most Underrated team ever- '95 Rockets

[sook]

If memory serves me well, Otis Thorpe was traded for Drexler, and Maxwell was kicked off the team after acting like a nutcase.

No it wasn’t. Drexler was, and always will be considered a tier below Jordan. Drexler was a late edition to the original dream team along with Laettner, he was 2nd in MVP voting to Jordan, he was demolished in 92 in the Finals against Jordan, and didn’t fare well head to head in the other outings (and that was in his prime, we are talking about 95 here, when Drexler wasn’t anything close to his prime years).

Then you obviously have never seen Wilt and Russell play, nor Robinson, or even Dwight Howard for that matter. All those guys could easily catch up with guards, block their shot, and dribble down court for a score in traffic. Jabbar was dominant defensively as well.

So much wrong I don’t know where to begin. Hakeem dominated different centers once in a while. Overall, he didn’t do as well against Robinson through their careers. He was clearly superior to Ewing in head to heads, and has a slight advantage to Shaq when head to head. Look it up.
Russell never had the offensive polish of Duncan. And Russell was miles ahead on defense. Two extremely different players. It’s like saying Barkley is the new Gervin because they were both great forwards.
Drexler in 95 wasn’t even as good as Drexler in 92. He was even taking a back seat to Cliff Robinson during his last days in Portland. This isn’t even funny. Drexler suffered from injuries the last few years, and he no longer was as quick or as athletic as his younger days.
The last paragraph is pure speculation, but saying Horry would have given Pippen trouble in the context of Horry neutralizing Pippen is just asinine. Pippen ate a 75% Worthy alive in 91, and Pippen in 96 was way better than Pippen in 91. Worthy would have destroyed Horry on one leg.
Finally, people don’t realize that the two years the Rockets won the championship were the years the 3-point line was shortened. This is NOT a coincidence, as the Rockets offense was to surround Hakeem with great 3 pt shooters. Credit Hakeem for making crisp passes to the perimeter when he got double teamed (which is pretty much all the time), and credit the shooters for having quick releases, but this was a team that had benefited from a set of rules that catered to them hugely.

I posted the roster for the 95 squad but yea i was expecting most posters to know that thorpe was traded for drexler, and it was one of the greatest trades we have ever made.

And that last phrase you made was pure bull . If you can't back it up why bother posting something like that? If the league had indeed shortened the 3 pt line didn't they do that for every team? I don't understand the double standards for the rockets. Spurs fans claim that it was fluky that it was just because of jordan retiring well guess ing what, what is the 99' championship then?

A poster earlier claimed that the rockets just had a different mentality and it somehow had to do with Jordan. People make way too many excuses.

btw,

During the 1994–95, 1995–96, and 1996-97 seasons, the NBA attempted to address decreased scoring (due to tougher style defenses) by shortening the overall distance of the line to a uniform 22 feet (6.7 m) around the basket. Dennis Scott used this rule change to set a record for most three-pointers in a season: 267 in 1995–96. (This record was surpassed by Ray Allen with 269 in the 2005-06 season.) From the 1997–98 season, the NBA reverted the line to its original distance of 23 feet, 9 inches (22 feet at the corners). With the legalization of zone defense in 2001, the three-point shot became more important, because of its ability to stretch out a zone. Reggie Miller is the all-time NBA leader in total 3-point field goal with 2,560.

Yet people just bag on the rockets for being the only beneficiaries of the rules

[sook]

The '95 Rockets were okay...they just showed up to play. I think the league kind of thought that everything would come easy without the MJ Bulls....so, most teams took it easy and a 6th seeded team won the NBA Championship. They just wanted it more than anyone else. The 2008 G.S. Warriors had a better regular season record than these guys. So, it goes to show that when no one cares, anyone can show up, make their shots, and win a championship. Without M.J. in the league, easy task...so, credit is due for their championship, but they aren't in the top 10 teams of all time.

This is probably the most decent post you have ever made but...

Like i said, wtf is the 99' championship then? Guess what the spurs only won because jordan retired then.

[baseline bum]

Additionally, please show me the wings assigned to stop MJ in 91, and the folks he had to defend on the other end.

Yeah, guarding Magic was a ing piece of cake.

[The Franchise]

Yeah, guarding Magic was a ing piece of cake.

Pippen ended up guarding Magic because he was to big for Jordan and was raping him.

[nkdlunch]

Most overrated team ever, 2008 Houston Rockets

[djohn2oo8]

Most overrated team ever, 2008 Houston Rockets

Yeah, overrated when no one is talkin about them......

[SpursDynasty]

I think this year's Lakers are the most overrated team of all time. They are 50-13, but how good can they be when a scrub Cleveland team has the same record?

