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Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers considers Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan to be the greatest defensive player he has played against. Jordan is considered the greatest player of all time, not just because of his accomplishments, but also his prowess at both the offensive and defensive ends.
After the Sixers' 112-108 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, Rivers praised his superstar center Joel Embiid for his 44-point, 17-rebound performance. He also compared Embiid with "His Airness" before complimenting Jordan for his great defense.
"I think he's underrated passer. You saw it the other night. He doesn't give enough credit for it. If you look at what he's doing passing the ball this year compared to the last two years, it's been unbelievable. He brings a ball up for us half the time. He’s really been great," Rivers said.
"Joel has been at the five as good of a dominant center defensively as there is in the league because probably he's a scorer. That was like Michael, in some ways. No one really talked about Michael's defense, but I can tell you, he was the greatest defensive player that I played against, but he was the best offensive player too and so we don’t talk about that," Rivers added.
Doc Rivers played against Michael Jordan for 11 seasons as a member of the Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs. Rivers and Jordan were also teammates for the Eastern Conference in the 1988 NBA All-Star Game.
In addition to winning six NBA championships, five NBA MVPs and ten scoring titles, Jordan also won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1988 and also earned All-Defensive First Team honors nine times.
Doc Rivers used to be close with Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan has kept a tight-knit circle of friends since he became a global icon. Jordan has retained friends from his playing career such as Charles Oakley and Ahmad Rashad. He also lost a few friends along the way like Charles Barkley and Doc Rivers.
In an interview with Karley Marotta of ABC's 27WKOW News in 2020, Rivers revealed that he used to be close with Jordan. They were pretty close during their college days till he joined the New York Knicks in 1992. Rivers noted that things changed when they almost got into a fight.
"We had a couple of big run-ins. One I remember us grabbing each other's shirts and I mean we almost came to blows. It absolutely affected our friendship for a long time," Rivers said.
Michael Jordan faced Doc Rivers 40 times during his career. Jordan averaged 31.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.7 steals, while Rivers put up 13.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.9 steals. Jordan has a record of 23-17 against Rivers.
