26-10-4 - to supplement Jordan's ungodly 33-7-7-5-3 - and the lifeless Pistons to an unsalvageable 0-3. A couple days later, the Bulls completed the sweep. And, a couple weeks later, they would celebrate their first ever championship. The birth of a dynasty.
'93 ECF G3/5/6 - Cheating a bit, but I really think you could pick any of these games. Each was significant in its own way, and all were equally instrumental in propelling Chicago to its first of two threepeats. He came up clutch in G3 with 29 points on 12 shots, rescuing the series in a game Jordan uncharacteristically shot 3-18. He was of most importance in G5, putting up a 28-11 and perpetually stuffing Charles Smith’s game-winning attempts in an unforgettable, demoralizing, series-swinging finish. And he closed it all out in G6 with 24-7-6 and a slew of big buckets. The '93 Knicks series saw the mentally-spent Jordan struggle mightily for his standards, so Pippen picked up the slack and then some - as he did every last time such was demanded of him. The model 1B.
'98 Finals G6 - After squandering G5 of the 1998 finals at the hands of a Karl Malone masterpiece, the series shifted back towards Salt Lake for the all-important G6. Being 5x champions, the Bulls had experience in such situations. But there was one extensive concern making their threepeat hopes of uncertainty: the health of Scottie Pippen. The do-it-all forward was crippled by a debilitating back injury, a diagnosis that was made known prior to tip-off, and it became all the more untenable after gutting it out for 7 first quarter minutes (featured: a no-no of a dunk). Pippen soon headed to the locker room, and it was presumed during the second quarter he would not return. But he did. He put his impending free agency on the table, all because he knew his floundering teammates were in dire need of his presence. He couldn’t contribute much, but he made some key shots; hobbled his way to stops on defence (even playing his hand in forcing two shot clock violations); and alleviated the exhausted Jordan of ball-handling duties, every bit of it valuable. By the end of the night, the man who could hardly jog had logged 26 meaningful minutes and most importantly, his team had clinched their 6th championship - something that would never have been obtained without Scottie giving it his everything under excruciating conditions, ones a lesser competitor would've faltered to. If he hadn't already, he more than made up for the infamous Migraine Game, and proved he was in fact as tough as they came.
'00 WCF G5 - Pippen was no longer the same superstar player following the aforementioned back injury (among other ailments), but he remained a stellar all-arounder whose mere presence had essentially become synonymous with success. And succeed the Portland Trail Blazers (his new team) did. His arrival coincided with the franchise's most successful season since the Drexler/Porter era, winning 59 games en route to a WCF, and he himself produced some memorable postseason moments along the way. The most notable of them? G5 of the Lakers series, when he staved off elimination on the Lakers' home turf by putting up a spotless statline of 22 points, 6 rebounds, 6 steals(!), and 4 blocks. Even a shell of himself, Scottie Pippen could still be counted on to deliver paramount playoff performances.
Honourable Mentions: 1992 Finals G6, 1997 Finals G1, 1998 ECF G1