Clutch's take on that age old scenario

I think 95 Rockets with Vernon would have won against Jordan and the Bulls even if he hadn't retired. 94 Rockets would have given a hell of a fight, there was no fear but NY was very tough for us, and the Bulls were better than them.

 

Basketball is about matchups.

 

I think the 95 Rockets would have matched up better than the 94 Rockets.
You made a good point, and I appreciate it.

 

Tinman is the man he's so chuck Norris with his stats that he lets me chuck Norris fap all day long to Dream making Robinson his girl in 95 WCF (not that that even needed to be added where it happenend) clutch gots it right um hmmm yessss he does

 

I think we would have beaten the Bulls every time. The Bulls were actually a much better matchup for us than the Sonics or Jazz, for some odd reason.

 

I swear I have seen this thread before last year, wtduece?

 

Tinman you of all people should know not to judge players in hypotheticals. We simply can't predict what would happen if these two teams were to matchup in the finals. Regular season matchups aren't enough indication. Although it does give Houston the advantage.

 

We all know what Hakeem Olajuwon was like as an individual and team defender, CometsWin. To say that the Bulls would have had difficulty attacking the basket (particularly in the halfcourt) in that "dream" scenario is beside the point I was trying to make.

There are more than a few people who seem to forget that Michael Jordan was a perennial All-NBA defender as well. He excelled as an individual and team defender, too. Both Jordan and Pippen made their reputations as champions by how they devastated opponents in transition, both offensively and defensively.

Jordan's field goal percentage was so high because he got tons of baskets in transition. When the Bulls defended you and got in transition, they were lethal.

Jordan and Olajuwon's contributions (individually and collectively) to their teams' would cancel one another out, in my opinion. They were both all-time great players, CometsWin. In Jordan's case, specifically―one of the reasons why he is regarded as arguably the greates player in NBA history is because he could often dominate games defensively (particularly in the Bull's first 3-peat iteration), and was even more electrifying in transition than Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers.

What was that we used to say around here...? "Never underestimate the heart of a champion..."?

Again, the real fun would have been watching the contest unfold from game to game. Both Jordan and Olajuwon were relentless, and could decimate your club at either end of the court. They would match each other, in my mind, play-for-play and point-for-point.

Their respective teammates would decide the game eventually.

The fact that the Rockets did not fear the Bulls as other teams perhaps did would have little bearing on the eventual outcome (and the Rockets DID have a better than average chance to beat those Bulls in a seven game series).

Jordan perhaps would not have intimidated the Rockets. Olajuwon certainly would not have deterred the Bulls from attacking the basket overmuch.

That's why they (should have) played the game. We can go back and forth on it in an internet forum until we're all blue in the face.

But you get it done on the court, and there's no argument.

At least from the rest of us....

 

It's a crime of sports that we never got to see the two play against each other in a final.

 

Can I say his quote is correct. I don't want to give too much credit, the poll says "his takes are spot on", I don't agree with everything.

 

Well, tinman...

...connoisseur of all things Houston Rocket that you are...

...the subtlety that you miss in Jordan's effectation is that he would have relished the opportunity to face the Rockets more than you imagine.

This whole thing isn't about homerism or revisionism. It's about knowing who and what you're facing, and preparing to meet that challenge head-on and beat it within an inch of its life.

It's like people who feel the need to remind people that Jordan WAS back in the league and ousted in the second round in 1995, when the Rockets won their second title. Or that somehow, the Rockets' championships weren't legitimate because Jordan was swinging and missing double-A curveballs.

Jordan had set the bar for the rest of the league, and rightfully so. Not simply because he took on (and eventually beat) all comers...but that he delighted in the confrontation as well.

Believe me when I tell you that, while Jordan had a healthy respect for Hakeem Olajuwon (and perhaps to a lesser extent, the Rockets), he would have risen to the challenge of facing a big man who was every bit the athlete and competitor that he was. Except for the fix or six inch difference in height, Jordan and Olajuwon were, in many respects, the same player.

You'd almost have to say that the games would be decided by whichever of them had the ball last.

And for all the fondness you have for Vernon Maxwell, tinman, Jordan would have found a way to best him. It would not have anything to do with Maxwell's competitiveness, but Jordan's skill and ability and desire. Perhaps Maxwell could mirror Jordan's fire. But Maxwell did at times in the 1994 Finals struggle with both Derek Harper and John Starks.

Doesn't bode well for a potential seven game matchup with the debatable G.O.A.T., to me.

But again, one player for either team would not decide the outcome of the game and the series. They were evenly-matched, which seems to have lent itself to an exciting series had they played.

And at that time, with the way the Rockets had started that 1993-1994 season (and continued with on through the postseason), I would have to honestly say that you could have flipped a coin and chosen a winner of a Bulls/Rockets Finals matchup, and you wouldn't get any argument.

If there would be any differential that somebody coul dhave hinged the outcome of that series on, I would say it would be, again, Jordan's masterful ability to seize the moment...to know when it was time to be great...to sense and feel and know that he could wrest victory away at the moment when opportunity finally encountered fortune...to win when it was absolutely time to win...

Olajuwon had that element of his game, too, tinman. But the Dream had not yet seen it realized. Dream was learning what Jordan had already discovered―great TEAMS find a way to win.

It could very well be offered that Jordan vs. Olajuwon for the NBA title would truly be a test of wills.

And where there's a will...there's a way. So again, that matchup was potentially a toss-up.

But to underestimate Michael Jordan (especially when the competition is its most fierce and the stakes are their highest) is not wise, as history has proven. The Rockets undoubtedly, to me, play the Bulls for seven games to decide the champion.

And if the Rockets could then get into a winner-take-all game for all the marbles...I wouldn't be at all surprised if Jordan's assessment was proven true...

 

Of course, tinman.

As I've said once or twice before...the onset of middle-age has started to turn me into a bit of a shrew. I meant no offense.

You know better than anyone that a contest between the Rockets in 1994 and the Bulls in 1994 (all things being equal, and Jordan not removed from the equation), would have been the ultimate opportunity to silence this drivel about the fortune the Rockets experienced in not having to face Jordan for those titles, as practically everyone else did...

 

Keep preaching it, Tin. Shut 'em down like PE!