Kenny Smith Says His Rockets Team Would've Beaten '94 Bulls with Michael Jordan

Their roster was still pretty solid... they were a .500 team wo MJ.... one might even say a Dennis Rodman away from having a 3 peat caliber type roster....
As for MJ's limited playing time... that's how he chose to play it... unless you believe he had an under the table suspension by Stern...
Could also say he was better rested - while at the same time have stayed in great condition...

 

Haha, I'd like to hear Pippen talk more about cutting the head off the snake. He was acting like the entry passes to Hakeem had to go through him. Yeah, and about 15 illegal defense calls get made. Gonna guard Hakeem? One on one? Shaq wasn't strong enough to stop him, so what made you say you'd go guard him? He ate your teams alive during the regular season. Just be respectful and say we were a good team. Say Hakeem was great and then just let your six rings do the talking. But no, you had to go talk and remind people that you're lesser than you think. Should've let it go, Pip. Jordan doesn't say these things. He's no dummy.

 

lol. wow that segment was the worst. byron scott almost said something dumber than scottie. wish it would have happened either year ... heck even 97 if it weren't for malone's moving screen to set up stockton's dagger 3. I would have loved to see Scottie get trashed by Dream over and over and over again. He talkin like hakeem can't pass out of double teams and that we don't have other adequate post entry passers. If pippen is gonna guard kenny, then we have horry, drexler, & elie to pass it to him. They also underestimate Clyde, who had some pretty big nights against both pippen and MJ.

Pippen talks so big for someone whose entire career was built off MJ's greatness. Sure he was an all-star, and a versatile defender with above-average offense and athleticism, but he was not some kind of "all time great." Needs to be humbled. Isaiah Thomas was right about him haha

 

Everyone pretty much already said what I would say. But I'll echo some of it anyway.

Pippen is just talking because he can't handle the nagging reality that he was never good enough to stop the Rockets even when he was on the Bulls. While on the Bulls he was used to winning championships, and in his own mind, he bought into the hype the media was saying about him. He thought he was one of the best in the league. Then, when Jordan left, he wasn't able to deal with the fact that he wasn't the player he thought he was. To Scottie, it was always someone else's fault, and he was doing as much as he could. He came to Houston, and he out and out sucked in the playoffs. Then he blamed his teammates, and when he went to Portland he was claiming that he had to do everything on the Rockets.

Not having been able to face the reality back then, Pippen is just mouthing off now, trying to make himself believe again, and hoping to restore the media shine on himself and those Bulls teams. His idea is that now, even if he can't fool himself, he hopes he can get the media to help fool the public.

Everything Pippen says is just meaningless talk. When the Bulls played the Rockets, Pippen lost time and time again.

Pippen was overrated as a player and is less than that as a human being.

 

But would they have beaten the 1994 Sonics? Thank you 1994 nuggets!


But really who cares? The rockets won it all in 1994 and again in 1995 and that's that.

 

It comes down to this.

the 1994 Bulls and 1995 Bulls are 2 different animals.

The 1994 Bulls had Horace Grant on that team. If the first 3 peat had a third leg it was Horace Grant. Chicago needed a strong Power Forward to anchor its front court because it didn't have the traditional strong center in an era of Hakeem/Ewing/Robinson etc.
Horace Grant was no 2. to Scottie in helping push Chicago to GM7 ECSF against the Knicks.

The 1995 Bulls lost Horace Grant to Orlando. This was similarly reflected in their poor record before the return of MJ mid season. They had to make a late season push to even get back to the playoffs.

1995 Bulls even with Michael Jordan was not going to beat the Rockets because they lacked a POWER FORWARD.

It was with the arrival of Dennis Rodman to fill that PF position in 1996, that was how the Bulls won their 2nd 3 peat. Not just the sole return of Michael Jordan.

Chicago. No Power Forward. No Titles.

What happens to Golden State without Draymond Green?
What happens to Cleveland without Tristan Thompson?

All 3 teams are considered small-ball teams. At the bare minimum they needed their PFs or their front court would be too barren.

 

Rodman was the difference for them in 95-96, but even HE got eliminated by the Rockets in 94-95. At the end of the day the Rockets had the best thing going in those 2 years whether Jordan was on the court or not. CLUTCH CITY is real, believe it or not.

 

Pippen a great defender, one of the top 5 all-time...

He had NO SHOT at guarding Hakeem. What complete non-sense that is. Even Jordan thought Pippen couldn't guard Hakeem. The idea that he'd completely take him out of games is laughable.

 

I'm surprised they didn't censor the part where Kenny said Jordan played the second year. There's too much truth here for the the public to acknowledge it.

 

Byron Scott still salty about Ralph Sampson's mushroom stamp.

 

Media hates us, why? We beat the Knicks in the Finals and the Show Time Lakers in their prime: 4-1.

Mark it. Embrace it. Strive to repeat it.

 

This will be the Warriors third championship in a row, regardless of the outcome. They'll get it right years from now, but for now, 3 time champ. No earning necessary.

 

Jeez, I miss Dream.

 

Don't you mean Ron Harper?? His length as the starting PG helped that team a whole bunch. They had strong role players that knew exactly what their role was...that helped a bunch as well.

Its extremely saddening that we never got to matchup with them in any Finals