The 1995 NBA Championship Myth regarding Jordan playing

lol, of course not. why would they? when people talk about great players like MJ, they like to talk about the success of that person, not their failures. I never heard people harping on Dream's "failures" either. I understand if its a guy like T-Mac who never had much success, but winners like MJ and Dream are revered for all their accomplishments, not their failures.

Fans of Hakeem rather talk bout the Championship runs than his declining years and his run in TOR. Just like how people rather talk about MJ's rings more than him losing a lot in his early years. Nobody gets 100% respect from everybody. Jordan Couldn't do it without Pip, Dream only won when Jordan retired, Kobe couldn't do it without Shaq or Pau, Bird is overrated because hes white, Tyson didn't fight any real HW, Manny Pacman is on steroids, ect. ect.

Point being, you're not going to win over everyone. Especially if they already made up their minds. The best you can do is keep educating.

 

Outstanding post! Post of the day for sure. F the haters.

 

What MJ's legend is basically a reverse Tracy McGrady. Because of all his MJ's great accomplishments, we make assumptions that he was invincible and he did things that he didn't even do (such as dominate the Rockets).

McGrady who's accomplishments were toilet bowl compared to MJ, gets the assumption that we would have done things that he didn't even come close to doing.

it's fascinating.

My favorite encounter with an MJ fan was when I asked him to name me the players on the Bulls championship teams besides Pippen. They couldn't do it.

 

It's true because with Jordan having a full season they won 3 more titles. Rockets were fortunate he retired and this is coming from a Rockets fan.

 

You are a homer if you think that it would have been just as easy for the Rockets if Jordan was here. Obv, Rockets had a good chance but it would have been harder.

 

I would never put an asterisk next to that team's championship in 95, but Jordan really wasn't himself. When Jordan returned to form the following year you could see what happened to the magic.

 

Jordan was good but the Bulls were not going to win five titles (or 8 for that matter) in a row. They were bound to stumble even if Jordan had not left the game and the Rockets were by far the best team to trip them up.

 

That's a great point, I agree with the idea that Jordan's body needed some rest and that his time off allowed him to continue playing that way at an older age.

 

"45 is not 23" -- Nick Anderson.

 

Exactly. The Bull's traditional counterweight to teams like Orlando in the playoffs was a strong defensive frontcout, which helped them to championships from 91-93.

The problem is that, by 1995. the Bulls' strong defensive frontcourt from 91-93 was actually playing for Orlando in the form of Horace Grant.

 

Best post in this thread on the Bulls at the time. I think Sam also makes a fair point, but Jordan was not Jordan when he came back, I don't care what the stats say. he was in baseball shape, and the team lacked that chemistry.

chemistry is so underrated when evaluating champions, that's what makes the rockets 95 playoff run so amazing. the fact that the team gelled in four months after a major trade

 

What's the problem there? It was true, right? The fact is that no team has ever won a finals series against Jordan (six total to Hakeem's three). The teams of the greatest players of that era all lost a finals series or two except for Jordan. That should tell you enough.

Once again, the Rockets won their championships legitimately and cannot be questioned. But to think that the Rockets could have beaten Jordan's Bulls in a finals series is in the realm of fantasy basketball. Let us move on and get over it.

 

That was a function of age as much as the layoff, he was 31 in 1995. He never got the same explosion back and that's why he developed the fadeaway.

 

While I'm not arguing who would have won what, you can't look at Jordan's individual stats as any sort of proof.

The reason Chicago went out in the second round that year is because the rest of the team abandoned the triangle and stood watching, waiting for Jordan to take over. And with the clock ticking, he did. But nobody else stepped up, so Jordan could do nothing but put up good stats.

The next year, the team was more balanced -- to say nothing of the improved defense and rebounding with Rodman on board and Harper in shape and starting -- and the team rolled, and Jordan got to roll back.

 

So, what you're saying is that The Bulls had team problems in 95 & couldn't make the East finals evan tho they had Jordan. Hence the Rockets swept the team that eliminated the Bulls for the Championship! That's good enough for me!! :grin:

 

Jordan said it.

http://www.clutchfans.net/news/1549/rudy_t_reflects_on_rockets/


On the Rockets vs. Bulls debate

I finally got a chance to talk to Michael Jordan years [later] over at Barkley's house and he thought that the best matchup they would have had during that era was against us because of the way Max used to play him and how our big guys used to dominate their inside.

 

I haven't read the whole thread yet so this may have been mentioned a few times already - the Bulls second championship run had everything to do with player additions. Adding guys like Rodman (in his prime) were the difference not Jordan's improvement. I believe Jordan's 55 vs. the Knicks was the league high for the 95 season - no doubt he was playing at a high level.

 

People who live in hypothetical situations will run around in circles until they get tired