Here's a clip you rarely ever see from Jordan's Bulls

[XFactor]

RH4ro1YdSio

And to say they were so close to getting to the ECF and possibly to the finals all from this one play. If they had one that game they would have definitely had the momentum throughout the series.

[MiamiHeat]

that's when MJ came back towards the end of the season in 94-95 right?

hadn't played basketball in 2 years, quite amazing.

[8FOR!3]

lol sons, fuck this video. I thought I was gonna get to see Jurassic Park at the end...

[Giuseppe]

MJ didn't want to subject himself to the toil & trouble of training camp. Wanted to cut in line & cheat.

Like Favre does now in football.

Uh, uh.

[024]

holy crap, shaq made 12/16 free throws, including 2 fts in a row during crunch time? that's like winning the lottery and getting struck by lighting at exactly the same time.

[Dunc n Dave]

The rust from being on the shelf for 2 years definitely showed in that game.

In all fairness, the shot he passed up at the end looked like in would have been blocked by Royal if he tried to shoot it.

[sribb43]

:wow Jordan giving dap to Shaq after a foul?? I hope Charles, Kenney and CWebb dont get a hold of this video, they will call him soft

[Dunc n Dave]

:wow Jordan giving dap to Shaq after a foul?? I hope Charles, Kenney and CWebb dont get a hold of this video, they will call him soft

LOL butt hurt Dirk fans! :lol

[Medvedenko]

Good video....

[Dr House]

All this does is further cement Kobe's legacy as the GOAT

[TheHeatIsOn]

All this does is further cement Kobe's legacy as the GOAT

:lmao

Kobe and GOAT just doesnt go together

[TheHeatIsOn]

Kobe and GOAT just doesnt go together like Laker fans loving LeBron

[JamStone]

Don't know if it was rust. He probably wasn't in his peak condition and had the optimum basketball rhythm. But he had played 21 games already up to that point and he didn't have lingering injuries or wear and tear from a full 82 game season. I think he just didn't have a great ending to that fourth quarter. Missed free throws and that steal from behind could have happened no regardless of "rust." The one play that might have showed some rust was that errant pass to Scottie, but even that was more of an issue of Pippen thinking Jordan was going to shoot the shot.

I think people think Jordan was perfect in the playoffs all the time. He had a less than stellar couple minutes to end a playoff game. Not that big of a deal, especially with it being game 1 on the road of a playoff series. Jordan wasn't perfect all the time. People want to think he was.

Jordan actually looked like he was fine physically and had fresh legs. Just not perfect. It's not a crime that he wasn't perfect all the time.

[Medvedenko]

Don't know if it was rust. He probably wasn't in his peak condition and had the optimum basketball rhythm. But he had played 21 games already up to that point and he didn't have lingering injuries or wear and tear from a full 82 game season. I think he just didn't have a great ending to that fourth quarter. Missed free throws and that steal from behind could have happened no regardless of "rust." The one play that might have showed some rust was that errant pass to Scottie, but even that was more of an issue of Pippen thinking Jordan was going to shoot the shot.

I think people think Jordan was perfect in the playoffs all the time. He had a less than stellar couple minutes to end a playoff game. Not that big of a deal, especially with it being game 1 on the road of a playoff series. Jordan wasn't perfect all the time. People want to think he was.

Jordan actually looked like he was fine physically and had fresh legs. Just not perfect. It's not a crime that he wasn't perfect all the time.

The lack of posts on this thread is comical. If this was Kobe blowing the game....multiple pages....however given that 70% of the posters on this board were in elementary school when this game took place, it's pretty much par for the course.

Still, MJ had a lot of dominating performances in the playoffs...this, was not one of them. Funny thing, Shaq late in the game didn't get the ball as usual, even when he was hitting his FT's. It took Kobe to reel his game in.

[Lars]

He probably didnt want to get embarrassed in the finals by the Rockets.

[ambchang]

MJ didn't want to subject himself to the toil & trouble of training camp. Wanted to cut in line & cheat.

Like Favre does now in football.

Uh, uh.

The Bulls should have practice shooting 21 FTs during the 4th quarter.

Too bad he was facing Shaq and Penny instead of over the hill players with limited marketability like Garnett, Pierce and Allan.

[Giuseppe]

The Bulls should have practice shooting 21 FTs during the 4th quarter.

Too bad he was facing Shaq and Penny instead of over the hill players with limited marketability like Garnett, Pierce and Allan.

Yeah, "Too bad" for you & this Board.

2 years in-a-row of having to take it & like it.

