Starting centers that the Jordan-era Bulls faced in the finals: Team (Year) - Starting Center, PPG, RPG, APG, BPG, FG%, FT% (for respective regular season) Lakers (1991) - Vlade Divac, 11.2 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 1.1 APG, 1.5 BPG, 56.5 FG%, 70.3 FT% Blazers (1992) - Kevin Duckworth, 10.7 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.5 BPG, 46.2 FG%, 69.0 FT% Suns (1993) - Mark West, 5.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 0.4 APG, 1.3 BPG, 1.3 BPG, 61.4 FG%, 51.8 FT% SuperSonics (1996) - Ervin Johnson, 5.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 0.6 APG, 1.6 BPG, 51.1 FG%, 66.9 FT% Jazz (1997) - Greg Ostertag, 7.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 0.5 APG, 2.0 BPG, 51.5 FG%, 67.8 FT% Jazz (1998) - Greg Foster, 5.7 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.4 BPG, 44.5 FG%, 77.0 FT%
that's why i always laugh when people say jordan won in a big man era. yeah, it's true to the extent that there were good centers at the time, but it doesn't matter if jordan didn't face them in the playoffs. he basically beat ewing, the worst of the major centers and a guy who didn't have any other star next to him. hakeem and drob were in the west, and shaq only came along for a few years in the east. and lo and behold, jordan went 1-1 against shaq. as shown here, his finals competition at big man was absolutely awful. and we're not talking teams with weak centers and 7 foot power forwards. even at PF the best were presumably malone and kemp, neither of whom would be considered dominant rim protectors or guys who grabbed all the rebounds. also, just in general, the finals defenses he faced were pretty weak. not surprisingly, the one good finals defense he faced in seattle is the series where he shot 41% and had his 2 worst finals shooting games.
Well, those 2 worst shooting games came too late, they put Payton on him very late. Sonics were down 0-3..... Jordan had problems for sure but he closed them out on Father's day just few years after he lost his dad James.
Maybe that jordan guy wasnt very good, you are right, just beat some terrible and weak teams, while all the great teams got eliminated earlier because they didnt care too much
ha, completely forgot barkley. but in a way, it makes my point even more. i was trying to think of tall power forwards, rim-protector-types, guys who might post up and score 40 against the bulls lack of big men. so even against opponents without great centers, one of the best power forwards was a guy who was 6'-5".
when did i say that? i have jordan as the best player ever. it's just myth-building to say he won in an era of big men (as in it was an obstacle he was able to overcome) when his team largely didn't face great big men. the whole idea is jordan didn't have great centers on his team so he must have had to make up for his centers being destroyed by all the great big men. but basically bill cartwright and luc longley weren't facing the cream of the crop so it never happened. he got a few series with ewing, the least likely of the HoF centers to destroy your team, and then a few series with shaq and he had to split those series. even the team he most famously overcame, the bad boy pistons, didn't have a dominant center who was going to put up 40 on bill cartwright or get 5 blocks a game. they had some nice defensive bigs who didn't have much offensive talent.
Jordan made a living off of tormenting Brad Daugherty (4x), Patrick Ewing (5x), and Alonzo Mourning (3x). Strong front courts of Celtics (Mchale-Bird-Parish) and Pistons (Laimbeer-Rodman-Mahorn) gave him trouble. Rockets trio of Thorpe-Horry-Olajuwon gave him fits... and once Rudy T adopted the spread 4 with Horry... it would have neutralized Rodman. Agile rim protection + scoring front court was the way to beat Jordan. Centers of teams that Jordan got beat by.... 1985 Milwaukee Bucks (Round 1) -- Alton Lister 9.9 PPG, 8.0 RPG 1986 Boston Celtics (Round 1) -- Robert Parish 16.1 PPG, 9.1 RPG (backup: Bill Walton) 1987 Boston Celtics (Round 1) -- Robert Parish 17.5 PPG, 10.6 RPG 1988 Detroit Pistons (Eastern Semis) -- Rick Mahorn 10.7 PPG, 8.4 RPG 1989 Detroit Pistons (Eastern Finals) -- Rick Mahorn 7.3 PPG, 6.9 RPG 1990 Detroit Pistons (Eastern Finals) -- Bill Laimbeer 12.1 PPG, 9.6 RPG 1991-1993 Championships 1994 Retired 1995 Orlando Magic (Eastern Semis) -- Shaquille O'Neal 29.3 PPG, 11.4 RPG 1996-1998 Championships 1999-2001 Retired 2002 Did not make playoffs 2003 Did not make playoffs Centers of team that Jordan beat in earlier rounds... 1988: Cavs (Round 1) -- Brad Daugherty 18.7 PPG, 8.4 RPG 1989: Cavs (Round 1) -- Brad Daugherty 18.9 PPG, 9.2 RPG, Knicks (Eastern Semis) -- Patrick Ewing 22.7 PPG, 9.3 PRG 1990: Bucks (Round 1) -- Jack Sikma 13.9 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 76ers (Eastern Semis) -- Rick Mahorn 10.8 PPG, 7.6 RPG 1991: Knicks (Round 1) -- Patrick Ewing 26.6 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 76ers (Eastern Semis) -- Rick Mahorn 8.9 PPG, 7.8 RPG Pistons (Eastern Finals) -- Bill Laimbeer 11.0 PPG, 9.0 RPG 1992: Heat (Round 1) -- Rony Seikaly 16.4 PPG, 11.8 RPG, Knicks (Eastern Semis) -- Patrick Ewing 24.0 PPG, 11.2 RPG Cavs (Eastern Finals) -- Brad Daugherty 21.5 PPG, 10.4 RPG 1993: Hawks (Round 1) -- Jon Koncak 3.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG Cavs (Eastern Semis) -- Brad Daugherty 20.2 PPG, 10.2 RPG, Knicks (Eastern Finals) -- Patrick Ewing 24.2 PPG, 12.1 RPG 1995: Hornets (Round 1) -- Alonzo Mourning 21.3 PPG, 10.2 RPG 1996: Hornets (Round 1) -- Alonzo Mourning 23.2 PPG, 10.4 RPG, Knicks (Eastern Semis) -- Patrick Ewing 22.5 PPG, 10.6 RPG, Magic (Eastern Finals) -- Shaquille O'Neal 26.6 PPG, 11.0 RPG (hurt half the season) 1997: Bullets (Rounds 1) -- Gheorghe Muresan 10.6 PPG, 6.6 RPG, Hawks (Eastern Semis) -- Dikembe Mutombo 13.3 PPG, 11.6 RPG, Heat (Eastern Finals) -- Alonzo Mourning 19.8 PPG, 9.9 RPG 1998: Nets (Round 1) -- Jayson Williams 12.9 PPG, 13.6 RPG, Hornets (Eastern Semis) -- Vlade Divac 10.4 PPG, 8.1 RPG, Pacers (Eastern Finals) -- Rik Smits 16.7 PPG, 6.9 RPG
