"-Like hell you didn't. Don't try to back down like a little weasel, at least back your statements up. Earlier in the thread you said "Uh, Bulls would have beaten the Rockets both years in 94 and 95." Uh, i just clarified the years the Rockets won it all. What I meant to say was the 91-93, 96-98 Bulls would beat the 94-95 Rockets teams. Obviously, The 94-95 Rocks would have beaten the 94 and 95 Bulls. My bad for the confusion. "-If Ewing could consistently take the Jordan Bulls to 7 games, I'd take my chances with Hakeem, a significantly superior player to Ewing, against Jordan." Ewing took the Bulls to the limit one time in five tries (1992 Sec round), swept in 91, punked in 96 in 5, went to 6 in 89 and 1993, so Ewing didn't consistant do that. And DOD, "-Just because the Bulls had a weakness at C doesn't mean the Rockets would have beaten the Bulls. So you can't say "we had Hakeem and would've torched the Bulls because he would've outplayed their centers". Big deal. Hakeem's gone for 30 and 15 and still lost before. This isn't a one man game. If greatness of a team was defined by one position, it'd be Wilt and not Russell with the hardware.-" Good point. JBIIROCKETS ------------------ You can put it on the BOARD.......YESSSSSSSSS! Chicago White Sox Announcer Ken Harrelson
I don't know who would have won a matchup between these teams. IMO though, if Houston and the Bulls matched up each year in the finals between 91-98, the Rockets would have probably half of those championships. The reason I say this is because we at least had the one player (for some of those years anyway) who could consistently give Jordan trouble: Vernon Maxwell. When Maxwell left, we had Clyde. The 2 guards would have been the match-ups to watch, because we all know the Bulls had no answer for Hakeem. We also had people who could give Pippen trouble: Thorpe, Elie, and Robert Horry. Once the Bulls got Rodman, we had Barkley. My point is that we had answers for the Bulls stars. Sure MJ and Pippen were better than what we had at those positions, but the players we had would have given them a good deal of trouble, while the Bulls had NO answer for Hakeem. I don't know who would have won, and no one ever will. I think this is the greatest series that never was. I do not think, however, that the Bulls would have EVER blown out the Rockets, or vice versa. ------------------ "I have no regrets except that I wasn't up to keep Randy from getting on that plane." --Ozzy Osbourne on guitarist Randy Rhodes
Let me just give my opinion. I think our championship years would have beaten all but the first two of Jordans championship teams with Rodman. That 72 win team was in my opinion the greatest team to ever play in the regular season and although they took 6 games to beat the sonics? I still think that was the best team. We just gave the Bulls matchup problems that they couldn't deal with. Now when the Rocks aquired Barkley they at the same time traded away the players that gave them the edge with the Bulls. So in my assesment the pre Broccli Rocks would have beaten the Bulls most of the time and the post Broccli Rocks would have done just the opposite. Now all of this dreamcasting is useless because the Sonics just as easily would have beaten us pre Broccli, and then in an ever complex cycle lose to the Bulls . This type of argument should left alone to Dick Schaap and his goofy little son Jeremy.... God I hate them. ------------------ ``We need to FOCASS".... Akeem Olajuwon
I have to agree with Lynus on this one. If it would have been Rockets-Bulls finals all those years the titles would have been split. The match-ups show you (basketball is a game of match-ups isn't it?) Mad Max gave Jordan fits defensively because of his D and his mindgames, Jordan even took a swing at him one game. Everyone talks about how Jordan would elevate his game in the playoffs, what about Dream? The only player in Jordan's league in that era was Dream and we all know that he picked up his game in the post-season. I think if those match-ups would've happend Dream would get a lot more attention and Jordan would only have 4 rings, if not less. ------------------ [This message has been edited by Wakko67 (edited May 14, 2001).]
