I just say this video of Kenny Smith talking about the 95 Magic and 09 Magic. But watch it till the end where they talk about who would win: 95 Rockets vs 09 Lakers? Also interesting.... Kenny say that Clyde was just behind Kobe ! Nice! Link: http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/nba/13802222;_ylt=ArborMxijy8oqA_wii9Ny.a8vLYF
The only team since the 95' Rockets team that could have taken them down was the '96 Bulls. And I still think that would be a toss-up. I mean, you think about it, you had Hakeem and Clyde as the stars, but Mario Elle, Robert Horry, and Sam Cassell all went on to be key guys for other teams and add more hardware to their collection. They all helped modern teams win rings. And Sam was an all-star. No team since the bulls have come close. You look at that Rockets team, it was solid at every position, and had star power. Hakeem was unguardable, and you had a perimeter star in Clyde Drexler. You had athleticism, you had speed and the ability to run the break, you had a team that could pass and hit 3-pointers, and you had a center that could bang in low, shoot outside, and was the best defensive player that decade or generation.
god i wish i could see that team play again. Hell the only team IMHO that would take them down was the 92 dream team... AND THATS IT
If God came out of the Eastern Conference in 1995, He would have been cut. There was no stopping that train.
I'm sure I'll get flamed and you guys will probably take this out of context or whatever, but the Spurs with Robinson and Duncan would have been a hand full. As good a Dream was, that is arguably the best C/PF combo in history... Even the '95 series could have been a whole lot different if Nick Anderson hadn't pulled maybe the biggest choke job in the history of sports. Don't get wrong, I'm super glad it happened, but his 4 missed free throws IN A ROW absolutely sucked the life from the Magic that season. They had that game won.
I think it would all depend. I think it would be a very close game and it would all depend on Gasol on how well the lakers would do. I always wondered all those years why the Sonics with Shawn Kemp gave us all that trouble since Dream was the DREAM.
Dream would have destroyed Bynum,Gasol,Odom. Clyde wasn't a closer like Kobe but he would have held his own against him. Sam and Kenny would have the edge against the Lakers PG's. Horry would have pulled Odom and Gasol out with his outside shooting. Rockets in 5 or 6 at the most.
I think Shaq led the league in scoring that year. the 95 Rockets team was the most battle test team in nba history, surviving all the elimination games going back to 94 makes them mentally tough and superior to anybody. Also Robert Horry in 95 was the best Robert Horry ever in the playoffs. He was scoring, dunking, blocking shots, getting steals. this is when people were thinking he was the next Pippen if he got his handles straight. And we know about Dream that year. PG shooting was incredible with Cassell and Kenny. Last a 39 year old Sam Cassell was crossing over Jordan Farmar in the finals
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http://www.whatifsports.com/nba/default.asp fun site has the away team Rockets over the home Lakers 103-102 in my simulation. Nice imaginary finals choke job by Kobe! 1994-95 Houston Rockets PLAYER MIN FGM/FGA 3PM/3PA FTM/FTA OREB REB AST BLK STL TO PF TP 1994-95 Hakeem Olajuwon* 38 12/25 0/1 2/2 3 11 1 6 1 4 0 26 1994-95 Clyde Drexler* 36 6/12 0/1 0/2 2 3 5 1 1 2 4 12 1994-95 Otis Thorpe* 36 5/11 0/0 2/3 7 16 1 1 0 3 4 12 1994-95 Robert Horry* 31 6/10 1/4 2/4 4 11 4 1 2 1 2 15 1994-95 Kenny Smith* 27 4/8 2/5 1/3 0 2 6 0 1 0 1 11 1994-95 Sam Cassell 21 3/4 1/2 0/0 1 5 6 0 0 4 2 7 1994-95 Pete Chilcutt 14 1/2 1/1 0/0 2 5 2 2 0 2 4 3 1994-95 Vernon Maxwell 12 3/5 2/3 