[Roxsfan]

Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Bill Russell. Sorry...Hakeem is great, and probably falls right below these three...but he's not better than them...no way.

Hakeem had more moves, and had more athleticism in his left pinky's cuticle than all of those players had combined. Those players were great, but they were uncoordinated lumbering goofs compared to Hakeem. As feared as he was on O, he was equally (or more) feared on D.

[Roxsfan]

how come the rocks never won a le when jordan was playing? they could only win when he retired

How come the spurs did not win when jordan retired?

How come Tim Duncan can't do what Hakeem did and that is to defend their le the following year?


Jordan was there on the second le run......... and what?

The rox would have rolled on those bulls.

Jordan retired b/c he feared Hakeem

[baseline bum]

Pippen ended up guarding Magic because he was to big for Jordan and was raping him.

Um, no. In games 1,3, and 4 Jordan guarded Magic instead of Pippen at a rate of at least 70/30. Game 2 Jordan guarded him until he got in early foul trouble near the end of the first quarter, at which point Pippen took over the job for the most part (Jordan was in foul trouble the entire game). Not sure about game 5, because I don't have a copy of that one, but your post is either ignorance or flat-out deception.

[The Franchise]

Um, no. In games 1,3, and 4 Jordan guarded Magic instead of Pippen at a rate of at least 70/30. Game 2 Jordan guarded him until he got in early foul trouble near the end of the first quarter, at which point Pippen took over the job for the most part (Jordan was in foul trouble the entire game). Not sure about game 5, because I don't have a copy of that one, but your post is either ignorance or flat-out deception.

Go look up Magics average Against Jordan when he was guarding him and come back and apologize. If you read my post I said Pippen started guarding him because he was raping Jordan. That is fact.

[The Franchise]

He obviously didnt see that series. Jordan spent a lot of time on Magic in that series.

I lost money on that series betting on you s so I think I know what I'm talking about.

[Spursfan092120]

Reading some of the Rockets fans quotes on in this thread is nauseating. Jordan once said..."People would try and compare Drexler's game to my game, and I wanted to prove that it wasnt even close." And he did just that. Drexler wasnt even half as good as Jordan.

People tend to forget. Hakeem was great, but Kareem was giving Hakeem fits when he was damn there 40. I think Hakeem was probably the most talented centers of all time. But he didnt dominate the game the way Wilt, Russell, and Kareem did for the majority of their careers.

You guys should be happy with those two les you lucked up on while Jordan was retired and just live with it.

[baseline bum]

Go look up Magics average Against Jordan when he was guarding him and come back and apologize. If you read my post I said Pippen started guarding him because he was raping Jordan. That is fact.

No fact, is that Jordan was the primary defender on Magic that series.

[kingmalaki]

I hate to say it, but that team was amazing. They probably are the most underrated team ever. But I don't think they could have beaten every championship team in a seven game series. They certainly would make it interesting against them all.

To clarify, I think those Rockets could have beaten some teams...not all. but my point is if you are going to dismiss them at least have some solid reasoning and not an argument full of garbage...i.e. MJ couldn't be stopped...MJ didn't play...MJ was tired, etc....

[kingmalaki]

Yeah, guarding Magic was a ing piece of cake.

MJ checked Magic primarily for Game 1 of the Finals, and they lost. Pippen switched to him in Game 2 and they won the next 4 games. This is basic basketball knowledge for anyone who watched ball during those times. But if you didn't, or don't remember well, you can simply do a google search or go to the NBA.com history page where they break out all of the Finals series up until around 2001 or so....

[YellowFever]

Underrated ?
No.

Luckiest?
Yep.

[baseline bum]

MJ checked Magic primarily for Game 1 of the Finals, and they lost. Pippen switched to him in Game 2 and they won the next 4 games. This is basic basketball knowledge for anyone who watched ball during those times. But if you didn't, or don't remember well, you can simply do a google search or go to the NBA.com history page where they break out all of the Finals series up until around 2001 or so....

Pippen switched to him in game 2 only because Jordan got 2 fouls in the first quarter and was in foul trouble for the rest of the game after. By game 3 Jordan was back to being the primary defender on Magic, while Pippen was used for short bursts. I don't give a about your NBA.com page or your revisionist history because I have the full games and I know better.

[ambchang]

I posted the roster for the 95 squad but yea i was expecting most posters to know that thorpe was traded for drexler, and it was one of the greatest trades we have ever made.

