Stephen A. Smith, "94 Bulls would have beaten the 94 Rockets in that year's Finals"

Can someone help me with this?

Didn't the Bulls take the season series from the Rockets that year? They did sweep the Pacers.

 

From 91 to 93, the Rockets were 5 and 1 against the Bulls. Those were the Bulls' first three Championship seasons.

They never had an answer for the Dream.

 

What's your point? Theres a big difference between the regular season and the playoffs.

 

free post

 

No, the Bulls did not win the season series that year. They split 1-1 in both of the Rockets' chamipionship seasons.

Any way you look at it, however, the Rockets were at least equal to the Bulls during the regular season during the Hakeem/Jordan era.

From 1984/5 - 1997/8 (Jordan's entire time with the Bulls, including the two "off" years): Houston 15, Chicago 13

Same span, excluding 1993/4 & 1994/5: Houston 13, Chicago 11

From time Jordan and Hakeem were drafted until Jordan's first retirement (1984/5-1992/3): Houston 12, Chicago 6

The Bulls Championship Seasons, 1990/1-92/3 & 1995/6-97/8(most favorable approach for Bulls): Houston 6, Chicago 6

And of course Gascon is right: in the Bulls 3 championship seasons before Jordan's first retirement, the Rockets were 5-1 vs. the Bulls.

Possum is right that regular season and playoffs are different, but it is the ONLY evidence we have with which to speculate. And this evidence makes it hard to just ASSUME that the Bulls would have won the championships in 1994 and 1995 -- even WITH Jordan. To claim they would have won without him is downright silly.