Please add more videos of Michael Cooper defending Michael Jordan. I love watching Dennis Rodman at 6'7 in Detroit go on the perimeter to guard Jordan. More, more, more!
To be honest this was a bit of a rare starting situation as Cooper spent most of his career coming off the bench and matching up with point guards. In regular season matchups it was typically B Scott trying to slow MJ - and also in the 91 finals where he was torched by Mike (no criticism - no one could really do much against MJ). Coops more notables battles were early 80s with Dr. J and Larry Bird. Coop was a very talented two way player who do it all. And a huge fan favorite at the Forum!
Thanks for uploading this! Nobody can completely shut down Jordan, but I remember Cooper doing really good on him and blocking Jordan's shot and knocking the ball loose more than any player due to his quickness and length. He had a really good game against Jordan at the Forum one year. Forget what season it was. Something between 87-89. Any chance you can find some matchups between Rolando Blackman and Jordan? I remember him giving Jordan fits when he was with Dallas and also later when he played with the Knicks.
The best hope for the defense against MJ was to try to deny him the balls or made him fight through the traffic and picks, if it was all possible. The less MJ touched the balls, the better.
@@iamspeed5656I think Cooper was best player to guard MJ given he was 6’7 with a good wingspan with great athleticism and IQ. Imagine what 26 year old coop would of done defensively against MJ
What is more impressive about Michael Cooper is that he was almost turning 34 years old while Jordan was at his prime 26 years old. If Michael Cooper was 27 years old, if James Worthy was healthy in the 1991 NBA Finals and Kareem was still playing with the Lakers, the Lakers would have won the 1991 NBA Finals.
Michael Cooper was a better defender in his prime. Michael Jordan could not guard Magic Johnson. And James Worthy is his prime was unguardable not even Pippen, Rodman could stop James Worthy.
gerizzyYMcrew And nobody could stop James Worthy in his prime. That is why the Lakers would win the series. Do you know why the Bulls lost to the Lakers in Game 1 in the 1991 NBA Finals.
Did you forget Jordan was in big foul trouble in Game 1 but why? Worthy was hurt in the West Finals and the NBA Finals. Kareem retired 2 years prior because he was 45 in 1991. Cooper retired a year prior. The Lakers from 1991 wasn't the showtime team anymore, they play post up a lot.
With a offensive force like Jordan it’s not about shutting him down you just want him to work for every shot plus be physical with him to try to frustrate him if possible
Ugh…listening to today’s top pundits constantly say, “today’s players are more skilled” never ceases to amaze me. This era is SO MUCH BETTER it’s not funny. I love the players we have today. The way the NBA is run is not their fault. Jokić may end as a top-5 (top 3? who knows) all-time player, just unbelievable. Giannis, Steph, SGA, Ant-Man, all just absurdly great. However, it’s absurd to look at players who play smart WINNING b-ball (as opposed to constantly jacking up horrible shots - I feel like I have to remind these idiots that THE POINT OF THE WHOLE THING IS WINNING THE GAME), are allowed to play defense, are disallowed to travel/carry/double-dribble and cheaply accrue FTA with sloppy ref-baiting drives (those are offensive fouls back then), don’t constantly step on the out-of-bounds line when they have the ball (incredible how often you see that these days - I guess that what happens when you constantly have the ball 29 feet from the rim), and don’t (and this one burns me up more than anything) flare to the 3PT line when running a 3-1 advantage fast break (!!🤬!!!🤬!!) and see how great they are at ball-handling/passing, 3-level scoring, FT-shooting, rebounding and defense and say, “they are less-skilled than players today.” Preposterous. The game was just SO MUCH MORE FUN, so much more dramatic, so much more interesting, and so much more beautiful then. MJ, Magic, Bird, Olajuwon, Isiah, Barkley, Dominique, Drexler, Robinson, Stockton, Malone, Ewing, Worthy, Price, KJ, and Run-TMC made it pretty good, too 😉
Riley won coach of the year this season for the 1st time ever & was 80s coach of the decade...and Jerry Buss 💩🥫 him the summer of '90 after the Suns beat them in the playoffs. Coop was waived that summer also. Beginning of the end of showtime started when Kareem retired in '89 followed by Coop & Riley's releases in '90. The final nail in showtime's coffin was Magic's HIV announcement in '91.
