90s:Jordan Bulls vs Rockets, the facts

I hope this

FACTS


thing is the bbs new trend.

We will give you credit tinman.

 

fact is that regular season game is not the same as playoff game.
fact is that no one can know what would have happen during a best of seven series because it never occurred
fact is that during the playoff jordan elevated his play like t-mac
fact is that i'm not disputing the two titles that the rockets won
but fact is that you don't know for sure thats why people put the (if) thing .
fact is that i'm a big jordan fan but thats not why i'm saying this
fact is that yes maybe houston would have won but we don't know for sure.

if we just believe in what the regular season games means according to you then the rockets have no chance against the mavs and the suns this year?
fact is that even if we lose all our regular season games against the suns ,i still belive we can beat them in a seven games series.do you believe the rockets can win?according to facts?

 

yep thats true and i would have really loved to see those 2 series maybe it would have gone to 7 games both of those year and would have been as one of the best series of all time

 

This is delusional revisionist thinking. The very idea that Jordan would've been concerned with Vernon Maxwell is absurd. Look, I love the Rockets, but it only makes people discredit the championships more when we say something like "the Rockets were better than the Jordan Bulls..." Show a little respect. They won six championships in eight years and were 6-0 in the finals. We are not served to diminish that accomplishment.

David

 

Jordan wishes he had the chance at the Rockets as much as we probably do.

But whatever, no one will ever know. No one outside of Houston thinks we'd have won. And we here - well some of us do and some of us aren't sure.

The only thing is for sure - the only place you can debate this is in a Rockets forum without getting laughed at. I suggested once that the 95 team would have been tough for the 72-10 bulls to beat and was laughed at pretty hard by everyone I was with. "He said what?!!"

Oh well, no one can take the rings away.

 

Jordan was not retired in 95 -- in fact he had the highest single game point total that season vs. the Knicks I believe.

The Rockets would have taken the Bulls in 94 or 95 -->

 

I know that you were not a Rockets fan at this time or you just didn't po and see all of these games because if you had you would know that I am telling it as I saw it and not making anything up out of thin air. In these games Vernon Maxwell was the best in the NBA at guarding Jordan and was very effective at interfering in Jordan's game!!

 

Some of us in Houston don't think we would have won. I also laugh at your suggestion the 95 team would have been tough for the 72-10 Bulls to beat.

FACT: Regular season meetings have no bearing on playoff matchups because the Spurs beat us 5-1 in the regular season yet we beat them 4-2 in the playoffs, including 3 road wins. People who cite our regular season record against the Bulls conveniently ignore this fact.

FACT: It took us 7 games to barely close out a Knicks team that was one of the worst NBA Finals teams ever. The Bulls would have demolished them 4-0 (or 4-1 if the Knicks got lucky somehow). Anyone who thinks the 94 Rockets would have beaten the Bulls has a very biased perspective in favor of the Rockets, which most people have here. IMO, the 94 Rockets were one of the weakest NBA champions ever. We were fortunate the Sonics stumbled before we met them. But you have to play the games and a championship is a championship!

The 95 Rockets were intriguing. Watching that team against the Bulls would have been fun. Still, I have to give the Bulls the advantage. Maybe we would have won a couple of games; maybe not.

FACT: Two championships in the hand are better than one or none in the bush. All in all, I'm very glad we never met the Bulls in the Finals.

 

Whoopee! And your point besides your head?

FACT: The Bulls won 6 championships and the Rockets won 2.
FACT: Phil Jackson won 9 total championships as a coach vs 2 for Rudy T.
FACT: Scottie Pippen, who you said had zero heart, won 6 championships with the Bulls.

We could go on and on, but there is a reason 99% of people outside of Houston think the Bulls would have beaten the Rockets, especially our 94 team. From my standpoint, there isn't much argument about our 94 team vs MJ's Bulls. I'm very glad we missed both them and the Sonics that year. Like I said earlier, the 95 team is another story. The Spurs were the best team in basketball and it took 6 tough games to beat them. Those Spurs were not as good as the Bulls championships teams, especially the 72 win squad. It would have been interesting. I followed those Bulls teams closer than most people here and while the Rockets had the heart of a champion, so did the Bulls and I would give them a strong edge.

 

FACT: Pippen was a different player when he came to the Rockets. He was over the hill, very distracted and just in it for the money because the Bulls underpaid him for a looooooong time. He's a strange guy to start with but his head was on another planet that season in Houston. (Another fact: I don't like what I know about Scottie Pippen the person. Criticize him all you want).
FACT: No matter what happened after he left the Bulls, the guy won 6 championships in Chicago as the 2nd best player on those teams. Yes, it took him a few years to grow up and become a man, but when he did the Bulls finally beat the Pistons in the playoffs and went on to greatness.

