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

What does it matter if Jordan was rusty? That was a shortcoming of his as a player that he'd do something like leave his team for a year and a half to massage his ego in baseball. That's what the Bulls got from him along with his scoring, defense, leadership and everything else. That's like saying the Rockets would be in the playoffs right now in McGrady didn't have back problems -- it might be true, but the fact is McGrady does have back problems and that impacts his value as a player. Jordan's value as a player was somewhat diminished by the fact he'd leave the game and then massage his ego with a big comeback story, even though he wasn't familiar with the players, and wasn't in basketball shape. That's not an excuse; he does not get a bye; he was beaten in '95 and that's all there is to it. if Jordan had won a championship that year, we'd be counting 1 baseball year instead of 2 -- with the treatment he gets, he had nothing to lose, did he?

Isn't this thread supposed to be about the Rockets beating Orlando? Certainly, it was an upset: a lower-seeded team defeated a higher-seeded team. I'm just pissed it wasn't ranked higher by SI. Our '95 season was a fantastic cinderella story. Honestly, they should make a movie about it.

"Why not us? Why not now?" lol.

 

They gave him away because the airhead was tossing up 3 pointers in playoff games. He was a freak show! There was no way to guarantee he would be so great for 3 seasons with the Bulls. It was a gamble for them (the Bulls). But with MJ ruling the lockerroom and making sure everybody did what Phil said, Rodman became a part of something very special.

The Spurs would have traded him for a can of soda.

 

I don't get what the big argument here is.

It seems most people agree that Rusty or Not Rusty, Real MJ or Not, the Bulls wouldnt have beaten the Rox in 95. So what's there to argue about

That Bulls team without Rodman was not a championship calibur team, regardless of what Jordan did.

 

Some people feel admitting Jordan was rusty is an attempt to diminish our championship in 95. My very unscientific take from this thread is most of us who saw MJ during those playoffs think he was rusty. Most of those against the idea didn't see him and only point to his stats.

 

i saw it and i'm still pointing to the stats.

 

I did see him play. I was in disbelief when he had the ball stripped from him with the game on the line, but again the mistakes are amplified when they lose. Jordan still made mistakes when they won, but they weren't looked at.

 

Was Isiah rusty whe Bird stole the inbounds pass - was Magic rusty when he turned it over late in the game against the Celtics in '84? No. Sometimes great players make mistakes. Penny stole the ball. Don't make excuses for Jordan.

 

That Nick Anderson play had nothing to do with rust. Unless you were to say that Jordans spider-sense was a little rusty.

 

I was living in Orlando at the time. It was a *great* *great* year to be a Rockets fan .

Tack down in Orlando was the Nick Anderson missed free throws cost the Magic the first game and cost them their confidence. Once the Rockets knew they could beat them, they poured it on.

In my eyes, it was fun, but almost anticlimactic compared to the Suns and Spurs series. It was however, sweet vengeance for those of us who were fans and had cried for Hakeem and Clyde the Glyde to be drafted by the Rockets.

David.

 

I read quotes or a paraphrase from Shaq that the Magic came into the series figuring they'd basically already won the championship by getting out of the East and meeting a 6th seed in the Finals. Then, they got rattled in Game 1 and started to play very tight, trying to not lose. They just could never recover their poise.

It was a bit anticlamactic after what we went through to get there. But, I like to think of it as a kind of epilogue that gave the Rockets and their fans plenty of time to bask in the glory. First the team finally gets itself together and plays like a team after figuring how how to roll Clyde into the mix. Then, Dream gets even in San Antonio for the MVP diss. Then, there is the climax, which is the end of game 1 in Orlando, where the big boss is defeated. Game 2 cements the victory and Rockets fans get to celebrate for 96 more game minutes in Houston.