[SI] Rockets over Magic #10 greatest playoff UPSET???

Ok, one last time ...

Jordan was "rusty." He was able to put dominant performances together, like the 55 game, but his court vision was severely limited, and his legs were shot. Completely shot, mainly because of the workout regimen Tim Grover created for the baseball spin. Watch any tape of that year, and you'll see a player struggling to get off the ground. He was able to destroy teams when the jumper was on (Knicks, 55), but people forget about the bum games -- like four days later, when he could only manage 12 points in 39 minutes against Jeff Grayer and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Jordan's reflexes were shot. He'd see openings in the Triangle, for either a drive or pass, and by the time he gathered his body for the drive, or threw the pass, it had closed off. The result was either a turnover, or MJ/teammate being put in an impossible situation.

Yes, his stats were better in those playoffs, and his season-high was only 53 the next year, but this was only because MJ wasn't used to his new teammates, re-adapting to the Triangle, and his teammates were not used to playing with MJ. Freak that he is, when things fell apart, MJ did things by himself. It won a lot of games, put the Bulls back in solid playoff footing, and got him the 55-point game. But he never forged anything with his teammates, and only masked the real problems of the team.

The real reason the Bulls lost that year was because Jerry Reinsdorf replaced Horace Grant with Larry Kristowiak. Jackson's big forward rotation of Grant and a rookie Toni Kukoc was good enough for 54 wins the year before without Jordan, but Grant's departure and an overmatched Kukoc (forced to play big forward) only led Chicago to a 34 and 31 record without MJ in 1994-95.

By the time the Bulls played Orlando, Grant was ready to take it to his former team. He knew how Jackson defended badass centers, so Horace just moved into the open spots and nailed 18-footer after 18-footer. Jordan got his stats, but when it came time to take his game up another gear and make quick strikes (by scoring or finding others), he was off. Way off. Even Michael Jordan can't play like an NBA champion after not picking up a ball for nearly two years.

So, the Bulls would have been crushed by the Rockets in the 1995. Chicago at least had a close six-game loss to Orlando, they probably would have taken down Indy, but Houston would have dispatched Chicago in five (the United Center had no home court advantage then). Their interior issues and Jordan's off-kilter play were too much to overcome.

I still believe the Bulls, with Jordan (and additions like Kukoc, Blount, Kerr, Longley, defenders like Pete Myers, English) would have beat the Rockets in 1994. Just an opinion. It would have been an ugly, 82-81 series, but if those numbskull Knicks could take Houston to seven, the defending champions (with Jordan in his prime) would have done a wee bit better. Of course, Jordan probably would have retired for FOUR years after a series like that, so I'm glad about the way everything worked out.

 

thank you man... I've heard a lot of "rockets-haters" ( and u can find a lot of them) say that we wouldn't have won in 94 & 95 if MJ was playing ... screw them and screw MJ... he played in 95 and got his a$$ beaten by Orlando... so they better shut up... and for their info: Hakeem is better than MJ.. and if I had a time machine and went back to that draft, I would absolutely pick Hakeem first...

 

Maybe at the start of the playoffs we were underdogs coming from the #6 - by the time the finals rolled around we were IMO heavy favorites. I can understand though why many looked at us as underdogs the way we played during the regular season.

 

The Bulls were done winning championships in 94 and 95 with or without Jordan. It was only after the addition of Rodman that they regained their stride. Without Rodman the Bulls would not have beat the Rockets.

 

u r right .. but I can re-phrase it in a better way:
WITH OR WITHOUT MJ, WITH OR WITHOUT RODMAN AND ALL THE SCRUBS THEY HAD, ROCKETS WOULD'VE STILL WON BECAUSE OF HAKEEM...

 

Jordan was not in his prime. If he was, he would of been playing basketball. What would of his mental make up of been in 94? Would he been mentally tough enough and have the desire to win? He didn't even want to play the game. I think that needs to be factored in.

And about the asterisk...

Hakeem and the Rockets won the titles in 94-95. The Bulls and the Jordan did not. That is all there is to it. Deciding not to play is the same as losing. Jordan lost both years. He was beaten. There is no asterisk.

 

Well, we'll never know. Speaking as an absolutist never helps the conversation, though.

 

And after we beat the Spurs, who everyone thought was the best team in the NBA, a LOT of people thought the Rockets would defend their championship. Honestly, I just don't remember the Magic being "prohibitive" favorites over us. If they were, my bad.

