Seattle never had anyone to guard Hakeem either, but they seemed to always win when it came postseason.
They played what was then called ILLEGAL DEFENSE...religiously...and got away with it. They were also a team full of athletes that we matched up poorly with. Perkins with the threes , Kemp wasn't fat, etc.
pmac, its not that hard when the other guy doesn't know anything about the nba. its like the iron chef vs the mcdonald's drive through employee yeah. but for the people who know the game of basketball, watching this year's NBA Finals and what Detroit did to the Lakers, shows that the superior defensive team with the deeper team can defeat a team that's basically a one man show. As HISTORY has proved, Scottie Pippen as CLUTCH would say.. was a very good sidekick But a deeper team will always win the Celtics proved it this year. the Lakers had the MVP in Kobe and they couldn't stop him the Celtics cause of who? James Posey, Leone Poewe, even Sam had a couple of shots the failure of the Lakers, Lamar Odom, Vuyacic, Farmar, they couldn't produce. Remove Jordan and Dream from the 90s team. would this team: armstrong paxon pippen grant cartright beat smith/cassell maxwell horry thorpe elie ? hell no!
the 1st team would make the playoffs, the 2nd team wouldn't. Unless you forgot to put Drexler on the 2nd team.
being real? the Rockets did play the Bulls in 92. we play them every year, we play EVERY TEAM EVERY YEAR. oh wait you know nothing about the nba, let me break it down for you. all the teams have to play each other, the western conference has to play the eastern conference teams in the regular season. and the regular season does matter (ask the Lakers/Celtics) cause it shows you the matchups/mismatches . Hey since you never saw any of these games, tell me your opinon on this article and why the Bulls lost?? Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE Date: SAT 12/12/1992 Section: Sports Page: 1 Edition: 3 STAR Rockets turn Bulls inside out By EDDIE SEFKO Staff CHICAGO -- The Rockets have caught flak, patched up holes and mended their wounds during the first six weeks of the NBA season. All of a sudden, they became Bull-etproof. That's the way they looked Friday night when the Rockets overwhelmed the two-time defending world champion Chicago Bulls 110-96 at Chicago Stadium. And the impressive thing is, the best team won. Call it a validation of the Rockets' leap into the upper crust. Call it a morale booster for a team that had yet to prove anything away from The Summit. Call it the Rockets' fourth victory over the Bulls in their last five meetings. "It's gigantic," coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "This game is so much more important than just a game in terms of getting respect around the league and gaining confidence in ourselves." It remains to be seen if that confidence and respect carry over tonight in Minnesota, but the Rockets started their three-game swing through the wintry northlands with a superb effort. Hakeem Olajuwon had 28 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists as all five Rockets starters hit for 17 points or more. Otis Thorpe had 19 points and rookie Robert Horry had 18 points. Kenny Smith had 17 points and seven assists, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts. Vernon Maxwell had 19 points and did a respectable job of making Michael Jordan work for his 26 points. Defense? After giving up 34 first-quarter points, the Rockets held Chicago to 62 in the final three periods. In the second half, the Bulls were 11-for-40 from the field until they hit their final three attempts in junk time. It was a dynamic performance for a collective victory. When the Rockets fired off a 13-2 run in the third quarter, they took a 71-60 lead. Even when the Bulls bit into the lead and pulled as close as 91-87 early in the fourth quarter, the Rockets responded, rattling off a 19-3 surge that spoke volumes about how strong the Rockets were playing and silenced the sellout crowd. "Today, I saw in the papers where Chicago was picked to beat us by 13," Maxwell said. "And what did we win by? Fourteen? "This proves that we are an elite team when we play at our best and execute." And there's one more requisite, Olajuwon said. "We have to play as a team," he said. "When we do that, it makes all the difference. It's a big plus." True enough, but when Olajuwon is dissecting an opposing defense like he did the Bulls, everybody can tag along for the ride. "They just isolate Hakeem," Jordan said. "He's an All-Star player. He got hot and the way to stop him when he gets like that is simple -- you don't let him get the ball. "Because when he does get it, you can't stop him. We have no one who can