Rockets/Bulls Finals 94 and 95

[lakers_forever]

Bulls win in both years and Olajuwon would be ranked lower than Karl Malone in all time rankings.

Prime Jordan and even better than first 3 peat Pippen would destroy anything the Rockets threw at them. Olajuwon would dominate the frountcourt, but in the end it would be enough IMO.

[97 bulls]

right

Grant was playing with Shaq in Orlando in 1995 and Rodman was still in San Antonio.



Hakeem would have averaged like 37ppg if the Bulls and Rockets would have met in the Finals in 1995

I wouldn't be so sure. Olajuwon avg 25 ppg on only 44% shooting vs Longley as a Bull. I could see Pippen and Jordan swarming on Hakeem. Then they could put Harper on Drexler. And Kukoc inability to bang wouldn't have been that big of an issue because Horrys not a bager either

Here Olajuwans stats vs the Bulls with Longley at center.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...1&p2=longllu01

And let's not dismiss Longley. He was a very good low post defender in his own right.

[IGotACoolStory]

Yep, and it's not a one v one thing.

The Bulls team defense was truly great. But, man, that would have been a fun series in 1995.

[Money 23]

The Bulls team defense was truly great. But, man, that would have been a fun series in 1995.

That's essentially what I was getting at ... MJ / Pippen and even Horance in '94 would create a lot of problems defensively for Houston.

The Knicks were a great team defense, too. Gritty, physical, and a great scheme. But the Bulls had all that too, minus the extent of gritty, but had ridiculous length and athletes that would've cause the smaller Houston guard problems.

How do they let Hakeem beat them if he has trouble getting the rock? It isn't that simple.

And also a side note. Hakeem was known to play down or up to his competition. If he's going against Purdue or Longely, obviously he'd be better but he seemed to get way more motivated going up against Ewing, D-Robinson, and Shaq.

[rezznor]

That's essentially what I was getting at ... MJ / Pippen and even Horance in '94 would create a lot of problems defensively for Houston.

The Knicks were a great team defense, too. Gritty, physical, and a great scheme. But the Bulls had all that too, minus the extent of gritty, but had ridiculous length and athletes that would've cause the smaller Houston guard problems.

How do they let Hakeem beat them if he has trouble getting the rock? It isn't that simple.

And also a side note. Hakeem was known to play down or up to his competition. If he's going against Purdue or Longely, obviously he'd be better but he seemed to get way more motivated going up against Ewing, D-Robinson, and Shaq.

look at their records in the regular season. rockets matched up very well with the bulls

[97 bulls]

That's essentially what I was getting at ... MJ / Pippen and even Horance in '94 would create a lot of problems defensively for Houston.

The Knicks were a great team defense, too. Gritty, physical, and a great scheme. But the Bulls had all that too, minus the extent of gritty, but had ridiculous length and athletes that would've cause the smaller Houston guard problems.

How do they let Hakeem beat them if he has trouble getting the rock? It isn't that simple.

And also a side note. Hakeem was known to play down or up to his competition. If he's going against Purdue or Longely, obviously he'd be better but he seemed to get way more motivated going up against Ewing, D-Robinson, and Shaq.

Great point as far as the Bulls team defense. Id guess they'd probably put Pippen on the Rockets PG. And he'd hound them the same way he did Magic and Mark Jackson. By the time Olajuwan got the ball he'd only have probably five seconds to do something with it. And I can see longley pushing him out of his sweet spots.


As far as matchups, the Bulls may very well be able to beat Houston in 95.

[Money 23]

look at their records in the regular season. rockets matched up very well with the bulls

Playoffs are a different animal.

The Bulls beat the Heat 3 times in 2011 regular season, right? Smashed them in some of the games. Would you dare say they were better? And that was in 4 regular season games.

The Bulls only faced them 2x a year in the regular season. There isn't much rapport in only two games.

In a best of seven series, you can better adapt to a team when you figure them out. The Bulls were the best at this ...

They could match any style of play. Whether it was scoring or defending. Running or slowing the game down.

