Sidney Moncrief (defense on Jordan) vs Bulls, 1985 EC 1st Round game4, highlights

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• published: 15 Jan 2014
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April 26, 1985, Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round, Milwaukee Bucks at Chicago Bulls highlights focusing mostly on Sidney Moncrief. 4:01 for the beginning of the game's highlights, 22:19 for the start of the 2nd half. box score (Moncrief is credited with 2 assists here but at the end of the broadcast - although not before - they stated that he had 4; watching the footage it's clear he had more than 2 assists, at least by today's standards): http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/198504260CHI.html Highlights of one of the most underrated players and one of the most underrated teams ever, Sidney Moncrief and the 1980's Milwaukee Bucks. Moncrief, the best shooting guard in the NBA at that time, in a head2head matchup against Michael Jordan, rookie of the year with a splendid campaign, already amazing. You can see Moncrief displaying his scoring, his passing, his rebounding and his defense, primarily guarding Jordan but at times also Quintin Dailey. Pay attention to #4, you can see the great job he did on Jordan (or Dailey), always bothering him, keeping him out of the paint, forcing him into crowded areas, denying his sweet spots, contesting his shots, meeting him at the rim, using his body, athleticism, fundamentals and length, even keeping up with him in trasition which was almost impossible, playing some great help D too. Jordan also had some really good defensive plays of his own. Michael didn't make more than 3 field goals while directly being guarded by Sidney, for the game he went 6-16 from the field but also went 20 times to the free-throw line, mostly in trasition and also on drives, forcing his way onto the paint. Of course that no man could "contain" Jordan that much though, it's a team effort, Moncrief was a terrific defensive player but the Bucks were too a great team and were doing a great job all around, also following Don Nelson's diverse strategies. Paul Pressey and Ricky Pierce had their shot at MJ as well. Sid was in his prime and certainly had better teammates around him, while MJ was a rookie on a worse team, but also has to be said that Moncrief is the only SG who can claim to have - arguably - outplayed Jordan head2head in a playoffs series, while the vast majority was never even close. For the series: Moncrief - 26.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.8 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.5 bpg, 1.8 TO's, 54.9% FG, 40.0% 3P, 92.3% FT, 71.7% TS, 42.0 mpg Jordan - 29.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 8.5 apg, 2.8 spg, 1.0 bpg, 3.8 TO's, 43.6% FG, 12.5% 3P, 82.8% FT, 56.5% TS, 42.8 mpg While the Bucks won the series 3-1. Michael always admired Sidney (who really showed him the ropes) and went on to say: "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." Sid had a great playoff run in 1985 (even going through injuries), the Bucks got swept in the ECSF though. From 1986 on forward, while he was still 28 years old, a growing string of injuries (especially a degenerative knee) would cripple Moncrief for the rest of his career, hindering his talents and forcing him into an early retirement. A spot in the Hall of Fame is still long overdue. Highlights also including Michael Jordan, Terry Cummings, Paul Pressey, Orlando Woolridge, Ricky Pierce, Quintin Dailey, Dave Greenwood, Craig Hodges, Alton Lister, Wes Matthews, Dave Corzine, Paul Mokeski, Randy Breuer, Sidney Green and Jawann Oldham.