 

Anyone that knows me knows that my Rocket fandom can never be questioned. I loved those championship years so much, that I bought the Clutch City DVD collection and recently the 95 championship video.

I know that Maxwell did fine against Jordan. But there is no way he could've contained Jordan when it truly mattered. Maxwell was one of the better defensive guards in the game at the time. But Jordan would've swatted him away like a fly.

Our only chance would've been to hope that Olajuwon's dominance could've negated Jordan's scoring. Olajuwon would've been a more frightening defensive player to Jordan than Maxwell, because even his Airness would've been turned away in the lane. Olajuwon was truly a great defensive player. Maxwell was just pretty good, but not great.

 

Lets tackle your assertions one by one.
1) San Antonio were 5-1 against us in regular season but we beat them 4-2 in the playoffs. Thus one can't use regular season stats to predicate the playoffs.

I disagree, outside special circumstances such as injuries or trades, one can usually make fair predication of outcomes of a playoff series based on regular season head to head. Reason for 5-1 San v. Houston: How many of those regular season games had Drexler in it? Or how many games were lost b/c Drexler had just been traded to the Rockets and was adjusting to the Rockets' team chemistry?

On the other hand, the Bulls can't make this same argument b/c they did have any trades from 91-93 that would have made a big impact on team chemistry. In fact, the trio of MJ, SP, and Horace Grant had been playing together since 1988.


2) Had Jordan stayed, the Bulls would have 'demolished' the Knicks team that took the '94 Rockets 7 games to eliminate.

Maybe you wouldn't old enough to remember but the '93 Knicks, which had essentially the same team as 94 Knicks, almost forced a 7th game against the Bulls if it wouldn't for some blatant bias no calls of muggings of Charles Smith when he had the ball right at the basket for layup. Furthermore, the '92 Knicks did in fact force a 7th game against the Bulls.


3) '94 Rocket team was one of the weakest NBA champions ever.

First, I just want to state that you are a moron and you don't deserve the right to be a Rockets fan.
Ok, now to the opionion section. Lets breakdown the '94 team. Center: Hakeem. No question at the peak of his game. If you've never watched Hakeem play, think KG with balls and intellect. Shooting Guard: Vernon Maxwell. It's hard to describe his contributions with mere words or stat line. He's sort of the SG version of Ron Artest. Rarely will any SG break VM off of the dribble(including Jordan, which is why Jordan alway shot a poor percentage against Rockets b/c he had no easy buckets) PF: Otis Thorpe. OT was an Allstar and before coming to Houston he was a 20/10 guy for the Kings. He changed his game to be more of a rebounder and Pick'nd Roll guy when he came to the Rockets. A modern comparison would be PJ Brown.
SF: Robert Horry. Even as a second year player, RH exhibited a knack for an agressive style defense that caused TOs and confusion for the opposing team. In addition, on the offense end, he played within his role and stepped up in the playoffs. (He now plays for SA, where he's known as Big Shot Bob and has 6 championship rings, more evidence of his talent)
PG: Kenny Smith. Albeit the weakest chain of this defensive juggernaut. Nevertheless, he was effective with Houston's style of offense, in terms being able to knock down the open threes and spacing. Bench: Sam Cassell. Sam was a change of pace PG that suited the Rockets perfectly. Sam was clutch and usually finished out the game for the Rockets. His talent is apparent given his quasi-allstar status after his stint with the Rockets. Mario Ellie. Mario fitted well with the Rockets with his explosive finishes during fast breaks and ability to knock down open 3s during the game and in clutch situations(aka kiss of death). BTW, ME played an instrumental role in helping the Spurs to win their Championship in 1999.
Thus by viewing the players either at the time of the championship or in subsequent year, one can easily see how the Rockets actually had a very talented team. Anyways even if one conclude that the individual talents on the Rockets were subpar, one have to agree that in terms of chemisty on both end of the court, the Rockets were superior to most of the teams in the 90s.

And in my humble opinion the '94 Rockets would have matched up nicely against the Bulls regardless of which era. Not b/c we were more talented but we just matched up nicely against them. Two of our best defender putting the clamps on their two best players while they would have no answer for Hakeem...none, zip, zero.

Lastly, I just want to add that the initial post was 90s: Jordan Bulls v. Rockets and it was mainly about Jordan's stats against the Rocket Pre-1st retirement. I don't why the 72-10 team was brought up but frankly that was after he came back from his 1st retirement. Nevertheless, the '94 rockets would beat them down as well.