Hey guys, I'm new to the boards and just wanted to weigh in on this topic since I have long wondered as well what a Rockets-Bulls final would produce. First off one thing that many of you may be forgetting on whether or not we would win a series in the 94-95 years was not so much Hakeem, but like Cato=Bum touched on earlier, the Bulls had no inside presence whatsoever in those two seasons. Kukoc was just developing, and wasn't an inside force anyways (still isn't). Grant bolted after the '93 season and many sources said whether or not Jordan had stayed he would have left for greener pastures anyway. The lack of interior defense would have been big advantages for Horry and Thorpe as well as Dream in '94. Maxwell was a good defender for Jordan because he was quick, a little more so than Jordan, but remember we are speaking of the greatest player of all time who could almost will his team to win at times. Despite that, I believe the '94 Rockets could have beaten the Bulls with Jordan. As for '95, let's not forget Max was AWOL during those playoffs, and to be honest Clyde was not the swiftest of defenders, even in his prime, and was all but torched by Jordan in '92 when he was much younger. A series with the '95 Rockets would be pretty interesting. But for all the years that the Bulls had a Grant or a Rodman, against our 94-95 teams, it would have been a bit difficult for us to take the series. I believe the chemistry of the '94 team would have ultimately put them over the top. We didn't matchup well with them in the Barkley seasons, however I would have liked to seen that series anyways, with Barkley and Rodman going at it, Olajuwon still shaking his way around in the post and Jordan and Drexler trading buckets. If it weren't for John Stockton we may have seen that series as well, although we probably wouldn't have fared as well. What a matchup it could have been....Damn those Sonics and Jazz ------------------ This message was sponsored by Dr. Francis' Foundation of Posterization. The FOP was founded for and is dedicated to those who suffer from posterization by Steve Francis. We feel your pain. [This message has been edited by Big Haas 66 (edited May 14, 2001).]
The Sonics had Sam Perkins give Dream some difficulties because he could shoot 3's and that kept Dream from the paint and allowed their guards, especially Payton, to give them fits on offense. On defense, they were able to deploy an illegal zone defense to take the Rox out of their rhythm. There were only so many T's the refs would call before grinding the game to a halt from all the free throws. George Karl exploited this.
Why did you bring this thread from the dead? read this thread here: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=142418
I second this. While I enjoy talking about who would win because I hate the talk about the Rockets only having titles because Jordan decided to play baseball for 2 years, re-hashing this was a little pointless. Someone must be really bored to be going through threads this old in the first place.
i made this thread recently, here's footage of Rockets vs Bulls during early 90s with Dream/Jordan http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=227243 <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y-FbhBM9uvU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
All the titles from 1986 to 1998 should have an asterisk anyway because Sabonis spent his prime in Europe getting his legs messed up instead of helping Glide, Terry Porter and Buck Williams win multiple championships. That's my unbiased opinion anyway!
The bulls wouldve won.I cant believe people are saying Maxwell would stop Jordan.I love my rockets but i know who the greatest ever is.just look at the rings.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=maxweve01&p2=jordami01 Well he did keep Jordan below his average (at the time) ...but I wouldn't call it 'shutting Down!' Edit: oh BTW, Rockets would kill the Bulls...look at what we did to Shaq, Penny & Horace.
If there was any team that the Bulls played, or didnt play in the Finals, in '91-'95 - that could have beaten them - it was the Rockets. They had a complete team and I'd say they would split those Finals if they had played them, and if either team would have won both, it would have been the Rockets. Of course, you can't underestimate the heroics of Jordan or the bias of officals calling games. The Mob sometimes rules these things. I question the parity of the league in which Jordan never lost an NBA Finals series. Was he really so great? Or were other teams just not up to snuff? I think it rests more on the latter. 'Ostertag, NBA champion' just doesn't sound plausible. I don't think the Bulls half-feared any of those teams they beat except the Lakers, who were not exactly the Kareem Lakers. I think the Bulls would have feared the Hakeem Rockets in those middle years.
The Sonics played the Rockets tough for the same reason the Jazz had Yao's Rockets number: They're centers were deadeye 3pt shooters who caused our shot blockers to have to leave the paint too often. The Bulls never had that. Shaq's squad beat the Bulls first, but the next year Shaq and Penny were already beefing and that team dismantled quickly. Prime Hakeem was the one star in the NBA not scared of Jordan. Shaq said it himself, you can't break Hakeem. However, Michael did age better than Hakeem (maybe because of his retirement breaks) and his later Bulls squad would have smoked our old, unathletic team.
ABSOLUTELY ZERO chance that we Hakeem would have beaten Jordan. The refs would NEVER have allowed it.
