Chicago Bulls: 3 NBA stars who Michael Jordan regularly torched

During his run with the Bulls, Jordan often tortured the Utah Jazz offensively. But most of the work that Jordan did against the Jazz as a member of the Bulls came in the late 1990’s. The first time that these two teams met up in the NBA Finals was at the conclusion of the 1996-97 season, when the crown went back to the Windy City for the second year in a row.

There is one name that sticks out as a defensive stopper on the Jazz from the 1980’s and early 1990’s that helped them reach the level of prominence that they did in the late 1990’s. The 7-foot-4 and 275 pound towering rim protecting center hailing out of the UCLA Bruins basketball program Mark Eaton was a real force to be reckoned with down low in the 1980’s and early 1990’s.

Eaton was a four-time NBA All-Star selection, a whopping four-time blocks champion, five-time All-Defensive Team selection, and two-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner. Jordan did have that motivation to beat Eaton since that sizable seven-footer did have more All-Defensive Team selections at the time and won twice as many DPOY awards in his career.

But Jordan and the Bulls met up with Eaton and the Jazz on 16 occasions during the regular season. And they didn’t meet a single time in the playoffs. The Jazz actually held the edge in terms of record at 9-7 when Eaton faced Jordan. But Jordan was an absolute monster on the offensive end, averaging more than 35.0 points per game, 6.8 rebounds, and 5.0 assists, while shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 79.3 percent from the free-throw line.