The 1995 NBA Championship Myth regarding Jordan playing

People argue this to me all the time and it drives me insane.

Look at the head-to-head stats.

Rockets were a better team.

 

and you choose to believe an urban myth that has no evidence of being true?

i guess you believe in bloody mary too huh?

 

I hate this argument too. You should also post the stats on bulls vs Rockets during the regular season all those years that the Bulls won their championships. The Roxs dominated them. If they would have met in the Finals the Rockets would have had more than two championships. The only reason we didn't meet in the finals was because we had matchup problems with Seattle. They took us out in the playoffs, but if it wasn't for them there would be no argument. The East was also easy for the bulls compared to the west, so whoever they met in the finals was worn out and injured from tough matchups in the west. Remember Malone and stockton were limping after our seven game series, and if stupid stockton hadn't made that 3 we had another ring. Another year we should of met the bulls in the finals and wooped them was when we lost a seven game series against Seattle. Seattle had home court advantage even though we had the same record but they owned the tie breaker. That series the home team won every game and if we had the homefield advantage we would of met the bulls. An important note of that year was that during the regular season we played the spurs towards the end of the year, and the spurs sucked back then so the rox didn't take them seriously. The game came down to the wire and Robinson tipped a ball in with no time left on the clock and they won. If they had the review they do now we would have won that game and had home advantage over seattle and beaten the bulls. So they can put at least two asteriks up the bulls asses as far as I'm concerned.

 

Jordan was almost as good in 94-95 as he was in 95-96. He wasn't quick enough to guard good young guards like Penny Hardaway either year. The difference was that in 95-96, he had Dennis Rodman covering his backside in the paint.

 

The real fact is that the Rockets won that championship fair and square. The fact is Jordan was basically absent during the season and came back very late, out of shape (his stats regardless) and the Bulls team had basically no time to jell and develop chemistry.

I would not put too much weight on the regular season record between the Rockets and the Bulls. The expansion Toronto Raptors swept the season series with the Bulls during their 72 win season. The Knicks and Pacers regularly beat the Bulls during the regular season but wilted against those same Bulls during the playoffs. If they had met in the finals at all, I would put all my money, including the farm on the Bulls, just ask the Sonics who owned the Rockets in the regular season and playoffs during those times.

The bottom line though is that the Rockets legitimately won the 1995 championships and it is not their fault that Jordan was, for all intents and purposes, retired at that time. All the other NBA teams competed for the trophy and fell short to the Rockets. The Spurs do not have an asterisk beside their lockout shortened championship, which was as legitimate as they come, so I would not worry too much about what people say about the 1995 championship. Believe me, I have been a Bulls fan since the time of Jerry Sloan up until Krause screwed them.

 

Rasheed Wallace is credited as putting the '04 Pistons over the hump to win the championship. He played 22 games with the Pistons that year. How come he didnt need to "get warmed up" or needed to "mesh in" with the team chemistry?

Pau Gasol is credited with raising the Lakers to CHAMPIONSHIP level in '08. Lakers were favored against the Celtics in the finals that year, though they lost. Pau played 27 games with the Lakers that year.

What about that same '95 year on the actual Rockets with Drexler joining late (35 games with the Rockets). Did we hear accounts of Drexler having to get his legs under him?

Who would you want for your stretch run to the Finals?

Michael Jordan 17 games
Rasheed Wallace 22 games
Pau Gasol 27 games
Clyde Drexler 35 games.

If you're in the Rockets front office and you get a call saying you can trade Otis Thorpe for Clyde Drexler now. Or you can wait 18 more games and trade Thorpe for Michael Jordan, what would you do?

 

He was never forced into retirement, he just took off to try something else and didn't wanna deal with the media probing on gambling. He has a huge complexion about media not liking him, he wants nothing bad being written about him.

 

There's only 1 asterisk needed for the 1995 championship. It should read
*-The 94-95 Rockets are the lowest seed (#6) in NBA history to win the championship.

 

the people who don't know the story of the team, just thought they weren't good in the regular season.

Dream was hurt for most of the season. So was Maxwell.

Then we had a trade and lost our all star pf, and we have get accustomed to drexler.

also a major change was the pf position.

all the above = 6th seed.

 

There's your problem right there.

 

Thanks Blake +1 rep!

I dont understand why people think the Bulls could beat the Rockets, the Bulls didnt played against a good center in the NBA finals. (ostertag and who was the center of the sonics??)
when they played against Shaq in the playoffs, they couldnt contain him.
and in 95, they only got Jordan and Pippen, they didnt got Rodman or Grant, big pieces of their championships.

and btw, the best season was the 95-96 with the 72 wins, and in the 95 playoffs had better stats against the 96 playoffs (he had a full season to get playing tome and chemistry).

So there is no way in 95 the bulls could beat the rockets in the finals.

 

Well said Blake.

No one just hands you championships ... we took on all comers in the competition and won as a team. Simple as that.

It's certainly not our problem and we can't help who gets injured or who didn't play a full season etc. - especially on other teams.

The banners are proof of what has been achieved ... it's all part of history now and can't be taken away from us no matter how others try to argue or diminish it.

 

true,

but if you don't tell people the truth, then the lie becomes the truth.

how many people here would know who made the nba finals first, jordan or olajuwon?

i bet you it's not even close to 50%.

 

How do you think tinman's head is up his own ass? I bet you it's further than 50%. i'm sure most people here know the first finals series he played was against the Celtics, but even if we don't know that, don't hold it against us alright?

 

i don't blame people for not knowing, it's the legend of jordan and the lack of respect for the Rockets that this part of history is forgotten.

really, besides a couple of nba classics lakers vs rockets, how often do you hear about that 86 team?

the only blip about the 86 team is when they talk about the Cetlics championships.

but when you hear about jordan, it's always about his championships, never his failures in his early career in the playoffs.

 

http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=150049

 

We would have won 3 If We could have beat the Jazz!!!

 

That's funny because I think the reason people loved Jordan so much was because of his struggles. Sure, the media hyped him up (probably rightfully so), but he couldn't get past the Pistons for the life of him until he changed the way he played the game...I remember people loving that about his career.

As for the original topic, anyone who thinks that the Rockets won the championship solely because Jordan was not playing or only played 17 games is idiotic. The truth is they had solid years where they had the potential to win but were robbed, especially by that damn Karl Malone (probably karma that they lost to Jordan both times). Too bad we never got to see these two teams go at it in the playoffs...that would've been something.