Tougheth lucketh, oh, skunkard one. tee, hee.

[ambchang]

Yeah, tough luck about loving a sport where the supposedly best league in the world is catering more and more towards fans with limited knowledge of the game.

Tough luck indeed.

[Giuseppe]

Yeah, tough luck about loving a sport where the supposedly best league in the world is catering more and more towards fans with limited knowledge of the game.

Tough luck indeed.

Now. Now you want to have good knowledge ball talk, eh?

I just bet you do, Amb.

[Sisk]

lol sons, fuck this video. I thought I was gonna get to see Jurassic Park at the end...

real talk

[TheManFromAcme]

Man, that was a lean Shaq....

[Chillen]

If he would have come back with 40 games or so left in the season that would have given that Bulls team more time to gel and they might have been sharper. Make no mistake about it they were the better team in that series, that Bulls core went onto 3peat, but it wasn't a well oiled machine yet, the Magic were sharper, and the season after that they went 72-10 and swept the Orlando Magic and went onto 3peat. That is the difference, the Bulls weren't the sharper team in that series because with Jordan they hadn't played enough games together.

That comeback though has to be one of the best ever in prosports, the Bulls went on to accomplish quite alot 72-10, 3 straight NBA championships. ranks up there.

[SomeCallMeTim]

If he would have come back with 40 games or so left in the season that would have given that Bulls team more time to gel and they might have been sharper. Make no mistake about it they were the better team in that series, that Bulls core went onto 3peat, but it wasn't a well oiled machine yet, the Magic were sharper, and the season after that they went 72-10 and swept the Orlando Magic and went onto 3peat. That is the difference, the Bulls weren't the sharper team in that series because with Jordan they hadn't played enough games together.

That comeback though has to be one of the best ever in prosports, the Bulls went on to accomplish quite alot 72-10, 3 straight NBA championships. ranks up there.

:lol

Magic won the series 4-2. You'll have a hard time convincing me that the Bulls were the "better team" given that outcome. You might -- might -- be able to make that case if the series went 7 games and the Bulls somehow had a decisive edge in points margin. But neither happened so I'm going to go with the conventional wisdom that the better team won the 7-game series.

I realize the next year the Bulls were spectacular. But that was the next year's team. By your logic, the 1999 Lakers were the better team than the 1999 Spurs despite losing to them because the next season they went 67-15 and won the title. All of this of course ignores the actual outcomes as well as the fact that each team added key pieces (Rodman for CHI, Jackson for LA).

'95 Magic > '95 Bulls.

It's OK, Jordanfanz, I don't think that somehow threatens his spot as an inner-circle HOFer.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

If he would have come back with 40 games or so left in the season that would have given that Bulls team more time to gel and they might have been sharper. Make no mistake about it they were the better team in that series, that Bulls core went onto 3peat, but it wasn't a well oiled machine yet, the Magic were sharper, and the season after that they went 72-10 and swept the Orlando Magic and went onto 3peat. That is the difference, the Bulls weren't the sharper team in that series because with Jordan they hadn't played enough games together.

That comeback though has to be one of the best ever in prosports, the Bulls went on to accomplish quite alot 72-10, 3 straight NBA championships. ranks up there.


What makes it even more remarkable is that he flat out went away from the game of basketball entirely for 18 months. And then less than a year from coming back they go on to compile the best record in NBA History.

[SomeCallMeTim]

Don't know if it was rust. He probably wasn't in his peak condition and had the optimum basketball rhythm. But he had played 21 games already up to that point and he didn't have lingering injuries or wear and tear from a full 82 game season. I think he just didn't have a great ending to that fourth quarter. Missed free throws and that steal from behind could have happened no regardless of "rust." The one play that might have showed some rust was that errant pass to Scottie, but even that was more of an issue of Pippen thinking Jordan was going to shoot the shot.

I think people think Jordan was perfect in the playoffs all the time. He had a less than stellar couple minutes to end a playoff game. Not that big of a deal, especially with it being game 1 on the road of a playoff series. Jordan wasn't perfect all the time. People want to think he was.

Jordan actually looked like he was fine physically and had fresh legs. Just not perfect. It's not a crime that he wasn't perfect all the time.

Excellent points and I agree down the line. Just like I have little sympathy for excuses for the Lakers when they lost in the POs ("But Malone/Bynum/Ariza was injured!!!1!!"), I find the whole assumption that somehow 1995 "doesn't count" because Jordan was "rusty" or whatever pretty ridiculous. Besides, the whole premise is dubious at best, as you pointed out.

94 and 95 were just Houston's years... specifically Dream's.