match up with him. No one." Not Bill Cartwright, he of the lethal elbows. Not Scott Williams and certainly not Stacey King or Will Perdue. It was precisely the kind of energizing victory that the Rockets got two years ago here, a win that came during a 13-game victory streak. The Rockets (10-6) won their third consecutive game and stopped the Bulls' six-game winning streak at home. The Rockets had not beaten anybody of note on the road. Their three road victories were over teams with a collective record of 14-35. But a victory over the Bulls at the Stadium is a red-letter achievement, and it was surprisingly easy down the stretch. The Rockets had started the game with an offensive explosion, hitting 12 of their first 13 shots. Even so, they were ahead only by three points and they never got any breathing room until the third quarter. With the game tied 58-58, the Rockets got a 3-pointer from Smith, a steal by Smith that led to Horry's dunk and Olajuwon's 15-footer. After B.J. Armstrong scored for the Bulls, Horry and Olajuwon converted for a 71-60 lead. Horry did a splendid job of shackling Scottie Pippen, the Bulls' talented small forward. Pippen had 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, but shot only 8-for-22 from the field. The Rockets dodged a bullet in the middle of the fourth quarter when the Bulls outscored them 5-1 to pull within 91-87. This is the time when the Rockets usually turn meek and lose their composure. Not tonight. The Bulls had no more rally bullets in their chamber. When they needed it, the Rockets came through with a crucial bucket. Olajuwon slammed with 8:03 to go and after an exchange of misses, he curled in a 15-foot baseline jumper. On the Bulls' next possession, Olajuwon stole a poorly executed pass from Trent Tucker and fed Maxwell for layup. That put the Rockets up 97-87 with six minutes to go. Moments later, Horry rose up for an astounding dunk. Before it was done, the Rockets' lead would bulge to 110-90 with a minute to go. When looking at breakthrough victories, this one qualifies. "One of the things we've stressed since training camp is that we have to go out and earn respect around the league," Tomjanovich said. "There were a lot of negative things about this team and the only way to change that is to go out and do it, to play smarter, to hang together and take better shots. "That's been our rallying point." And it has landed the Rockets a spot among the NBA's upper echelon.
Dude what don't you understand? The Knicks beat the Bulls 3 out of 4 in 1993 and the Bulls beat them when it mattered in the playoffs. This is not a hard concept to understand. The Jazz swept the season series against the Bulls in 1998 and the Bulls took care of them. I'm not saying the Bulls would destroy us in 4 games, but they would have beaten us in 1993 and in 1994 they probably would have spanked us. Stop being a homer and being biased on everything.
Tinman, Your stance on this subject is just as absurd as the haters that claim the rox had no chance.... We won they didn’t, that’s all that matters....everything else is subjective bull****...
Bulls fan, why are you pretending to be a Tmac- only-an on a Rockets fan board? sorry to show you ACTUAL FACTS. but you still haven't proved to us Rocket fans why we would have lost to the Bulls? Especially in 1994, where the MVP and Defensive player of the year was Hakeem Olajuwon. What does the Knicks have to do with this? you know the Celtics beat the Lakers a bunch of times last year and ended up beating them again in the Finals. I can't be biased on things that already happened. Michael Jordan is the one who said Dream couldn't be stopped. Blame him.
Bulls would of spanked us?!!!! Remember what jordan said "They have no one can match up with Hakeem." Stop thinking michael jordan is this untouchable god. BECAUSE HE WASN'T! He was a great player possibly the best but its a team sport. If steve kerr missed a game winning shot boom there would be no championship. This isn't a movie, thats why betting on sports is stupid because anything can happen. Besides Space Jam was more important to Jordan then playing another year in his prime.
We can all agree in the world of ESPN there are certain teams and players who are alwayssssssssss better than everyone else. Dallas Cowboys Boston Red Sox Lakers Notre Dame Football Red Wings North Carolina Tar heels Men's College B Ball team Tom Brady Brett Favre Lebron James Kobe Bryant Jordan etc. Despite all of this i am not going to miss today's sports center.
You discount Hakeem's greatness. But I guess that formidable trio of Longley/Wennington/Purdue could have stopped him. Or 65 year old Bill Cartwright. Is there a way to downgrade a rookie?
