This year's Laker roster is almost identical to last season's. The results are wildly different. It depends on the chemistry and rhythm of each individual team come playoff time. Never came close - say what? The 2001 Lakers were 15-1, sweeping the entire Western Conference playoffs and losing one single game in the Finals, in OT, in which Allen Iverson lost his mind. The 2001 Lakers had the best playoff winning percentage in NBA history. Your aforementioned Moses Malone/Philly team did NOT sweep every series, by the way. Before you accuse others of not seeing or hearing much, you should ideally have your own facts in order... http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nba/01playoffs/best-playoff-record.htm
the spurs would have probably gave that lakers team a better series if derek anderson never got injured in the playoffs
The FoFiFo team is probably the best team ever assembled, their entire starting lineup were all stars, two of them hall of famers. Their 1 loss was a game 4, and amongst their opponents they swept was a team with 3 Hall of Famers, 2 of them, arguably the best players ever in their position.
Shaq and the Lakers would most likely have handled the Bulls in a way similiar to the Rockets formula at the time. I'm not saying Kobe could lock down Jordan like Vernon could, but he would make MJ work hard. Inside, Shaq and co. would carry the day against the weak underbelly of those Bulls teams in much the same way that Dream and O.T. did regularly. It's all about matchups. Damn Sonics!
I say the Bulls would win. Shaq would get his and I think the Bulls would shut down everyone else up. No way Kobe will be getting 25 a game with Mike and Scottie going at him. Hell Detroit shut down Kobe, so I know the bulls could do it.
it would be the other way around, the Bull championship teams were great team defenders. the Shaq/Kobe championship teams, insofar as playing team defense, were not as consistently. For that reason, MJ's teams won win easily that's revisionist history, his those 6-champioship years, no one could lock down MJ
Look at how the Rockets consistently handled the Bulls. (14 -6 or something) MJ himself has admitted that Mad Max gave him more problems than any player. Having Dream waiting back there helped, but Vernon took it personal every time they played ....and he was one helluva athlete himself. And forget about the interior - This is where the Bulls were vulnerable. I get the team defense deal, but both the Lakers and the Rockets could crank it up and get stops when they needed them. That said, remember.... the size resided in the West and though I love MJ, I submit he wouldn't have gotten to the finals half those times if he was coming out of the Western Conference.
The fact that he beat the Western Conference champ EVERY time he was in the finals proves that post wrong! MJs Bulls would've beat us in a 7 game series...
I believe he said Joe Dumars and Mitch Richmond sir... but Maxwell gave everyone hell includin himself
What about the rest of the Western Conference playoffs?......Just like we couldn't get past the Sonics, the Bulls would have had issues before making it to the finals....not every year, but most likely half the time. They didn't have the size.
No sir. MJ has said many times it was Mad Max. I'll give you Dumars as he has coupled him with Vernon once or twice.....but, in all honesty that's just MJ giving his buddy props.
And why is it that Jordan has repeatedly said that the team he feared most was the Houston Rockets? Like I said previously ......Look at the record of the head to head matchups over that time. The West was so much stronger than the East...with quality bigs. Bottom line - I'm a Dream, MJ, and Magic fan ...I was privileged enough to watch them all in their prime countless times .......so there isn't any anti Jordan bias here and I'm not just being a Rockets homer. But it blows me away when I hear this stuff about how the Rockets wouldn't have handled the Bulls. In addition to being false IMO, it could be construed as an insult to our title teams.