Jordan averaged over 31ppg against Cooper for his career, stop it. Cooper made Jordan work hard for his shots, just like Dennis Johnson,Moncrief,Dumars and Payton. He said Bird was harder to guard because he was a huge off ball threat and not only scored at will, but was one of the greatest passers of all time. Same reason Payton said Stockton was the hardest player he had to guard.
@@acedejesus Lol none of what I said was an opinion. Jordan averaged over 31ppg against Cooper. Fact. Cooper and Payton explained why they thought Bird and Stockton were harder to guard. You're the one who need to do some research.
@@acedejesus This game alone? What does this game prove? It must prove that Jordan can't be stopped,since he scored 37 points on 51.7% shooting in this game and scored 32 points on 57.1% shooting in their next match up Lol. And I need to do some research?
Jordan always said the 2 best defensive guards to guard him was Cooper(Lakers) & Dumars of the Pistons. It was the next season when they instituted the no hand checking and hard fouls which propelled the Bulls to the title after 3 straight seasons ending with the Pistons winning 2 straight titles, and pushing the Bulls out with their tenacious D! I don't know if the Lakers could beat the Bulls if they had a younger Cooper and Kareem, 91 was just Jordan's year and if you watch him during that season and during the playoffs you could tell that nobody was going to stop him this time and he elevated his game to another stratosphere both offensively & defensively. Pippen was coming into his prime and was the only reason the hadn't won years before because he just wasn't there yet, but in 91-98 Pippen was a monster and as far as I am concerned he was the best 2 way player in the league, just remember when Chuck Day was asked who was the best player on the original dream team and he said without hesitation,"Pippen"!!!
Just stop. You really think the no hard foul rules is the reason the Bulls won? Also, you do realize Kareem in 1989 was just a role player right? He would have been worse in 1991. Vlade Divac put up more points, rebounds, assists and blocks in the 1991 Finals than Kareem did in the 1988 or 1989 Finals.
@@handlebucket6285 If the 91 Bulls played ANY of the 80s Lakers Title teams, they're getting smashed. Why don't you stop playing with yourself, man. Jordan wouldn't win squat vs. Showtime.
@@JAWrightonline Lakers were taken to 7 games by a Mavs team in 1988 in the WCF. Birds Celtics were swept by a Bucks team with only 1 HOFer. Stop talking basketball.
@@handlebucket6285 Aw, did I hurt your feelings by blowing up your childish fantasies? Lakers and Celtics got old then David Stern put in rule changes to take the teeth out of Pistons defense. ONLY THEN was Jordan able to rise up and start winning NBA Titles. "Stop talking basketball?" What's wrong, junior? Truth hurts?
@@JAWrightonline Love how you didn't actually acknowledge anything I said. You are the one denying reality. MJ with zero offensive help took the Bad Boy Pistons to 6 games in 1989. Once again, so that your low IQ brain understands, teams worse than the Bulls have the Celtics and Lakers a lot of trouble.
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
Michael Cooper was a great, great defensive player. Surely one of the best perimeter defensive force ever
Please add more videos of Michael Cooper defending Michael Jordan. I love watching Dennis Rodman at 6'7 in Detroit go on the perimeter to guard Jordan. More, more, more!
To be honest this was a bit of a rare starting situation as Cooper spent most of his career coming off the bench and matching up with point guards. In regular season matchups it was typically B Scott trying to slow MJ - and also in the 91 finals where he was torched by Mike (no criticism - no one could really do much against MJ).
Coops more notables battles were early 80s with Dr. J and Larry Bird. Coop was a very talented two way player who do it all. And a huge fan favorite at the Forum!
Byron Scott was an OK defensive player, but he was no Michael Cooper. In '91, the Lakers had nobody who could even slow MJ down a little.
Cooper started over Scott for years. That did not happen until around 88.
@@dazdavis7896 it was Mike McGee for a while then Scott. coop was always a bench guy including 87 when he was 6th man of the year
Thanks for uploading this!
Nobody can completely shut down Jordan, but I remember Cooper doing really good on him and blocking Jordan's shot and knocking the ball loose more than any player due to his quickness and length. He had a really good game against Jordan at the Forum one year. Forget what season it was. Something between 87-89.
Any chance you can find some matchups between Rolando Blackman and Jordan? I remember him giving Jordan fits when he was with Dallas and also later when he played with the Knicks.
Jordan got the calls and Coop still held his own
Neither of them shook hands and Cooper just walked right into Jordan when the game ended.
