Choke! Scottie Pippen could have proved us wrong; he didn't, again, against the Lakers. by george shadroui Say what you will about Scottie Pippen, he is the greatest disappearing act since Harry Houdini.He proved it again Sunday night. With the Lakers frantically launching a comeback and his team, the Portland Trail Blazers, on its heels, quickly losing its confidence and equilibrium, there was one player on the court who should have been up to the challenge. One player on the court who had rings, six of them. One player on the court who had been there before. One player on the court who was schooled by the greatest player in history while playing on one of the greatest teams in history. One player on the court who had long claimed that he was a go-to-guy. And one player who -- despite all of this -- did not have the heart and soul to prove, once and for all, that he could lead a team without Michael Jordan doing the down-the-stretch, ice in your veins, series-on-the-line, championship-caliber clutch work. Scottie Pippen is one of the best players in the league -- for three quarters. When the game is in hand and the season is not on the line, he can step up and make some great plays. His defensive work on Shaquille O'Neal was magnificent and there is no question that without him, the Trail Blazers probably would not have been in a position to have a shot at the title. But some of us have always felt Scottie Pippen was a guy with a lot of talent who came along for the MJ ride. It might be true that the Bulls without Pippen could not have won all six of their titles. Jordan and Pippen were a good fit, I grant you, and Pippen handled a lot of tough defensive assignments to free up Jordan for his last-minute heroics. But it is my own view that any one of several players in the NBA, if paired with Jordan, could have ensured that the Bulls won four or five of those titles: Grant Hill, Penny Hardaway, Allan Houston, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Reggie Miller, etc. Any of them plus MJ and the other Bulls supporting cast, and the Bulls win. It was Pippen himself who always resented the fact that he was undervalued, who fought with the Bulls owners about his worth, and who bridled at the idea that Toni Kukoc or any other Bull could be the go-to-guy after Jordan. Remember the game against the Knicks several years ago, when Pippen refused to play because Jackson -- who does know what he is doing -- drew up the play for Kukoc, who then proceeded to nail the shot that won the game? Remember who else for the Bulls hit all the clutch, game-on-the-line shots that Jordan didn't hit: Paxon, Kukoc, and Kerr? Jackson knew what he was doing. He knows what he is doing today. That is why he said from the outset that if the Trail Blazers were going to beat his Lakers, one guy would have to lead them. He knew that Pippen would have to prove that with all the marbles on the line, he could put up the big shots and lift his new team to championship caliber. Jackson knew his man, and he knew Pippen, when it really counted, could be depended on -- to disappear. When Pippen fouled out with a couple of minutes left Sunday night, he seemed almost relieved: no pressure, no big shots to make, no blame if the game came down to a tough, gut-wrenching shot in the final seconds and it didn't drop. Instead, a young kid named Kobe Bryant of the Lakers stepped up, with no big-game experience at all, and showed Scottie how a player who would claim to don the mantle of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird ought to play. After the game, Pippen walked around the court with a smirk on his face. It was not clear at all that he cared enough to actually hurt a little. The expression on his face almost said, "Hey, I got my rings." Later, he had the nerve to say the Trail Blazers, who blew a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter, played like cowards down the stretch. He is right about that. And the biggest coward of them all was Scottie Pippen. n George Shadroui is a freelance writer living in Memphis. You can e-mail him at letters@memphisflyer.com.