If you want a shocking example of an underdog in the NBA Finals, in 1975, the Golden State Warriors, led by Rick Barry, rookie Jamaal Wilkes and coached by Al Attles SWEPT the overwhelmingly favored Washington Bullets. That was one of the weakest teams to ever win the championship. A completely talentless stiff named Clifford Ray was their center. Everyone knew the Bullets had it in the bag. That was a fairy tale way more than the Rockets beating the Magic.

 

When I compare the Bulls vs. the Rockets championship teams, I compare their championship years. IMO, any of the Bulls squads would have won in 94 against us. The fact we needed 7 games to beat a pretty weak Knicks team says it all. Plus they would have eaten up our turnover-prone backcourt for breakfast. Throw out our regular season records against them those years and how Mad Max was so great on defensive against MJ. The playoffs are a completely different animal.

Hate on me all you guys want, but one reason we won in 95 was because nobody had time to figure out and adjust to our shaken up roster. The Spurs came the closest and one big reason we beat them was because Hakeem missed a lot of games late in the season and he had very fresh legs in the playoffs.

 

regardless if the bulls had MJ or not. most likely if he had not retired we would of faced the Bulls in 94 and 95. We would of still won the WCF both years. Michael not being in the league did not affect the rockets because michael's bulls were in the East not west. We would of given them a series better than Utah did. My only regret in life lol is never seeing the rockets and bulls play one another in the playoffs. That would of been something.

 

Maxwell would have smothered Jordan and Max would get the national recognition he deserved. That would have been epic.

SCREW THIS RAJA BELL VS KOBE. JORDAN VS MAXWELL??? DUDE I'D SELL BODY PARTS TO SEE THAT!

 

Our team's chemistry gelled pretty quickly. They accepted Glyde while Dream was out, and Dream was still dream. Not many teams have gelled that quickly after a trade. The most recent was Rasheed Wallace to Pistons.

OTOH, the Spurs had Rodman to deal with.

 

I think that the 3 previous series were more of an upset than the Magic. IMO the 1st round series vs. a very tough Jazz team, which many "experts"(I am using this term as loosely as I can) had going to the Finals was a bigger upset. I would take the Jazz, Suns and Spurs over the Magic in a 7 game series that year. The Magic had a great run that year, but aside from Grant...I think they were just too green, not to mention they played in the East.

 

absolutely agree... mad Max would've eaten Jordan for breakfast..

 

Seriously, did you just start following the NBA the past couple years or something? 7 out of 10 championships were won by Eastern Conference teams in the 1990s.

There really wasn't a noticeable disparity in team strength until after 1997 or so...when Shaq and Webber moved west, Duncan was drafted, and Garnett started developing into a beast.

In the mid 90s, the West may have been a bit stronger with powerhouses like Seattle, San Antonio, Utah, Phoenix, and Houston. However, the East was hardly a "pushover" with Chicago, Indiana, Orlando, and New York.

 

That is exactly what I was thinking. Great post.

 

True dat. Jordan himself said the Rockets were the one team the Bulls could never figure out, and that Vernon's defense gave him (MJ) fits. We can play the "what-if" game all day long. Opinions are like a-holes, but here are the facts about the 1995 season:

FACT: Michael Jordan played in 1995, putting up better offensive numbers than years previous. "Rusty" my a$$.

FACT: The Bulls (complete with MJ) never even got the chance to play the Rockets because they weren't even good enough to get by the Magic.

FACT: The Rockets are now, and will forever be, the World Champions of basketball for the 1995 season.

Now, we can argue all day long about what MIGHT have happened in 1994 if MJ didn't retire, but it's all B.S. Why? Because he DID retire. Maybe if he hadn't retired, he would have had a career-ending injury? Or tested positive for cocaine? Or been struck by lightning? Or been hit by a meteor from the planet Krypton? Who cares. It's B.S. 'Cause he wasn't there. Period. End 'o story. No asterisks required.

 

............. we swept them.. 4-0 is not an upset.. winning in 7 games in OT is closer to an upset.

 

If i had a time machine I would have the Rockets trade Sampson to Portland for Drexler and their #1 pick, then take Hakeem and Barkley 1 and 2. Then no one would be talking about Jordan and the Rockets could have the big three for their whole careers.

 

that was enough to cause me to not give a damn what they had to say.....