Chicago Bulls icon Scottie Pippen shared that the lowest point in his career happened in 1990 when he suffered a migraine in Game 7 during the series against the Detroit “Bad Boy” Pistons. The six-time champion revealed that along with the migraine, he was also struggling with his mental health, as it was around the time his father had passed away.
“ I ended up getting a migraine, and it ended up becoming a joke. Just looking back and reflecting on maybe Scottie had this happen, or this happened, it’s just everything is about basketball,” Pippen said . “But at some point in my life and at many points in my life, basketball is not the most important thing to me .”
Pippen on public pressure
The fact that Pippen was dealing with a migraine was information the public knew (as even seen on “The Last Dance” ) but not that his father passed away. That’s unfortunate for the seven-time All-Star whose play was significantly affected in the do-or-die game. Pippen shot just 1-10 from the field and ended the game with a season-low two points, two assists, and four rebounds.
In addition to constantly hearing that the Bulls couldn’t get past the “Bad Boy” Pistons, Pippen was also reminded all summer about his stinker of a performance in Game 7. Years later, he admitted that it was very frustrating for him because the public had no idea about his family situation.
“That sometimes, the game has to take a back seat, and you have to put family and other things first, your kids or whatever. The fans don’t understand it, they don’t wanna understand it and you don’t try to give it to them to understand. You just keep moving on in life, and that was probably one of the low points of my career, and I look back, and I’m like, ‘Wow, they really tried to dig into me,’” Pip added.
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Why Stacey King wasn’t happy with The Last Dance
“The Last Dance” was right when it portrayed Pippen going back and forth to the dugout and court while dealing with that migraine during Game 7, but retired Bulls color commentator Stacey King wished that Michael Jordan and the directors had given Pip a little more justice for this moment.
“When you have one of the worst migraines, you can’t see, which Scottie couldn’t. He was in so much pain, coming to Detroit for that Game 7. He was in tears, and he tried to play. Couldn’t see and was just so visibly shaken by not being able to play. And he got such a bad rap for that. His teammates knew what he was going through, knew that he went out there and he wanted to play. To have that in a documentary, bringing that back up? We ended up winning three straight championships after that,” King said in his appearance on “The Lowe Post” podcast.
An underrated part of Scottie’s game was how he managed to win three straight championships with the Bulls despite suffering a brutal loss the year before. He dealt with the media and fans as graciously as he could, even if they had no idea what he was going through. That speaks volumes about the Hall of Famer’s character and how he picked himself up after the lowest moment of his career.
Related: "Frequently it was heated" — Steve Kerr claims Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen's conversations in practice usually had tension
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