0/0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 8 1994-95 Tim Breaux 12 0/3 0/0 1/2 1 1 0 0 0 1 3 1 1994-95 Tracy Murray 10 3/7 1/2 1/2 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 8 1994-95 Chucky Brown 2 0/0 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 TOTALS 43/87 8/19 9/18 20 59 27 11 5 18 22 103 49.4% 42.1% 50.0% 2008-09 Los Angeles Lakers PLAYER MIN FGM/FGA 3PM/3PA FTM/FTA OREB REB AST BLK STL TO PF TP 2008-09 Kobe Bryant* 37 3/16 0/4 2/2 1 6 6 1 5 2 2 8 2008-09 Pau Gasol* 37 7/13 0/0 4/5 3 7 2 3 0 3 2 18 2008-09 Lamar Odom* 31 6/11 0/1 2/3 2 9 1 3 0 1 0 14 2008-09 Derek Fisher* 30 3/8 0/1 2/2 1 2 3 0 1 0 0 8 2008-09 Trevor Ariza* 26 5/11 1/2 4/6 1 3 0 1 0 0 1 15 2008-09 Jordan Farmar 18 3/7 1/2 0/1 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 7 2008-09 Andrew Bynum 15 4/8 0/0 3/6 5 6 1 0 0 1 2 11 2008-09 Luke Walton 14 1/2 0/0 0/0 0 3 4 0 2 0 0 2 2008-09 Josh Powell 13 3/4 0/0 2/2 4 6 2 0 0 1 4 8 2008-09 Sasha Vujacic 11 1/4 0/3 3/3 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 5 2008-09 Vladimir Radmanovic 8 2/4 2/3 0/0 0 1 2 0 0 1 1 6 TOTALS 38/88 4/16 22/30 19 47 25 8 9 9 12 102 43.2% 25.0% 73.3% * - denotes game starter Player of the Game Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston)
Part of the answer depends upon which set of defensive rules are used. Dream in his prime was great...no doubt. But even he struggled against SEA's illegal defensive scheme which was fundamentally today's NBA zone. It would probably be a lot closer than most of you all think.
In fairness to the 09 Lakers, if they do win this year, its because the NBA lacked the usual powerhouses this year. Injuries had a lot to do with it (Garnet, Duncan, Ginobli, Yao). Comparing them to the 95 Rockets, who won despite going through 4 fifty + teams, all extremely talented, and all on the road is not a good comparison. 95 would dominate. If you want to compare, compare that 95 team to the Lakers of the early decade, with a dominant Shaq and Kobe, to a dominant Hakeem and Clyde.
That 95' team beat the Spurs with Robinson at his peak - when he won the NBA crown, and with Dennis Rodman. That was an awfully good combo of a front court. When the Spurs won with Duncun & Robinson, it was only in the labor disputed year, and that spurs team took down an 8th seeded Knicks squad. Robinson was old and not nearly as effective (check is numbers) and they did not have Parker or Ginobli. The best spurs team was the one with Parker, Manu, and Horry when he was still effective. But even that team would not match up well with A younger Horry, Sam Cassell, and Clyde Drexler. You have to keep in mind that the rules were difference. Much of Parkers and Manu's slashing would have been taken away by physical defense from guys like Mario Ellie. And if you had that 95 team play in the modern era, guys like Clyde and a younger Sam Cassell would have a field day. As for Nick Anderson's missed free throws - it would not have mattered. Even if Orlando had won that game, you forget that the Rockets figured out the Magic after 3 qtrs and came back from a 20-something point lead. After that game the series was a laugher - not because Nick Anderson and the MAgic had psychological problems, but because the Houston Rockets had figured them out so badly that they crushed them the rest of the way. They were crushing them in the 4th qtr anyway. The free throws would have made it a 5 game series instead of 4. People really under-rate that 95 team, but it went through so many great teams to get to the finals. It knocked out a Utah team that would be going to the finals twice in a few years, a great Phoenix team that was never able to get back to the finals because of Houston, and a very good SA team in 6 games. And it swept the number one seed in the playoffs and pretty much destroyed the first Orlando ring.