Markk wrote:He did so repeatedly. The stats don't lie on this one:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... i?id=9J1mG
Yes they do not lie...In the one playoff match they had Payton held Jordan to 41%...and in all his match up's, he held Jordon to more than 2% less than is average of over 49%. He never sat him down like a scrub...he smoked many times, like he did everyone else, but few played Jordan as well and He and Dumars.
Michael Jordan was in his mid 30’s 18 months removed from an extended retirement when that happened. Jordan was still great then, but he was diminished and unable to play in the way he did earlier in his career. It’s a testimony to his greatness that he was still phenomenal when he was in noticeable decline.
Their career matchup lines are comical in how far apart they are. Jordan’s numbers are hall of fame good. Payton’s are a borderline starter. If you look at just pre-retirement Jordan, it’s best of all time good vs. garbage. Payton wasn’t quite at peak then, so we can give a nod to that, but there’s several games during that era where Payton was trash while Jordan killed it. The idea that Payton was never “sat down” by Jordan’s Bulls is ridiculous when looking at his lines in some of those games.
Look at it this way. You are bragging about Payton knocking 2% off Jordan’s career fg%. But Payton faced Jordan passed his prime a fair amount. Combined with small sample size and you have zero evidence Payton did anything to slow Jordan down. Meanwhile, Payton is statistically not even a good player in total career matchups against Jordan. This should tell you something about who’s wearing the glove.