[guy]

If the only difference is that Jordan is there, Bulls win in 94 and Rockets win in 95.

However, we might want to take into account that the Bulls were pretty much almost in rebuild mode going into the 95 season by letting Grant go and being very close to trading Pippen for Kemp. If Jordan never retires, that never happens. They either pay Grant or at least swing a deal for an actual PF to replace him. If that happens, they win in 95 as well.

[millwad]

The '94 series would have been close, basketball is all about match-ups which some of you guys forget.

Some of you go, "oh, but the Rockets barely beat the Knicks and the Knicks had major trouble with a Jordan-less Bulls". I understand what you mean but it doesn't mean much.

Olajuwon was always a night mare for the Bulls and Jordan, in fact, Olajuwon is the only NBA superstar who played against Jordan during Jordan's first years, his prime and last years while having a winning record against him and the Bulls. Even Bulls at their best lost games vs Hakeem and the Rockets when they were at their worst.

In '95 I don't see the Bulls winning against the Rockets, even if Jordan would have played that whole season I doubt they'd win. They got torched by the Magic who got swept by Houston, that doesn't mean that Houston would have swept Bulls too but no one should forget that Grant wasn't there in '95 and Rodman was still with the Spurs in '95. They would have been destroyed inside by Olajuwon who that year slaughtered MVP Robinson.

[Money 23]

They got torched by the Magic

They didn't get torched.

[millwad]

They didn't get torched.

Torched was the wrong word but they obviously got outplayed.

[rezznor]

Playoffs are a different animal.

The Bulls beat the Heat 3 times in 2011 regular season, right? Smashed them in some of the games. Would you dare say they were better? And that was in 4 regular season games.

The Bulls only faced them 2x a year in the regular season. There isn't much rapport in only two games.

In a best of seven series, you can better adapt to a team when you figure them out. The Bulls were the best at this ...

They could match any style of play. Whether it was scoring or defending. Running or slowing the game down.

I understand that, but there are plenty of people dismissing the Rocket's accomplishments who don't realize that they held their own against Jordan's Bulls. Personally, I think 94 is a toss up, but noone was stopping the 95 Rockets.

[millwad]

I understand that, but there are plenty of people dismissing the Rocket's accomplishments who don't realize that they held their own against Jordan's Bulls. Personally, I think 94 is a toss up, but noone was stopping the 95 Rockets.

Spot on.

It should never be forgotten how bad ass the teams Houston won against in '95 were.

In the first round they beat the 60 win team, Utah Jazz, who had prime Stockton, Prime Malone and prime Hornacek.

In the second round they beat the 59 win team, Phoenix Jazz, who had prime Barkley, prime Johson and prime Majerle.

In the third round they beat the 62 win team, San Antonio Spurs, who had the league MVP and others like Rodman, Elliott, Johnson and Del Negro.

And in the finals they just slaughtered the 57 win team, Orlando Magic, who had a damn good Shaq, prime Penny and great role players like Grant, Scott and Anderson.

[peejay89]

Jordan always found a way to win, Luc Longley had good enough low post dee, and anyone in this thread who thinks the rockets win even one of these series is kidding themselves. Jordan > Olajuwon.

[millwad]

Jordan always found a way to win, Luc Longley had good enough low post dee, and anyone in this thread who thinks the rockets win even one of these series is kidding themselves. Jordan > Olajuwon.

Olajuwon in '95 > Jordan in '95

If you believe anything else you're kidding yourself.
Olajuwon is '95 had one of the most dominant playoff performances in NBA history and his averages in the playoffs that year was;

33 points per game, 10.3 rebounds per game, 4.5 assists per game, 2.8 blocks per game and 1.2 steals per game.

And he did it while crushing the league MVP David Robinson and outplaying Shaq, those 2 guys are among the 10 best centers of all-time.

And Luc Longley? Did you really put Olajuwon in the same sentence as Luc Longley? Olajuwon averaged 35.3pts (56%), 12.5rbs, 5ast, 1.3stl and 4.2 blocks vs MVP David Robinson in the '95 playoffs.. What is Luc Longley supposed to do?