And Mj played plumbers.. Michael Cooper top 3 greatest perimeter defenders. Forgot all about him
Exactly
Bro is not top 3....
@captainsimp8864 top 3.. why? At 6'5 he guard Bird in several final and contained him
@@captainsimp8864 top 4. Top 5. Whatever. He's great
The best hope for the defense against MJ was to try to deny him the balls or made him fight through the traffic and picks, if it was all possible. The less MJ touched the balls, the better.
Cooper could clamp jordan any day of the week
@@iamspeed5656I think Cooper was best player to guard MJ given he was 6’7 with a good wingspan with great athleticism and IQ. Imagine what 26 year old coop would of done defensively against MJ
This was Cooper's last year
jordan got the call every time.
What superstar player doesn't have a couple calls go their way
hahaha good one this is Coopers 12th year in and he still played well.
jordan definitely has respect for cooper. he wouldn't take that shit from a lot of other players
👍
Cooper, Joe Dumars..
What is more impressive about Michael Cooper is that he was almost turning 34 years old while Jordan was at his prime 26 years old. If Michael Cooper was 27 years old, if James Worthy was healthy in the 1991 NBA Finals and Kareem was still playing with the Lakers, the Lakers would have won the 1991 NBA Finals.
Michael Cooper was a better defender in his prime. Michael Jordan could not guard Magic Johnson. And James Worthy is his prime was unguardable not even Pippen, Rodman could stop James Worthy.
And Kareem??? Is Jordan going to stop Kareem? lol lol...
gerizzyYMcrew And nobody could stop James Worthy in his prime. That is why the Lakers would win the series. Do you know why the Bulls lost to the Lakers in Game 1 in the 1991 NBA Finals.
Did you forget Jordan was in big foul trouble in Game 1 but why? Worthy was hurt in the West Finals and the NBA Finals. Kareem retired 2 years prior because he was 45 in 1991. Cooper retired a year prior. The Lakers from 1991 wasn't the showtime team anymore, they play post up a lot.
James Worthy during his prime was unstoppable like Jordan. Jordan could not guard Magic or else the Lakers would win the Finals.
With a offensive force like Jordan it’s not about shutting him down you just want him to work for every shot plus be physical with him to try to frustrate him if possible
those were CHEESY CALLS for mj
Mj fan alert
Ugh…listening to today’s top pundits constantly say, “today’s players are more skilled” never ceases to amaze me. This era is SO MUCH BETTER it’s not funny.
I love the players we have today. The way the NBA is run is not their fault.
Jokić may end as a top-5 (top 3? who knows) all-time player, just unbelievable. Giannis, Steph, SGA, Ant-Man, all just absurdly great. However, it’s absurd to look at players who play smart WINNING b-ball (as opposed to constantly jacking up horrible shots - I feel like I have to remind these idiots that THE POINT OF THE WHOLE THING IS WINNING THE GAME), are allowed to play defense, are disallowed to travel/carry/double-dribble and cheaply accrue FTA with sloppy ref-baiting drives (those are offensive fouls back then), don’t constantly step on the out-of-bounds line when they have the ball (incredible how often you see that these days - I guess that what happens when you constantly have the ball 29 feet from the rim), and don’t (and this one burns me up more than anything) flare to the 3PT line when running a 3-1 advantage fast break (!!🤬!!!🤬!!) and see how great they are at ball-handling/passing, 3-level scoring, FT-shooting, rebounding and defense and say, “they are less-skilled than players today.”
Preposterous.
The game was just SO MUCH MORE FUN, so much more dramatic, so much more interesting, and so much more beautiful then.
MJ, Magic, Bird, Olajuwon, Isiah, Barkley, Dominique, Drexler, Robinson, Stockton, Malone, Ewing, Worthy, Price, KJ, and Run-TMC made it pretty good, too 😉
Riley won coach of the year this season for the 1st time ever & was 80s coach of the decade...and Jerry Buss 💩🥫 him the summer of '90 after the Suns beat them in the playoffs. Coop was waived that summer also. Beginning of the end of showtime started when Kareem retired in '89 followed by Coop & Riley's releases in '90. The final nail in showtime's coffin was Magic's HIV announcement in '91.
imagine if magic was 6'8. layups on 99. mid also deadly. and could shoot threes. and run a 4'5. and had a 42 inch vert. and 250.
