Obvious Fact that people forget: Rocket instate rival San Antonio Spurs trades Dennis Rodman for Will Purdue fact: 95-96 Dennis Rodman 14.9 Rebounds Per Game fact: 95-96 Will Purdue 6.1 Rebounds Per Game fact: Top Rebounders for 94-95 Bulls Pippen 8.1 MJ 6.9
fact: Most 3 pointers in NBA Finals History #1 Robert Horry #2 Michael Jordan fact: Most 3 pointers made in the playoffs #1 Reggie Miller #2 Robert Horry fact: 8/2/02 Gov. Don Siegelman today proclaimed "Robert Horry Day" in Alabama and honored the Alabama native during a reception at the Governor's Mansion for his accomplishments in the National Basketball Association (NBA). "From his days of dunking at Andalusia High to draining three-pointers for the L.A. Lakers, Robert has truly made the most of his opportunity to live his dream of playing basketball," Siegelman said. "I speak for all Alabamians in saying, Robert Horry will always be a champion in our hearts and a role model for our children." quote : 6/15/95 USA Today "When the series began, I looked in the paper and it said, 'Advantage: Horace Grant'. That really motivated me. And in the San Antonio series it was, 'Advantage: Rodman'. It made me conscious of what I was doing on the court, and then the advantage went the other way." Horry said of his match-ups in the Playoffs and Finals. fact: both Grant and Rodman played for championships for the Bulls. fact: Robert Horry won both series against Grant and Rodman while wearing the Rockets uniform.
question: has this been done by the Rockets organization? if not, why not? fact: 11/28/03 Robert Horry plays his first game against the Lakers in the Staples Center since signing with the Spurs. To say that he was warmly received would be an understatement. In pregame he went around hugging and talking with everyone from his former team in between nailing 3-pointer after 3-pointer in warm-ups. During the pre-game, Mitch Kupchak presented Horry with a framed version of his gold home jersey while a tribute played on the big screen. The crowd gave him a standing ovation and chanted "Horry, Horry, Horry!". He will always be loved in Los Angeles.
Haven't read the whole 4 pages. I know we were like 5-1 during the Bull's 1st 3 title years. But the stats don't really show how dominant we were against them. Those Rocks teams had a habit of getting a big lead, and then giving a lot of it back in the late 3rd-4th quarters. I remember those years games well. In one of them we had a lead of like 32-35 points against them before giving up more than half of it to make the final score look respectable in the final box. Another I remember a lead of about 25-28. It wasn't just the fact that we could beat the bulls, but the fact that we routinely DESTROYED the bulls. I think we were the only team with a + record against them(utah was =). I'm not saying we would have beaten them for sure because there was one factor that would have definately come into play in a championship series, and that was the "Jordan rules". I'm not talking about the ones the "Bad Boys"(det.) had for him. The ones I'm talking about were best illustrated by Magic Johnson(you might have seen it - they play it on nba tv sometimes). Magic, Michael, and Larry(Bird) were filming a photoshoot somewhere, and they had them group together in a triangle. Magic looks over to Larry, and says "don't get too close to Michael, that's a foul". Bird was cracking up, and all MJ could do was sit there with a sheepish grin on his face(he knew it was true). Jordan received much, much, much respect from the zebras, and it was only magnified in the playoffs. But the fact remains that we were kryptonite to the bulls in those years, much like Sea. was to us. Jordan has admitted as much before.
What I love here is that people aren't putting any value into the FACT that in a 7-game series, coaches can make adjustments that make it a completely different dynamic than playing an opponent twice a year. Phil Jackson and his assistants were tactically light years ahead of Rudy. The Rockets' monotonous offense would have been contained very well after a game or two in a series. The longer a series went, the more and more the Bulls would solve their opponent it seemed.
True, you can't make bold statements based on regular season games, but the Rockets were a championship team themselves. It isn't as far-fetched as saying the Grizzlies would beat the Suns in the playoffs because they beat them in a regular season game. This is like saying the Suns would like to avoid San Antonio in the playoffs because of their mental edge against them. Could Maxwell have taken Jordan out of his game? I dunno. Knicks fans always referred to Xavier McDaniel and John Starks as their Jordan stopper. However, nobody stops Jordan. In the 90s, his go-to move (the drive then stop on a dine and pullup hard for a jumper) was the most unstoppable in basketball. The Knicks came pretty close a couple of years to stopping the Bulls. Would the Rockets fare better than the Knicks did with a more unstoppable center and clutch shooters, but somewhat less grit and defense? Who knows.
Fact: fact: Hakeem #1 shot blocker in NBA history fact: "Sometimes I love to block shots more than score," Olajuwon said. "It gives you a special feeling."
Fact: 2002-03 Houston Rockets 43-39, Finished 5th in Midwest Division Coached by Rudy Tomjanovich This is the team that WON 43 GAMES Steve Francis Cuttino Mobley Yao Ming Eddie Griffin Maurice Taylor Glen Rice James Posey Moochie Norris Kelvin Cato Kenny Thomas Terence Morris Juaquin Hawkins Jason Collier Bostjan Nachbar Tito Maddox
The bulls would have the advantage for only one reason - they have the greatest closer in the game with MJ. That's a big advantage in close games - and they won a lot of them. The 72-10 Bulls beat us twice handidly - so that team - the best Bulls team, wasn't dominated in the reg season by us, they dominated us. Still, you just don't know. that's the only fact that really matters.
