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06-12-2005, 12:19 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Administrator 12/02--7/07
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: That other place and now here sometimes
Age: 42
Posts: 35,837
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Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...bk/bkn/3221857
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Ten years later and it's still there, hanging over their legacy.
In the two years when the Rockets won their back-to-back championships, Michael Jordan was off pursuing a baseball career and then making his first NBA comeback.
The critics contend that those championship banners would not be flying in Houston and the Chicago Bulls might have won eight titles in a row.
The Rockets themselves would have loved to have proven everybody wrong.
"There should be no doubt or label of fluke on our championships," said Hakeem Olajuwon. "As for Michael Jordan, a lot of people don't know and never looked up our matchups with Chicago during that time. If you check the records, you'll see that we beat them on a consistent basis when Michael was playing and winning his first three championships.
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Quote:
The Rockets, in fact, had a 5-1 record vs. Jordan and the Bulls from 1991 through 1993, the span of Chicago's first "three-peat."
After a loss on his home floor at Chicago Stadium in 1993, Jordan said, "We have no answer for the big guy. It's a good thing they won't ever make it to the (NBA) Finals, because I don't think we could beat them."
Head coach Rudy Tomjanovich is philosophical.
"It's one of those things, a good sports debate," he said. "But we don't have to apologize to anybody. I've actually talked to Michael about that topic several times. He's always told me he thought those would have been some helluva playoff series."
Elie is defiant.
"That's the one thing that still sticks with me and bothers me, not getting to play Chicago in the Finals," he said. "Hey, it's not our fault that Jordan wasn't there. We're not the ones who told him to go try baseball.
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06-12-2005, 01:00 PM
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#2 (permalink)
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All-Star
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: -Chicago Illinois- Favorite Player: M. Jordan
Age: 23
Posts: 6,992
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
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"Hey, that's my biggest regret about that John Stockton shot that went in for Utah in '97. I was ready to play Chicago that year. With Dream, Clyde (Drexler) and Charles (Barkley), we'd have beaten them then, too."
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that WOULD have been tough...
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Never die easy
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06-12-2005, 01:00 PM
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#3 (permalink)
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0809
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Frankfurt/GER
Age: 25
Posts: 3,976
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
puh-leaazzzze
jordan would have 8 rings on his hands if he wouldnt have played baseball.
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06-12-2005, 01:02 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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Player
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: NW Indiana
Age: 25
Posts: 576
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
If we would of made it to the finals in 94, do you still think we could of beaten the Rockets?
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06-12-2005, 01:19 PM
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#5 (permalink)
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Veteran
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,276
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
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Originally Posted by Interloper
If we would of made it to the finals in 94, do you still think we could of beaten the Rockets?
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i wouldn't rule it out
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06-12-2005, 02:04 PM
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#6 (permalink)
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655321
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,640
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
ha I remember clearly what it felt like watching those finals and playoffs when MJ was playing baseball
there was a palpable feeling like...the teachers been called out of the classroom and the kids are free to leave their desks, shoot spitwads and flick paper footballs through index finger goalposts
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D'Allesandro:
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Even those who detest Skiles admit he has something others do not: "When it comes to X's and O's," Jason Kidd said recently, "Skiles is probably one of the best I've ever met."
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06-12-2005, 02:38 PM
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#7 (permalink)
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BasketballBoards Veteran
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,975
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
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Originally Posted by Interloper
If we would of made it to the finals in 94, do you still think we could of beaten the Rockets?
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Going strictly off of memory, I believe we went 1-1 against Houston that year. The one game that really sticks in my memory was how Air Wennington was born. From that game on he went from 12th man to consistent producer off the bench.
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06-12-2005, 08:19 PM
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#8 (permalink)
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The Wrath of God
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 5,027
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
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Originally Posted by fleetwood macbull
ha I remember clearly what it felt like watching those finals and playoffs when MJ was playing baseball
there was a palpable feeling like...the teachers been called out of the classroom and the kids are free to leave their desks, shoot spitwads and flick paper footballs through index finger goalposts
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"The Rockets, in fact, had a 5-1 record vs. Jordan and the Bulls from 1991 through 1993, the span of Chicago's first "three-peat."
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06-12-2005, 08:26 PM
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#9 (permalink)
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I weep for the future
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Basketball Mayberry
Posts: 2,486
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
Yeah I don't think MJ and Pip could have controlled Jet, Mad Max , and Lil Mario.
Not
If the best perimeter defense could have shut it down I think the Dream may have been having nightmares.
OT was serviceable , Bob Horry a pup ...
Can't see it.
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06-12-2005, 08:48 PM
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#10 (permalink)
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BasketballBoards Veteran
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula
Posts: 1,791
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
no
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06-13-2005, 06:21 AM
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#11 (permalink)
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I never slice.
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 2,211
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
Bulls may have won in 94, but they would have lost in 95 (after the Bulls lost Horace Grant and the Rockets got Drexler).
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06-13-2005, 06:32 AM
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#12 (permalink)
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Star
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Chicago
Age: 26
Posts: 2,916
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
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Originally Posted by BenDengGo
puh-leaazzzze
jordan would have 8 rings on his hands if he wouldnt have played baseball.
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I think had he never retired and the Bulls never got broken up they could've beaten the NBA record for most championships in a row.
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06-13-2005, 07:00 AM
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#13 (permalink)
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Elite Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: L.A.
Age: 32
Posts: 13,368
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Re: Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
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Originally Posted by BenDengGo
puh-leaazzzze
jordan would have 8 rings on his hands if he wouldnt have played baseball.
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For some reason it seems that people like to forget 1995 where Jordan and company DID lose in the postseason, to Orlando in fact. They didn't get to the Finals. And no, it wasn't because Jordan wasn't Jordan, it was because the Bulls didn't have good enough big men to bang down low, as in to grab rebounds, block shots, etc. No Horace. No Rodman yet.
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Originally Posted by Kneepad
Bulls may have won in 94, but they would have lost in 95 (after the Bulls lost Horace Grant and the Rockets got Drexler).
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Yup.
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06-13-2005, 07:46 AM
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#14 (permalink)
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Administrator 12/02--7/07
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: That other place and now here sometimes
Age: 42
Posts: 35,837
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Rockets insist they still would have won their titles even if MJ had been playing