LBJ
Imagine if the shit you said doesn't even apply to who you think it applies to😂😂😂
Coop is an amazing player jordan probably never saw better defense from any other player
Michael Cooper Makes Jordan An Average Player.
That's Why Michael Cooper Keeps Telling He's Having Much Problem Guarding Bird Than Guarding Jordan.
Jordan averaged over 31ppg against Cooper for his career, stop it. Cooper made Jordan work hard for his shots, just like Dennis Johnson,Moncrief,Dumars and Payton. He said Bird was harder to guard because he was a huge off ball threat and not only scored at will, but was one of the greatest passers of all time. Same reason Payton said Stockton was the hardest player he had to guard.
@@davidschmidt1793 Are You Sure ?
Make Some Research First Before Make Any Nonsense Opinion.
@@acedejesus Lol none of what I said was an opinion. Jordan averaged over 31ppg against Cooper. Fact. Cooper and Payton explained why they thought Bird and Stockton were harder to guard. You're the one who need to do some research.
@@davidschmidt1793 Then You're Telling Full Of Lies.
This Game Alone Will Tell You, You Are Lying
@@acedejesus This game alone? What does this game prove? It must prove that Jordan can't be stopped,since he scored 37 points on 51.7% shooting in this game and scored 32 points on 57.1% shooting in their next match up Lol. And I need to do some research?
Mind you this was cooper last year in the league at 33 years old and he easily locked up peak jordan.
M Jordan showed Magic,Lakers who's the boss that night in 1989/90 season
lakers probably win . i think one major player was out with injuries and magic pulled a hamstring , most titles get decided by injuries .
Damn skip caray called this game ?
Wait is this the physical 80’s I always hear about copper not even being able to touch jordan without a whistle wheres the hand checking.
Nobody noticed the Lakers starting lineup.....3 guards and no center
I did!!! That was wild!
Jordan getting phantom fouls as usual
smooth
Jordan always said the 2 best defensive guards to guard him was Cooper(Lakers) & Dumars of the Pistons. It was the next season when they instituted the no hand checking and hard fouls which propelled the Bulls to the title after 3 straight seasons ending with the Pistons winning 2 straight titles, and pushing the Bulls out with their tenacious D! I don't know if the Lakers could beat the Bulls if they had a younger Cooper and Kareem, 91 was just Jordan's year and if you watch him during that season and during the playoffs you could tell that nobody was going to stop him this time and he elevated his game to another stratosphere both offensively & defensively. Pippen was coming into his prime and was the only reason the hadn't won years before because he just wasn't there yet, but in 91-98 Pippen was a monster and as far as I am concerned he was the best 2 way player in the league, just remember when Chuck Day was asked who was the best player on the original dream team and he said without hesitation,"Pippen"!!!
Just stop. You really think the no hard foul rules is the reason the Bulls won? Also, you do realize Kareem in 1989 was just a role player right? He would have been worse in 1991. Vlade Divac put up more points, rebounds, assists and blocks in the 1991 Finals than Kareem did in the 1988 or 1989 Finals.
@@handlebucket6285 If the 91 Bulls played ANY of the 80s Lakers Title teams, they're getting smashed.
Why don't you stop playing with yourself, man. Jordan wouldn't win squat vs. Showtime.
@@JAWrightonline Lakers were taken to 7 games by a Mavs team in 1988 in the WCF. Birds Celtics were swept by a Bucks team with only 1 HOFer. Stop talking basketball.
@@handlebucket6285 Aw, did I hurt your feelings by blowing up your childish fantasies? Lakers and Celtics got old then David Stern put in rule changes to take the teeth out of Pistons defense. ONLY THEN was Jordan able to rise up and start winning NBA Titles.
"Stop talking basketball?" What's wrong, junior? Truth hurts?
@@JAWrightonline Love how you didn't actually acknowledge anything I said. You are the one denying reality. MJ with zero offensive help took the Bad Boy Pistons to 6 games in 1989. Once again, so that your low IQ brain understands, teams worse than the Bulls have the Celtics and Lakers a lot of trouble.
He D'd up everyone who was good. "He's the man you sent to kill the bogeyman"
Ref calls every stop on MJ a foul
Like Magic jokingly and seriously said”you can’t get too close to Michael or it’s a foul!”😂😂
As Coop so eloquently spits it: MJ will make yo ass look slow all day long. Larry Bird will make yo ass look stupid all day long! Facts, dog.