Why would you explicitly say Thorpe when you know that he wasn’t on the playoff roster when that is knowledge so common that you would expect everyone to know?
Here it is, once more.

thats debatable. He was playing better because he was aside Kobe, but he was not a better player. That rockets team was built solid from head to toe just look at the roster. Big names like Otis Thorpe who was an all star, sam cassel, and Vernon Maxwell who shut Jordan down on a n number of occasions

What about Vernon Maxwell? Who do you include in a 7-game series? I would imagine the playoff roster, and definitely not double counting a player who was traded for another significant piece in the middle of the season.

I And that last phrase you made was pure bull . If you can't back it up why bother posting something like that? If the league had indeed shortened the 3 pt line didn't they do that for every team? I don't understand the double standards for the rockets. Spurs fans claim that it was fluky that it was just because of jordan retiring well guess ing what, what is the 99' championship then?

Learn to read better. I said the shortened three point line benefited the Rockets because of their offensive set. A team with a dominant pivot and a bunch of 3 point shooters would benefit more than teams with other offense with a shortened 3 point line, get it?

A poster earlier claimed that the rockets just had a different mentality and it somehow had to do with Jordan. People make way too many excuses

That poster was SpursDynasty, get with the times.

btw,
Yet people just bag on the rockets for being the only beneficiaries of the rules

Reading is FUNdamental.

[lefty]

Underrated ?
No.

Luckiest?
Yep.

What?

They are one of the best championship teams in the history

[jonnybravo]

1. Jordan DID PLAY in '95, put up huge numbers, and got beat by the same Magic team that Houston SWEPT that year.

2. the '95 Rockets werent a 'fluke', they were the DEFENDING CHAMPIONS, having beat a Knicks team that gave the bulls fits the year before.

3. the teams they played certainly did 'care', ask stockton, malone, or barkley if they wanted to win that season.

Jordan played 17 en games after a 1.5 year hiatus.

Are you seriously this dense? 17 en games after a 1.5 year hiatus. Digest that.

Knicks team? You mean the same Knicks team that an MJ-less team took to 7 games? That one?

He got his together and teabagged the rest of the league the following year.

Holy that was the dumbest thing I've read. Thank god for sites like Basketball reference so revisionist s can't pull out of their ass without getting called out.

My gawd, that entire post was so full of half-truths I realized you're just playing around with us.

Haha, I get it! Funny guy!

[pauls931]

sure, kick the suns some more....

[Capt Bringdown]

It's no use, there's an entire generation brought up to believe that the NBA begins and ends with Jordan©.

Who cares? The Rockets run was one of the most enjoyable, exciting, inspiring and awesome basketball fan experiences of my life. Ain't nobody taking that away.

Perhaps it's the same for the legions of Bulls fans - maybe. There certainly were a lot of bandwagoners during that era as I recall. The Bulls never interested me, I thought Jordan was a bit of a creep.

[poop]

Jordan played 17 en games after a 1.5 year hiatus.

Are you seriously this dense? 17 en games after a 1.5 year hiatus. Digest that.

Knicks team? You mean the same Knicks team that an MJ-less team took to 7 games? That one?

He got his together and teabagged the rest of the league the following year.

Holy that was the dumbest thing I've read. Thank god for sites like Basketball reference so revisionist s can't pull out of their ass without getting called out.

My gawd, that entire post was so full of half-truths I realized you're just playing around with us.

Haha, I get it! Funny guy!

haha yes, he was so 'rusty' that he scored 55 points his 3rd game in

not only that he joined a team that was already one of the top teams in the east.

you dumb 'jordan = god and could never ever fail and if he didnt win there must be some excuse' clowns make me laugh

[kingmalaki]

Pippen switched to him in game 2 only because Jordan got 2 fouls in the first quarter and was in foul trouble for the rest of the game after. By game 3 Jordan was back to being the primary defender on Magic, while Pippen was used for short bursts. I don't give a about your NBA.com page or your revisionist history because I have the full games and I know better.

Wow, we both have the fulls games so we both know better? I guess our eyes see different things.

Pippen switched on Magic in game 2 due to MJ's foul trouble...they saw the effects (i.e. Jordan not having to expend energy checking him, ala how MJ had it every year once Scottie developed)...and stuck with it.

And who was checking MJ? Scott? Worthy, lol. The main point still remains, which you have yet to counter. Hakeem dominated elite bigs in 94 and 95, including 3 dudes who are arguably in the list of top defenders ever at their positions (Ewing, Robinson and Rodman). He did this while having to check them on the other end. In case you still can't grasp it, he put up Jordan numbers in 95....against dominant pivots. So why could he not do the same against the stiffs Chicago had? Does Jordan's 35 on 48% count more than Hakeem's 35 on 53%? Do they award an extra half point for every bucket MJ scores or something? Because if not, I see two players who no one can stop...with the only difference being the Rockets defenders were no worse than the dudes MJ put up 35 a night on....but the Bulls pivots on the other hand....