If y'all think Ainge's comments were bad check out Michael "I wish I wrote for a Chicago Paper" Wilbon's latest piece of revisionism from yesterdays Washington Post: "From 1989 through 1998, Eastern Conference teams won eight of 10 NBA championships. The Detroit Pistons won two, the Chicago Bulls six and the Houston Rockets two. Had Michael Jordan not decided tot take a 20-month sabbatical from professional basketball, the East's number would almost certainly have become 10 of 10, and the Rockets would have the barest of ring fingers" So, Mikey, who exactly WAS that laying on the floor of the O-rena, crying like a woman to the refs after Nick Anderson picked his pocket to ice the game and the series? I'm pretty sure it was Michael Jordan. A very, VERY well-rested Michael Jordan, I might add, in his prime no less. Michael Wilbon will one day have to have his lips surgically removed from Michael Jordan's ass, but until that day comes, he will constatnly use his Washington Post column to try and erase the fact that the '94-'95 NBA season belonged to the Houston Rockets. He will try to erase the fact that NO TEAM, not Bird's Celtics, not Magic's Lakers, not Isiah's Pistons and NOT Jordan's Bulls accomplished what the Rockets did. It was the single greatest playoff run in NBA HISTORY and not even a healthy, well-rested and in his prime Jordan could stop it. NOBODY was going to beat the '94-'95 Rockets. NOBODY. Michael Wilbon is a no-talent ass-clown.
That indeed is arrogance by that writer Wilbon. A crying shame we never got to play the Bulls those years. I believe we'd have won, and there'd be more highlights of Hakeem blocking His Airness to boot. We did have MAJOR problems with the Suns (so I wouldn't go so far as to say NOBODY was going to beat us that year), but beating the powerful Spurs in six and sweeping Orlando should have earned us respect; at least enough to not blithely assume Chicago would definitely have won. On the bright side, beating Patrick and Shaq head-to-head has the benefit of solidifying Hakeem's place in history. And beating NY is more rewarding than Chicago. Admit it, if all of these East coast media types were fair to us, the victories wouldn't be as sweet! Now if we could just get close to being a title team again, this doormat thing is getting a bit old.
If we had met teh Bulls in any of their three championship years after ours except for the last, we would have beat them.
A very rusty Michael Jordan who was still working himself into game shape, I might say. You can't go back and play the games, but the Bulls very well could've beaten the Rockets in both 94 and 95.
Welcome to Clutch City, Colt 45!!! You're my new favorite poster!!! Great freaking post!!! particularly your employment of the "ass-clown" card!! beautiful!
Yes Wilbon is off base, yes Jordan was rusty, and no way in H, E, double hockey sticks would the Bulls have beaten the Rockets in 94 - 95. Mad Max played Jordan as tough as anyone and earned Jordan's respect. Also, who would have slowed Dream down? NOBODY. Jordan would have gotten his but Dream would have offset Jordan leaving us to the role players.
i agree...but mad max wasn't on the team by the finals in 1995. he was replaced by one, Mr. Clyde Drexler.
Send a link to the Wash Post article, and Shaved bald Mike's e-mail address so everybody here at cc.net can tell him what an ass he is.
I honestly believe we would have took the bulls. We usually beat them in the regular season and we were even better in the post-season. I wish we could have matched up in the finals. It's probably better that we didn't because Jordan's legacy would be slightly diminished then. Damn those Sonics. If nothing else it would've been a great rivalry.
Nobody can take away anything away from the Rockets,they deserved to win in both years,and the 95 team in my opinion was better than the 94 team because of Clyde Drexler. Michael always was better than him,but nobody could have matched up with Hakeem on the Bulls. Hakeem wasn't like Karl Malone,Barkley,or Ewing who would fold up in clutch time in the playoffs,infact he responded to the challenge. No one can forget how he destroyed David Robinson in the playoffs. I honestly feel that the 95 Rockets Team could have beaten the Chicago Bulls that year,no one will ever know,especially all those guys that are just screaming that the Rockets would have never one anything if Michael hadn't retired.
