95 Rockets vs. 01 Lakers

[SpecialQue]

Who do you pick?

[kennethgriffin]

prime shaq > prime hakeem
2001 kobe > any version of drexler
phil > rudy t
15-1 > whatever that team had ( i guarantee it due to 15-1 being untouchable )

no brainer

kobe/shaq = 60ppg, 20rpg, 10apg combined

most dominant 1/2 punch in history

[Eric Cartman]

Who do you pick?

Shaq owned Hakeem in their first finals matchup.

01 Shaq would've borderline raped him unto oblivion.

Plus Kobe would be the second best player in that series by a considerable margin.

[Milbuck]

2001 Lakers...

Shaq was just too good. He was able to hang with Hakeem early in his career...peak Shaq has the edge, clearly.

2001 Kobe was already a capable #1 on any team...trashed the WC that year for 32/7/6/2/1 on 58% TS, and especially Duncan's Spurs for 33/7/7/2/1 on 57% TS in the conference finals..no one on Houston's perimeter comes close.

[SouBeachTalents]

Don't see almost anyone who's going to pick the Rockets in this one

[millwad]

Shaq owned Hakeem in their first finals matchup.

01 Shaq would've borderline raped him unto oblivion.

Plus Kobe would be the second best player in that series by a considerable margin.

That's so much nonsense that it's not even funny.

Olajuwon clearly outplayed Shaq in 2 out of 4 games in the '95 finals, Shaq got the best of Olajuwon in game 1 but after that he had one game where it's a tie at best for Shaq.

Claiming that Shaq owned Olajuwon is just a pure lie and proves that you're totally clueless. Shaq was young and wasn't experienced which may be the reason why he often during the series was in foul trouble and Shaq also had the highest turnover average among all centers in NBA finals history in that series, he was a turnover machine.

[millwad]

You guys are definitely overrating the '01 Lakers.

First of all, they faced weak competition, the Rockets played against better competition and Olajuwon faced way tougher opponents on the center position.

While Olajuwon outplayed prime Robinson and a very good Shaq, Shaq outplayed 34 year old Mutombo, old ass Robinson and Divac. And not only did the the Lakers face bad centers, they also faced pretty bad teams, no teams over 60 wins.

And don't underrate the '95 version of Shaq, he was probably a harder match-up for Olajuwon than what the 2001 version would be, much faster and more athletic.

[LoneyROY7]

Lakers in 5, maybe 6.

Hakeem isn't going to shut down the '01 version of Shaq.

[SouBeachTalents]

You guys are definitely overrating the '01 Lakers.

First of all, they faced weak competition, the Rockets played against better competition and Olajuwon faced way tougher opponents on the center position.

While Olajuwon outplayed prime Robinson and a very good Shaq, Shaq outplayed 34 year old Mutombo, old ass Robinson and Divac. And not only did the the Lakers face bad centers, they also faced pretty bad teams, no teams over 60 wins.

And don't underrate the '95 version of Shaq, he was probably a harder match-up for Olajuwon than what the 2001 version would be, much faster and more athletic.

The Rockets played better competition, but I don't see how you can argue a team that won 9 less games in the regular season, lost 7 times in the playoffs, while facing elimination 5 times, was better than a team that lost ONE game all postseason, in OT no less

[MC Gusto]

01 Lakers. Shaq's elbows >>>> The Dream Shake.

[ThePhantomCreep]

Shaq is being overrated in this thread. At best, you can give him a slight edge--Hakeem's '95 postseason run ranks among the best in NBA history.

The 2001 Lakers have the edge overall though. Shaq and Kobe playing at bonkers levels is too much for most opponents.

[millwad]

The Rockets played better competition, but I don't see how you can argue a team that won 9 less games in the regular season, lost 7 times in the playoffs, while facing elimination 5 times, was better than a team that lost ONE game all postseason, in OT no less

It's called competition, the Rockets faced much better competition.

In the first round they beat a 60 win team in the Jazz, a team with prime Stockton and Malone.

In the 2nd round they beat a 59 win team in the Suns, a team with Barkley and KJ.

In the 3rd round Olajuwon destroyed MVP Robinson like no MVP has been beaten before, the Spurs won 62 games that season.

In the finals they faced the Magic, the same team that gave Jordan his only playoffs series loss in the 90's, a team with Penny, Shaq and Grant.

[millwad]

Shaq is getting overrated for his '01 run, Lakers faced weak competition and Shaq faced weak competition at the center position as well.

Beating Divac, old ass Robinson, old ass Sabonis and old ass Dikembe is not really a biggie.

[ThePhantomCreep]

Shaq is getting overrated for his '01 run, Lakers faced weak competition and Shaq faced weak competition at the center position as well.

Beating Divac, old ass Robinson, old ass Sabonis and old ass Dikembe is not really a biggie.

Nice spin--the 2001 Lakers (along with the 1995 Rockets) are one of the few teams in history to beat four 50 win teams en route to a title. Four 50-win teams and they smoked them all.

The Rocket's competition was tougher, but not tough enough to justify how perilously close they came to getting bounced in the first and second rounds. They were rather fortunate, actually.

[SouBeachTalents]

Shaq is getting overrated for his '01 run, Lakers faced weak competition and Shaq faced weak competition at the center position as well.

Beating Divac, old ass Robinson, old ass Sabonis and old ass Dikembe is not really a biggie.

You're underselling the shit out of Shaq's competition, making it out to be like he beat no good players. Robinson finished in the top 10 in MVP voting that year, while Mutombo won DPOY and made the All-NBA 2nd team. Sabonis & Divac are far from scrubs either