Robert, 14 years as PF went to 14 straight playoff appearances making it to the second Round. 6 championships as a PF.
oh puh-lease, no one will make the argument that horry is a solid PF. he can make big shots and he had a knack (or u may call it subborness- most of those times he got to choose where he went...) to be on the right team at the right time.
Hmm...NO. This was the one team in history that had a chance of taking on the Jordan Bulls. With the kind of karma we had going into the finals, there wasn't any team that was going to stop us. Sweeping the Shaq-led Magic, a team by the way which had swept us in the regular season, was just a demonstration of that switch being turned on like Neo in the Matrix, where after we came back against the Suns everybody knew we were a team of destiny. Jordan in his prime would only have been the perfect foil to our Dream team; they would have fought us close but we would have come out on top. Every year afterwards I hoped to see that matchup, but it just never worked out that way.
You think the Lakers or either Celtics dynasty and the '83 Sixers had no chance of taking on the Jordan Bulls, but the '95 Rockets did? That statement gets you 4 rolleyes.
Agreed. What a joke. I just re-watched that series last weekend and the Magic had plenty of chances. Their problem was making crunch time plays. The only guy who seemed to bring it every game down the stretch was Horace Grant. All of the other Magic players were hot & cold and you didn't know what to expect of them. That series was closer than people seem to remember. Every critical break went our way. Here we go again. John Starks gave MJ "trouble" on occasion during the regular season just like Max did. But in the playoffs, how many times did MJ set Starks ablaze? I bet you lost count like I did. MJ would have owned Max in a Finals matchup. By the time game 1 would have ended, MJ probably would have trash talked nutty Max into getting ejected from the series. Don't forget how sorry Max played against Starks and the Knicks in 1994. That said, I'll never forget his 3 pointer with 1:30 left in game 7.
Max has proved himself a real warrior compared to Starks, Starks got lucky in his jacking 3s fest in game 6, but Max showed up clutch in game 7, 21 points. Max played great against MJ during the regular season and held him below his scoring avg. Even Dream said so. Dream SAID SO!!! http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3221857.html The critics contend that those championship banners would not be flying in Houston and the Chicago Bulls might have won eight titles in a row. The Rockets themselves would have loved to have proven everybody wrong. "There should be no doubt or label of fluke on our championships," said Hakeem Olajuwon. "As for Michael Jordan, a lot of people don't know and never looked up our matchups with Chicago during that time. If you check the records, you'll see that we beat them on a consistent basis when Michael was playing and winning his first three championships. "(Vernon) Maxwell guarded Michael and gave him problems. In '95, we would have had Mario Elie on him. They didn't have anyone who could contain me. Chicago was never a problem for us. We always looked forward to playing them. A lot of people don't realize that." Dream said so Dream said so Dream said so Dream's opinion > A_3PO or tinman or Pryuen
BMoney, Jordan has problems with Max, plus if he made to the paint, we have the DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR in the middle. Also, as DREAM himself pointed out, they had "NOBODY" that could stop him. All those dudes would have fouled out! Just like the regular season matchup, Dream dominates. Dream didn't have problems with the bulls defense.
The Bulls would have eaten Kenny and Max for breakfast, lunch and dinner and spit them out. Dream would have gotten his, but it's a 5 on 5 game. Remember, it took us 7 games to beat a not-so-great Knicks team. MJ's Bulls would have plastered them 4-0 or 4-1 in a laugher of a series. In fact, the Bulls would have beaten them WITHOUT MJ if it weren't for some questionable refereeing. In case you've forgotten, they went 55-27 that year and lost to that same Knicks team in the 2nd round 4-3, again, WITHOUT MJ. If you take bias out of the equation, there isn't much room for argument. Believe anything you want and many here will support you, but the Bulls were better. If history should teach you anything, tinman, is that the regular season is meaningless in the playoffs. The Spurs beat us 5-1 during the regular season in 94/95 yet when a Finals berth was on the line, we found out who the real champion was. Remember A.C. Green's bitter immortal words in defeat, "They (the Rockets) will never beat the Spurs." And D-Rob (as much as I like him) was dumb to publicly ponder before the series that, "Yeah, we might be in their heads". I don't blame Hakeem for his comments because he believed them just like D-Rob did. The real bottom line is none of it matters. We have our two championships and nothing can take them away. Most teams have zero.
I actually think that both Rockets championship teams would have had a good chance to beat the Jordan Bulls. I am only disputing that they were the only team that could do it. The Bird or Russell Celtics, the '83 Sixers with Mo Malone and Dr. J, and the Showtime Lakers were all superior teams to Jordan's Bulls or the championship Rockets. I would also take the Kareem and Big O Bucks.
Some teams match up better than other teams. Seattle had our number. We owned the Bulls. regardless of you lack of faith in that team. remember that Robert Horry and Sam Cassell were vastly superior in heart and skill than Horace Grant and BJ Armstrong or Paxon off the bench. Post Rockets, Post Bulls championship players Horry - 5 more championships Elie - Another championship Cassell - Western Conference, Eastern Conference finals, plus removing the clipper curse temporarily Otis Thorpe - Helped Detroit make it the playoffs Post Bulls Horrace Grant - only player to do anything BJ Armstrong -squat Paxon -squat Cartwright -squat Pippen - GOT HIS AZZ HANDED TO HIM BY HORRY, with the Rockets (SQUAT) The Rockets have more Big game players than the Bulls, while the early bulls only had one dude Rockets FOREVER FOREVER AND FOREVER!
