One of the biggest “what if’s” in NBA history is what would have happened if the Houston Rockets and the Chicago Bulls clashed in the mid-90s to define the NBA champion.
Robert Horry already discussed this topic a couple of months ago, and during an interview on All the Smoke, the seven-time NBA champion doubled down on his initial comments, picking his 1995 Rockets over the 1995 Bulls, even without Michael Jordan.
“We always talk about this, who would have won in 1994-95 if MJ wouldn’t have left. People don’t realize how good Dream [Hakeem Olajuwon] was, how competitive Vernon Maxwell was,” Horry started.
Horry explained that Phil Jackson’s mentality would have helped the Rockets feed Hakeem Olajuwon as much as possible, and the center wouldn’t have had a problem destroying the Bulls in the paint.
“Tim gave me 36 a night. I’m begging for somebody to them, ‘y’all better give me a f***ing double team’ because Tim started facing me up and doing stuff that I’ve never seen before. I said, ‘I need a double team’ and Phil was like, ‘one man won’t beat us.’ I was like, ‘damn, he’s killing me right now.’ And with that same mentality, I knew it wouldn’t have changed the Dream.”
Moreover, he named himself a factor in this hypothetical victory, saying that his younger self would have been hungry enough to go against Scottie Pippen and stop him.
“I’m looking back at everybody that they had on that Bulls team, I know I’m a better defender than all them dudes. And I know Dream is better than Tim, so they wouldn’t have been able to stop Dream. And I feel like the young Rob would’ve been competitive enough to stop Scottie.”
When it came to Michael Jordan, the greatest player to ever live, Horry said that Vernon Maxwell could have handled MJ, given him trouble, and taken the win for the Rockets.
“And then you got Black Jesus, MJ. Look at the way Vernon played. I’m telling you, watch Vernon play. Vernon would give you 30-40, one of the craziest athletes you would see play this game, but because of his craziness, being ‘Mad Max,’ people don’t talk about how good he was.”
This is an interesting way to look at this imagined scenario. The Rockets were a hard-working team that didn’t back down against any challenge and made sure to leave a mark in the league.
During that magical run, they beat the Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs, then the Phoenix Suns in the semifinals before clashing with the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals, where Hakeem Olajuwon destroyed David Robinson.
They landed in the Finals set to face an up-and-coming Orlando Magic team that felt like winners before the series started. The Rockets ended up sweeping them to win the championship.
On the other end, the Chicago Bulls made it to the second round of the playoffs and were eliminated by the Orlando Magic. That was the last time Michael Jordan lost a playoff series, as he went on to win three consecutive championships again from 1996 through 1998.
Hakeem Olajuwon was untouchable during that run, averaging 32.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in the championship series to earn Finals MVP honors. He was the playoffs scoring champion with 33.0 points per game, led the league in defensive rebounds with 183, blocks with 62, and minutes played with 929. The Dream was on one, and nobody was stopping him.
More Houston Rockets Players Believed They Could’ve Beaten Michael Jordan And Chicago Bulls
Just like Horry, other Houston Rockets players believe they would have beaten Jordan and co. during that run. Kenny Smith said the same, as well as Vernon Maxwell, who was pretty confident in his team’s chances.
We’ll never know what would have happened if these two legendary squads clashed in the Finals, but it’s great to see that both Olajuwon and Jordan could find success in the NBA.
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