Funny thing is MJ himself said he was glad that the Rockets couldn't make it out of the West. Why? Because the Bulls did not have an answer for that monster down low. Not my words, but MJ's
Dream could handle Kemp. It was the illegal switching D that Seattle ran (with great athletes) that always caused problems for Houston.
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I remember Hakeem schooling Kemp badly with his dream shakes, and scoring on him around the basket on 3 consecutive occasions, when Karl decided to go one on one on a rare occasion in a regular season game. Karl said he is killing us, and called for a quick time out. No one could handle Hakeem one on one, not even Rodman. Rodman had no problems against Shaq or Karl Malone. I loved this video too. The Dream was the best all round center of all time at his peak. I honestly believe that Michael Jordan felt intimidated by Hakeem, his shot block on Jordan was so special because of his timing. Jordan couldn't do anything to upset him and the Rockets. We had Mad Max and Clyde later on too.
Rodman was trash against Dream. In that SA series, Rodman just flat out quit on his team in part because his image was taking a hit from what Dream was doing to him and the rest of the Spurs. That series should have disqualified him from ever sniffing the HOF but the fanboys won the day.
I think we beat them in 95 if the bulls somehow overcome missing Grant to get to the Finals, but i don't think we'd win in 94 tbh. Without MJ, the 94 Bulls took the Knicks to 7. I think it's been completely overblown how good Vernon was at getting in MJ's head or defending him. Player G W L GS MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS Michael Jordan 17 11 6 17 37.8 12.2 24.5 .498 1.2 2.8 .426 5.1 6.2 .821 2.0 3.9 5.9 4.6 2.2 0.6 2.5 2.2 30.6 Vernon Maxwell 17 6 11 8 29.6 5.0 12.1 .415 1.1 4.6 .231 2.5 3.5 .717 0.6 1.8 2.4 2.3 0.7 0.3 2.5 2.6 13.6
Dream dominated anyone who tried to guard him one on one It was mandatory to double team him Rodman got some so did any other shorter power forwards
I think people completely forget that Jordan played in 1995. He averaged 31.5 PPG in the playoffs (not nearly his lowest PPG in Playoffs even in years they won Championships). They got handled by Shaq and Penny, fair and square. If anything, the Bulls need to be glad Shaq and Penny split up or they wouldn't have won the next 3 straight. So if you want to talk about Jordan retirement, the only one you can legit argue about is 1994. I think the 1994 team beats the Bulls if they were able to make it past the physical Knicks.
Rockets would've beaten the Bulls during the 90-91, 91-92 season if they had made the Finals. Rockets were 3-1 against them over a 2 yr period.
Regardless of whether it was the Rockets or not, it’s ridiculously stupid to assume that a team can win 8 championships in a row. Let’s say they get the first 5, we then assume that Jordan and the bulls have the energy to definitely get another 3 on top of that? It was time for that team to retool and it was a needed break for MJ. The Bulls were never an impediment for the Rockets. The numbers dictate that it’s more likely we would have been a problem for them. There isn’t a long list of stars who get better in the playoffs, but Dream is on it. We greatly benefited from Denver dropping Seattle, but MJ retiring? Not so much.
While 94 would have been a fun finals, people also forget that when Horace Grant left, the Bulls had no talent at all at the 4 or 5. As in none. That’s a big reason they lost to Orlando. The disparity between Dream and OT and the jag offs the Bulls had in 95 was immense and probably too great for Jordan and Pippen to overcome. Take OT out, counter Pippen with Drexler, and it is still a front court mismatch in favor of the Rockets.