"We owned the Bulls". Riiiiight. Not much to say after that, especially after you just (conveniently) ignored my entire point on the subject. "The early Bulls only had one dude". There is no reply that can do justice to that statement. Too bad you didn't see the "early Bulls" play much. It's obvious you have no clue about them. Those "early Bulls" that "only had one dude" lacked so much heart they only won 3 championships in a row and could have been in line for a 4th if the refs hadn't made up their mind the Knicks were going to win that 2nd round series in '95. It's amazing what "one dude" can do, huh? Pretty impressive dude I guess. His teammates who didn't have much heart still won 57 games without him the next year. I guess "heart" (as you define it, which must be incomprehensible to most earthlings) doesn't mean much in the NBA. When you mention what players did afterwards as if it meant anything, it shows you know little or nothing about the team concept. It isn't the individual parts; it's the team. The "early Bulls" were a team in the truest concept. PJ and MJ blended the others together to make the sum greater than the parts. There is a reason they won 61 (best record), 67 (best record) and 57 games during their first 3 championship years. They weren't as good as the more talented "late" Bulls teams that won 72, 69 and 62 games. But saying the Rockets players had more heart is just silly and shows a lack of knowledge.
You're insulting the Dream then. Dream said it. you think your knowledge is better than one who actually played them. I think not. face it, you lost this one. I got DREAM on my side. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3221857.html "Chicago was never a problem for us." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source nev·er /ˈnɛvər/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[nev-er] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –adverb 1. not ever; at no time: Such an idea never occurred to me. 2. not at all; absolutely not: never mind; This will never do. 3. to no extent or degree: He was never the wiser for his experience. —Idiom
Whoop dee doo! Who cares? What do you think MJ would have said about it? Is Dream's word better than his? As a competitor, confidence is fine, but it doesn't mean you will win. The fact that you ignored everything I said and this is your last line of defense pretty much closes out the debate. You are owned. Any time you are ready, I'll do it again. Nice talkin' to ya. BTW, big font sizes don't help. It just makes you look desperate.
i guess you didn't read that Dream said so i put big font. i didn't ignore everything you said, you just ignored 1.the jordan vs rockets stats 2.the hakeem vs bulls stats 3.the rockets vs bulls wins vs loses 4.its doesn't matter if chicago beats the knicks, its about matchups, and the Rockets vs Bulls, the matchup is in full favor of the Rockets they were deeper, and yes much more talented (proof showing that the bj armstrong and the rest of the supporting cast weren't leaders like cassell, horry, and elie. boom boom boom boom plus Dream said so
NBA Basketball June 12, 2005, 1:48AM No Bull? Rockets say they still would have won like Mike By FRAN BLINEBURY Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle TOOLS Ten years later and it's still there, hanging over their legacy. In the two years when the Rockets won their back-to-back championships, Michael Jordan was off pursuing a baseball career and then making his first NBA comeback. The critics contend that those championship banners would not be flying in Houston and the Chicago Bulls might have won eight titles in a row. The Rockets themselves would have loved to have proven everybody wrong. "There should be no doubt or label of fluke on our championships," said Hakeem Olajuwon. "As for Michael Jordan, a lot of people don't know and never looked up our matchups with Chicago during that time. If you check the records, you'll see that we beat them on a consistent basis when Michael was playing and winning his first three championships. "(Vernon) Maxwell guarded Michael and gave him problems. In '95, we would have had Mario Elie on him. They didn't have anyone who could contain me. Chicago was never a problem for us. We always looked forward to playing them. A lot of people don't realize that." The Rockets, in fact, had a 5-1 record vs. Jordan and the Bulls from 1991 through 1993, the span of Chicago's first "three-peat." After a loss on his home floor at Chicago Stadium in 1993, Jordan said, "We have no answer for the big guy. It's a good thing they won't ever make it to the (NBA) Finals, because I don't think we could beat them." Head coach Rudy Tomjanovich is philosophical. "It's one of those things, a good sports debate," he said. "But we don't have to apologize to anybody. I've actually talked to Michael about that topic several times. He's always told me he thought those would have been some helluva playoff series." Elie is defiant. "That's the one thing that still sticks with me and bothers me, not getting to play Chicago in the Finals," he said. "Hey, it's not our fault that Jordan wasn't there. We're not the ones who told him to go try baseball. "We had a team that lined up against anybody and could beat anybody out there. I always wanted the challenge of going against 'the greatest' in the Finals. If there's a gap, that's it. That we didn't get to play them. But there's nobody that can tell me we couldn't play with them. "Hey, that's my biggest regret about that John Stockton shot that went in for Utah in '97. I was ready to play Chicago that year. With Dream, Clyde (Drexler) and Charles (Barkley), we'd have beaten them then, too."
