L-R: Sidney Moncrief of the Milwaukee Bucks, Alvin Robertson of the San Antonio Spurs and Gerald Wilkins of the Cleveland Cavaliers. /VCG
Michael Jordan has achieved simply too many accomplishments in his 15-season career. Offensively, he was 10-time scoring champion and holds the NBA record of dropping 30.1 points per game. He has faced various defensive challenges but managed to finish them all off.
Sidney Moncrief (L) of the Milwaukee Bucks defends Dennis Johnson of the Boston Celtics in the game at the MECCA Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1985. /VCG
Sidney Moncrief
Two-time Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), 1.91-meter-tall Moncrief was literally the first top defender Jordan met in the NBA. He's fast, smart and experienced in defending guys bigger than him – Moncrief used to defend 2.06-meter-tall Larry Bird in the 1979 NCAA tournament.
In his rookie season, Jordan led the Chicago Bulls against Moncrief's Milwaukee Bucks six times in the regular season with a 3-3 record. Then the Bucks knocked the Bulls out 3-1 in the playoffs. Jordan's scoring stats were 28.8 points in the regular season and 29.3 points in the playoffs.
Michael Jordan #23 of the Chicago Bulls tries to penetrate along the baseline in the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Milwaukee Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1984. /VCG
Those numbers were quite impressive for a first-year rookie but know this, Jordan suffered his first regular season and playoff losses both against Moncrief. In fact, no matter Jordan scored 21 points or 37 points, Moncrief focused on the same work: using his speed to keep Jordan from penetrating head-on and forcing him to either shoot from the two elbows or drive via the baseline.
"When you play against Moncrief, you're in for a night of all-around basketball. He'll hound you everywhere you go, both ends of the court. You just expect it," said Jordan himself on Moncrief.
Unfortunately, Jordan missed 64 games in the following 1985-86 season and Moncrief suffered was hit by foot and knee problems in the 1986-97 season. When they met again, Jordan was stronger but Moncrief was never in his best time anymore.
Alvin Robertson #21 of the San Antonio Spurs defends Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers in the game at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California, 1989. /VCG
Alvin Robertson
Before 1993, the most-favored defensive option for Jordan was always a short guard because no one that shared Jordan's height of 1.98 meters could match him in speed.
Then there was the three-time steal leader Robertson. He's quick, cunning and aggressive. Dribbling in front of him could be very dangerous, even for Jordan. That's why Robertson was able to make Jordan commit as many as six turnovers in one game.
However, unlike Moncrief, Robertson did not have strong enough lower body to stop Jordan in a more solid way. As Jordan added more weapons to his arsenal and began to dominate the NBA scoring title from 1987, Robertson ceased to cause much trouble form him. In 1988, 1990 and 1993, Jordan even beat him to become the league's steal leader.
Gerald Wilkins #21 of the Cleveland Cavaliers tries to penetrate in the game against the Boston Celtics at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, 1994. /VCG
Gerald Wilkins
There were multiple players who were ever called "the Jordan stopper," but when you Google the phrase, the first name was always Gerald Wilkins, the younger brother of "Human Highlights" Dominique Wilkins.
As a 1.98-meter-tall swingman, Gerald Wilkins shared his brother's outstanding athleticism and was way more willing to concentrate on defense. In the 1992 playoffs, he and the New York Knicks made Jordan play one of the only two seven-game series in his six championship seasons. Moreover, Jordan averaged only 31 points per game and committed 16 turnovers in the last three games.
Nonetheless, most of the credit of making Jordan struggle should go to Knicks head coach Pat Riley and the bunch of muscular big men he selected for the team. Unfortunately, the Cleveland Cavaliers failed to see that, perhaps because they were too desperate to get away from the nightmare created by Jordan and "The Shot" in 1989.
Michael Jordan #23 of the Chicago Bulls works on Gerald Wilkins #21 of the New York Knicks in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, May 5, 1992. /VCG
The Cavaliers landed Gerald Wilkins in 1992 summer and met the Bulls in the 1993 Eastern Conference semifinals as they wished. Then in Game 1, Jordan put down 43 points in front of Gerald Wilkins. In the following three games, he did not even have to score that much as the Bulls swept the Cavaliers.
"They thought they had the problem solved, I guess not," said Jordan. "The Jordan stopper had a tough night."
In fact, it was never one man's job to defend Jordan thanks to his speed, leaping ability, power, penetration, jumper and posting up skills. Several coaches realized that and came up with new team efforts for the job, and they almost succeeded, which will be in our next story in this series. They tried to stop Michael Jordan, but they failed – teamwork.