Kinda odd to think how close a series between Houston and Chicago was to coming to fruition. From 1990-91 to 1997-98, the Rockets or Bulls lost to the team that made it to the Finals in 6 of those 8 seasons (didn't happen in '92 and '93). The only one you could say with certainty would be '97 when the Rockets lost in the WCF (freaking moving bearhug), but an interesting addition to the "what if" talk. '98: Rockets lose to Utah who go on to lose to the Bulls. '97: Utah '96: Seattle '95: Bulls lose to Orlando who got swept by the Rockets. '94: New York '91: LA Lakers
I disagree. Hakeem is going to get his, it's the other rockets that you limit. Jordan not losing in the finals. His will to win is much higher than everyone else. There's no fame in regular season victories. If the rockets were good enough to beat the bulls they would've met the bulls. Plain and simple.
Forgot 93 where the Rockets lost to the Sonics. Other than 97, that was the Rockets best chance of making the finals (amongst the non championship teams). Not sure the Rockets get past the Suns that year. As we know from 94 and 95, the Suns played the Rockets pretty tough. The Rockets had yet to acquire Cassell and Elie. Thorpe was effective on Barkley, but Barkley at his peak (93) would get him in foul trouble consistently. KJ would still have been a tough guard for Smith/Maxwell.
I don't know if Dream could, but they'd both acknowledge each other's killer instinct when the games on the line. Heck, that pairing alone could be the anchor for a movie like Major League.
Rox lost to the Sonics in '93, but the Sonics lost to the Suns (like you pointed out) and thus didn't get to the Finals to play the Bulls. That was kinda my whole premise! Really good team in '93, but definitely helped adding Mario and Sam in '94.
Ah, gotcha.... although its likely you can find a lot of eras where certain teams can point out that they consistently lost to either the eventual champion or finals participant. For instance, the Suns can boast an equally dubious claim that they lost to the eventual champions in 3 consecutive season (93-95)... thereby somehow elevating that era for them.
We can agree to disagree, everyone has a right to thier own opinon. But Jordan did have a tremendous will to win but it wasn't the same in 1994 and 1995, he felt like there was nothing more to accomplish and his father had just died. His will to win and drive wasn't the same after conquering every mountain and his father passing those years. I don't think he wins eight championships and loses to the most difficult matchup for his team during that time, especially when his teams had the hardest challeges against top centers in the playoffs. But again, we can agree to disagree.
the reason why the rockets didn't play the bulls in 93 and 97 is because the rockets were blatantly cheated by that corrupt corporate criminal david stern. The reason why the bulls won 6 or given is cause of sterns draconian reign. You have 2 opposite sides of the fence the cash cow bulls vs the sacrificial lamb hou.
Barkley said that Hakeem was unguardable, especially in 94 and 95. No way Cartwright or any Bulls' bigs could defend him.
The bulls weren't going to make the 95 finals. If Orlando didn't beat them, the Pacers beat them. Jordan didn't have his legs under him.
