Former NBA guard Vernon Maxwell got to play against plenty of special players during his time in the league, but Michael Jordan stood out over everyone else. Maxwell spoke about going up against Jordan during an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast.
“Well, Mike is the greatest man,” Maxwell said, via Matt Barnes. “Mike is the best player I ever played against, man. Hands down, man never seen nothing like this s***.”
Co-host Matt Barnes pointed out that Maxwell used to make Jordan work. He acknowledged that he did, but he couldn’t stop the Hall of Famer.
“That’s all I could do, just cut down his percentage,” Maxwell stated. “You can’t never stop no motherf***er like that. You got to make it tough, you know what it is, Matt, you know what it is, Stephen [Jackson]. You know you got to make it tough on a motherf***er like that, so that’s all I was trying to do to, make it tough for that motherf***er.
“And he was already bigger than me,” Maxwell continued. “S***, I’m 6’4″ I ain’t never wore over [195 lbs] in my life, and my biggest weight I was 194 and this motherf***er was 218 and 6’6” and jumping everywhere. Every time I turn around, looking at the bottom of that motherf***er’s shoes.
“That motherf***er done spinned off me and just took off,” Maxwell added. “I ain’t never see a motherf***er just spin and jump at the same time. I mean, just gone. I’ll be like this s*** is crazy, man.”
Jordan’s combination of skill and athleticism was unlike anything the NBA had seen at that point. When he was at his best, there was nothing you could do against him.
While Maxwell made Jordan work, he still put up great numbers against him. Over 17 meetings, Jordan averaged 30.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game. The percentages were actually pretty high, too: 49.8% from the field and 42.6% from beyond the arc.
Maxwell has admitted in the past that Jordan gave him sleepless nights. He did not want to get embarrassed the way so many others had been.
Vernon Maxwell Believes His Rockets Would Have Beaten Michael Jordan’s Bulls In The 1994 NBA Finals
While Maxwell acknowledges Jordan’s greatness, he thinks his Houston Rockets would have gotten the better of the Chicago Bulls had they met in the 1994 NBA Finals. From 1991 to 1998, it was either the Bulls or the Rockets that won the championship, but they never played against each other on the big stage.
That was down to Jordan famously retiring in 1993. The Rockets won their first championship in 1994 and then repeated in 1995. Jordan had come out of retirement in March 1995, but neither he nor the Bulls were at their best and failed to make it to the NBA Finals. On the six occasions that they did in the 1990s, the Rockets didn’t make it.
So, what gives Maxwell that confidence? Well, he believes the Bulls had no answer for Hakeem Olajuwon, and they didn’t. Maxwell also pointed out that they actually did well in that matchup during that stretch.
The Rockets went 5-1 against the Bulls from 1990-91 to 1992-93. That was impressive, and you do wonder how a series between these teams would have unfolded. Jordan being a perfect 6-0 in the NBA Finals is often brought up in the GOAT debate, and he might not have remained perfect had he gone up against Olajuwon and the Rockets.
