1998 Los Angeles Lakers vs. 1998 Chicago Bulls in a best of 7 series

[Lebron23]

The Jazz swept the Lakers in the western conference finals, but styles makes fight.

The Lakers and Bull series ended at 1-1 in the regular season. Bulls beat the Lakers in their first match up 104 to 83 while Lakers beat the Bulls 112 to 83 in their final match up.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...712170CHI.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...802010LAL.html

[Jlamb47]

The Jazz swept the Lakers in the western conference finals, but styles makes fight.

The Lakers and Bull series ended at 1-1 in the regular season. Bulls beat the Lakers in their first match up 104 to 83 while Lakers beat the Bulls 112 to 83 in their final match up.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...712170CHI.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...802010LAL.html

Young Kobe getting his buckets in low minutes.

[ballinhun8]

No one is bearing MJ in the Finals.


NO. ONE.

[The_Pharcyde]

Bulls, that lakers team wasn't mature enough yet to knock off the Bulls, supremely talented but the maturation phase was still in the process

[Element]

I don't think Chicago would've been able to deal with Shaq over a 7 game series. Not in 1998. Plus, LA had a bevy of offensive firepower.

It'd certainly be close but I give the Lakers the edge. Maybe lack of experience could hurt them, though. who knows

[fpliii]

No one is bearing MJ in the Finals.


NO. ONE.

[Solidape]

Bulls, that lakers team wasn't mature enough yet to knock off the Bulls, supremely talented but the maturation phase was still in the process

Bulls had Phil Jackson, Lakers had Del Harris.......seems like an easy enough answer.

And this is coming from a Laker fan, maybe if they didn't trade Eddie jones and Cedric Ceballos and Nick Van Exel, they would have been better.

[Da_Realist]

This would have been a good series. The Lakers had all the advantages needed to knock the Bulls off (youth, athleticism, dominant center, wings good enough to keep MJ and Pippen busy and honest, etc) except the maturity and discipline to beat Chicago over a seven game series.

The two biggest advantages Chicago had over everyone was heart and head. You had to kill them to beat them and you had to outsmart them. The more Chicago played against you the more they zeroed in on your weaknesses. It would have happened against the Lakers who, though talented, were not mature enough to be disciplined for more than a few quarters at a time or focused enough to magnify any physical advantages they would have had. They would have more than likely gotten in each others way. And that's not to mention their fragility emotionally. They were ready to blow and I think Chicago would have pushed enough buttons to make it happen.

[L.Kizzle]

I don't think Chicago would've been able to deal with Shaq over a 7 game series. Not in 1998. Plus, LA had a bevy of offensive firepower.

It'd certainly be close but I give the Lakers the edge. Maybe lack of experience could hurt them, though. who knows

I think so, Kobe wasn't Kobe yet and who cares about Eddie Jones and Van Exel come playoff time.

For this reason alone, the 97 Rockets would have beaten the Bulls. Who was gonna contain Hakeem? And you got Drexler and Barkley to top it off. I'd take them plus Kevin Willis over Jones, Van Exel and Kobe.

[Myth]

If the question is: Would the Lakers have beat the Bulls? This is a stupid question.

If the question is: Could the Lakers have won a game or 2? Sure, they may have stole 1 or 2.

[jayfan]

I don't think Chicago would've been able to deal with Shaq over a 7 game series. Not in 1998. Plus, LA had a bevy of offensive firepower.

It'd certainly be close but I give the Lakers the edge. Maybe lack of experience could hurt them, though. who knows

The Bulls had plenty of stiffs to throw fouls at Shaq. Not an issue.




.

[choppermagic]

The Bulls never faced a dominant center in their Final runs and Shaq would have been a handful. However, as others have said, the lakers were not ready yet. The Bulls maturity would have grinded out a series win against the Lakers i think overall.

Now, put the 99-00 Lakers against that same Bulls and it would have been a knock-out war, with the lakers on top.

[L.Kizzle]

The Bulls never faced a dominant center in their Final runs and Shaq would have been a handful. However, as others have said, the lakers were not ready yet. The Bulls maturity would have grinded out a series win against the Lakers i think overall.

Now, put the 99-00 Lakers against that same Bulls and it would have been a knock-out war, with the lakers on top.

They faced a dominant center in the conference finals in Ewing.

[JT123]

No one is bearing MJ in the Finals.


NO. ONE.

Great argument. You sure convinced me.
The second regular season meeting, in which the Lakers blew out the Bulls, is much more indicative of how a series would have gone. The Bulls only won the first meeting that year because Shaq didn't play. The Bulls never had any answers for Shaq in those days, and the Lakers had him surrounded with young talent and elite 3 point shooters. Lakers would likely have won that series in 6 games.

[Da_Realist]

For this reason alone, the 97 Rockets would have beaten the Bulls. Who was gonna contain Hakeem? And you got Drexler and Barkley to top it off. I'd take them plus Kevin Willis over Jones, Van Exel and Kobe.

The 98 Bulls or 97 Bulls? The Rockets had no shot against the 97 Bulls. I don't think they'd beat the 98 Bulls either but definitely not the 97 Bulls.