Word? After Houston was passed up by 30 for 30 on the Oilers documentary (which became an episode for 'A Football Life' on NFL Network), this would be nice to see.
I wanted to see in that reunion, Matt Boullard standing next to Hakeem, he claimed they are both at the same height
Totally agree...the postseason is a different monster and Jordan was the best at elevating his game in the Finals...
Great thread Tinman! Hearing this from the other side really vindicates this whole idea. Apparently I have to spread some rep around, lol.
You're right. It's not like the Rockets had players that would step up their game in the playoffs. They all had lower numbers in the playoffs and got outplayed by their counterparts. Choke City was the name of the game.
I'd say that's true when your talking about one regular season record against an opponent but when you have several years of dominance on one team, there's a stronger case to be made that, that team would have won the playoff series.
I always bring this up and haters don't believe me. Once I make them search online an they see it, their mouths drop!
Everyone forgets the Bulls lost Grant and didn't get Rodman until he pooped the bed against the Rockets, took his shoes off, laid down, and was let go by the Spurs (still a travesty that he is in the HOF after that). Even with those guys, the Bulls had nobody on the frontline that could deal with Dream in the way that Vernon bothered Jordan.
I believe these guys didn't read the post. I did use large font to get the point across. The official bulls nba confirmed what maxwell had said was truth with historical evidence of 18 games. What boggles my mind is the so called rockets fans can't imagine a prime hakeem olajuwon dominating bill cartwright or scott williams. Seriously
What kind of rockets fan can't believe or fathom hakeem olajuwon beating the likes of bill cartwright, scott williams, and horrace grant? I mean, david Robinson, patrick Ewing, shaq, got the business from dream. Are these bill cartwright only fans?
Yes. There are only two groups of fans who knew what happened back then. Rockets fans and bulls fans.
It would have been quite a show thats for sure. Maybe a Larry Legend vs Nique battle? Dream would have went off. As much as I love Max, If Jordan got it going, nobody was going to stop him either.
The official bulls site said maxwell gave jordan problems. Jordan usually wins the mind games against other players. Not against the mad one. Notice how there was never a statement on how the bulls gave hakeem any trouble. The whole bulls front line would foul out trying to guard dream.
I love the topic, and I agree that Max could slow down Michael to a certain extent they played 17 games against each other: http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=maxweve01&p2=jordami01 Its somewhat illogical to think that when it mattered most that Max would win that mindgame knowing how crazy good Mike was in those moments.
Maxwell was more effective with the rockets against jordan. There is no doubt hakeem in the middle also helps. What people are getting wrong about this match up was not how to stop Jordan, it was how to stop Dream. They spend so much energy defending dream which opens it up for everyone else. Also let's absolutely not forget about Robert Horry. He's arguably just as clutch as Jordan. In the playoffs Horry elevated his game
And Hakeem didn't elevate his game in the postseason? You certainly can't gauge everything or maybe even anything from the regular season but it's more ridiculous to assume that a 1-5 record against a team automatically means you'd beat them in the playoffs. The Bulls never stopped the rockets from winning a playoff series and the rockets routinely beat them when they played. That's the facts we have. Rockets fans aren't claiming the better team, it's just pretty obvious that Jordan winning those 2 years was far far from any sure thing.
Rodman never seemed to bother Hakeem while he was in SA. Hakeem lit him up for 35/game in the playoffs. Spoiler