If Michael Jordan can't get in game shape after almost two months of intense workouts, practices, and game action, he's not near the player we consider him to be. As Freak said, the difference for the Bulls that year was lacking a power forward. In the first three championship years, they had Horace Grant (in his prime). In the last three, they had Dennis Rodman. In '95, they had no one. There's your difference.
Exactly!! I'm tired of those bull **** excuses , if he was'nt injured than there is no excuse. Its not like one day he came back and started playing in games without practicing. I dont think a "rusty" Jordan drops 55 points on the Knicks. Had the Rockets faced them, they would've swept them the same way they did the Magic.
Didn't Mike score over 50 in one of those playoff games that year? How rusty could he have been if he could score 50?
Oh yeah, and for those who say Mike was rusty I have his stats for the playoffs that year: Games - 10 MPG - 42.0 FG% - .484 3pt% - .367 FT% - .810 OFF - 2.0 DEF - 4.5 RPG - 6.5 APG - 4.5 SPG - 2.30 BPG - 1.40 PPG - 31.5 I've bolded the 2 most important stats. During the season his points were down to 26.9 and he only shot 41.1% from the field, but he was obviously back to form for the playoffs. His TO's were the only thing that were up in the playoffs (to 4.1 a game). Also, he did score 48 points in the first round of the playoffs against Charlotte. Now, if he was rusty it couldn't have been by much and had they made it to the finals is it really honest to say they 'definitely' would have beaten us? Afterall we did sweep the team that eliminated them. Maybe, just maybe, they weren't the best team that year. Shaq, afterall, has gone on to lead a team to a dynasty as well so there's no reason to believe that the 94-95 Magic were not a championship caliber team. Next thing this guy is going to be saying is that the Lakers are lucky MJ isn't in his prime anymore, otherwise the Bulls would sweep them every year. I think the 94-95 playoffs showed something about the Bulls, they obviously struggled playing against a team with a great center. And if Shaq could beat them that year then why couldn't the team with the better center than Shaq, at the very least better for that year, have beaten the Bulls?
I guess I'm the only person on these boards that believes the Bulls would have won had Jordan never retired.....and of course no major injury happened. And no the Jordan that came back in the late '95 season was not the same Jordan from 18 months prior.
And no reason to insult the writer........he just expressed an opinion that is shared by many basketball fans. And I think it's only me on these boards, but I'm taking Mike's Bulls, Larry's Celtics, and Magic's Lakers over the '94-'95 team. And the numbers from his return just prove how great he actually is......doesn't mean he was just as good as when he left......whether it be mentally or physically. He averaged 23/5.7/5.2 this year......after 3 years away from the game.....at the age of 38/39. Name anyone else that could do that.
I agree with the larger point that the Bulls wouldn't have won 8 straight titles -- not only because of losing Grant, but because MJ retired for a reason that first time. As I believe he put it himself, he recognized that he couldn't summon the focus necessary to win another title. (Compare it with how the Lakers have been a much less focused team this season ... it's hard to sustain that superhuman level of concentration indefinitely.) But I lived in Chicago when Jordan made his first comeback, and the occasional 55-point game notwithstanding, he WAS rusty. About once a game, it seemed, he would take off from where he used to be able to dunk, only to find himself coming down a foot shy of the rim and forced into an awkward finger-roll. I remember this because my roommate was a huge Jordan fan, and since I wasn't, I would taunt him about it all the time ... "Haha, look at the old man!" During those playoffs, it was widely remarked (most famously by Nick Anderson) that Jordan wasn't the same dominant player as when he left. But after a full offseason of working out like a madman and reshaping his game to match his lessened hops, he was the same dominant player the following season.
I think the Rockets would have beaten the Bulls for the simple fact that winning 4 or even five titles in a row is really hard to do. Another factor is The dream. The best center the bulls played was rookie Vlade Divac. Remeber when the Pistons eventually overtook the Celtics and the Bulls eventually overtook the Pistons, well, as this chain goes, i think the Rockets would have overtaken the Bulls. But this will always be a what-if game because 23 decided to hang it up. Michael Jordan is not bigger than the NBA, so for Wilbon to disrespect the Rockets titles like that means he doesn't know much. I agree.
