Lou Williams on Jaylen Williams comparison to Scottie Pippen: I’m at war with nostalgia

Doc Rivers on Thunder: Our 2008 Celtics were tough, but I still… Listen, I played against all of them. And that one year with the Bulls, Ron Harper, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Michael Jordan. I mean, those are four elite, elite, elite defenders. I don’t think there was a better defensive team than that with their size and quickness, but this team is similar. They rival it a little bit. -via YouTube / June 17, 2025

To find the last defense that pressured every inch of the court as well as the Thunder, you have to go back to the prime 1990s Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Ron Harper. OKC’s ability to make teams uncomfortable running offense is historic, and Minnesota crumbled under that pressure all series. “It’s great to feel like you didn’t leave anything on the table,” Holmgren said. “And I feel like we did that tonight. We can always be better; we’re going to look and see how we can do better. But, overall, I feel like we were able to come out tonight and play a really good game. Everyone up and down the roster played well. It’s a lot easier on the nerves than the close games.” -via New York Times / May 29, 2025

Gary Payton: Then I started playing, and I started feeling better and better. We were down too much in the series, and I just started saying: “Let me guard him.” And he [Jordan] was averaging 33 points at the time. Then I started becoming a pest for him. I brought it down to 23 points. And what do coaches do when they have a problem? They try to solve it. Jordan was starting to take it personally with me, which is what I wanted to happen. Then Phil Jackson said, “Nah, let me put somebody bigger on him and distract him—make it a problem.” And he put Scottie Pippen on me. Pippen is a bigger player than me—he’s 6’7″, he’s mobile. And it started taking a toll on me— Trying to score and guard Jordan at the same time—it took a toll. -via YouTube / May 23, 2025

Byron Scott. Game seven. You need a bucket. You got two players. Which one of these two you gonna give it to? MJ or Kobe? Stephen Jackson: I’m giving it to Kobe because just off the simple fact that I know he’s going to get us a good shot. I know it. And I know we going to get an attempt. You know, you might double him and we seen him get doubled and make the pass, the right pass. If Kobe gets the ball, we going to get a shot up. I don’t care if it might be over four or five people and the odds of him making it than the other four people on the court is totally different. So I’m going with Kobe. Off the top. -via YouTube / June 17, 2025

Stephen Jackson: I didn’t admire Michael Jordan. I admired Kobe Bryant because he was the same age as me. And the dedication that he put as a teenager, I didn’t think was real. Like, you know what I’m saying? Like he was just so different. McDonald’s, we all at the McDonald’s game. All there for the same reasons. I should have won MVP that game. We going to McDonald’s after practice. He says ‘I see y’all. I’m not eating that sh*t.’ This is in high school. Everybody eat McDonald’s in high school! Everybody still eat to this day. I don’t, but everybody eat McDonald’s in high school! The Big Mac and two fries and strawberry shake, apple pie. Everybody had that. Not Kobe. Not Kobe Bean Bryant. -via YouTube / June 17, 2025