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Here we go ....
Epic series. Lakers would dominate in the middle, and of course, with Kobe they'd give the Bulls backcourt a run for their money. But how could you forget MJ and Pippen, along with Rodman, Harper, Kerr, Luc Longley, among others.
My prediction, Bulls in 6. Only because of course, MJ.
Discuss............
Here we go ....
Bulls probably are the most balanced team ever. They definitely were not the most talented team around (2010 Lakers >>> 1996 Bulls in terms of pure talent) , but they just had such great chemistry on both ends of the court, and executed on both ends better than any other team ever.
Bulls in 6, maybe 5.
Should have just made this thread Michael vs Kobe one on one first to 20 who wins
I'd like this to be a more team oriented discussion.
jordan never played against a ron artest type defender, the one that bodies up on you. He would try to wear him down. kobe on the other hand would also have trouble against scottie. gasol, bynum, and odom off the bench is too much length for the bulls. Guys like harper and kukoc would have to step it up big time. all in all if the lakers have homecourt they win in 7.
Artest isnt going to hold Jordan. Pierce was pretty much able to have his way with Artest last night, he just missed some shots he would normally hit, and took a few bad ones. Artest is physical, but has very average lateral quickness. MJ would be too crafty for Artest with his mix of driving and post-up ability. IMO Artest's defense gets overrated. Superstars torch him on a regular basis. He can shut down average players that dont know how to take the physical contact, but if you have a guy like Kobe, Bron, Melo, Pierce, Wade, etc... and they are on a mission to score, Artest is pretty much toast, and always has been because he has such poor lateral quickness.
At the same time, Pippen isn't going to hold Kobe much either. Like I said, when you have a superstar on a mission to score, it's impossible for anyone to hold them one-on-one. The only reason guys like MJ, Kobe, etc... would have a hard time scoring one-on-one is not because of the defense, but because of their own will (or perhaps lack of).
The Lakers may have great length, but a lot of it is negated for a few reasons. For one, the Bulls have Rodman. I strongly doubt that Odom, Bynum, or Gasol are going to be able to stop him from dominating the boards. Gasol and Bynum are too fragile, and Odom is just too lazy to consistently do it. Also, Luc Longley was a solid shooter. He would take opposing big men out of the middle to allow Jordan and Pippen to get to the hoop at will, and if they played off of Longley, he would bust their ass with a wide open jumper.
I think the general balance of the Bulls would just be too much for the Lakers, despite their obvious advantage in talent.
I can see this going 7 with a coin flip to win.
Is this a troll thread? The 72-10 Bulls, the greatest team ever, against the under 60 win Laker team from this season with no bench? Bulls have two top 50 players ever to the Lakeshow's 1 and they also have the GOAT who would both lock down Kobe and eat his lunch on the other end of the floor. Jordan + Pippen defending Kobe = Kobe 25 points on 34 shots or something ridiculous.
Bulls in 5.
Young Kobe schooled Pippen, so that statement doesn't stick.
The Lakers have inside and outside to combat the Bulls. Still a coin flip as both run the same O and defensive stoppers, go to guys and nice blend of vets and young cats as roleplayers.
LA has the size but Jordan and Pippen would shut Kobe down making him ineffective in the series. I also believe Rodman would contain Gasol. That alone should convince you that the Bulls would easily win this in 5 games.
96 Bulls
Very easy. 6 games max..
In 5 games eh.....I forgot that team swept every play off series they played in....
The Bulls that year didn't have 2 post options to contain and never faced anyone as good as Kobe during that run. While Rodman is great, he couldn't score and would be zoned off, if zones are legal as they are now. That's the difference right there.
Also the Odom effect would sway the series. Coin toss anyways.
There's getting to be some real ty trolls these days...
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...606160CHI.html
Look at the great MJ in 3 close out games and his #'s after they went up 3-0 on the Sonics.
Like I've been saying, it's like this team is so legendary and MJ can't do wrong. I watched those games and just like the Lakers today, they win as a team. Yes, a game here and there both Kobe and MJ go off, but they need help.
Generally the 72 win team has homecourt over the 57 win team.
Your judgement is critically flawed.
I apologize for him. He meant you are a ty troll
Yes he did. Dennis Rodman. Rodman wasn't as strong as Artest is, but he played a similar style of man defense. And back then, when Jordan went up against those Bad Boys Pistons, they could hand check and they could knock Jordan down without worrying about a flagrant foul every time. Jordan faced one of the toughest defenses in the history of the league.
When Kobe and the Lakers faced tough defenses in their prime, they got dismantled twice, in 2004 and 2008.
I will say this about the original topic. While this is somewhat of a troll topic, I think a seven game series between the two teams would be much closer than a lot of people would care to admit. As great as that Chicago Bulls team was, they didn't face a really outstanding and well balanced front court the current Lakers have. They faced good individual front court players like Shaq and Shawn Kemp and Patrick, but the Lakers have size, strength, length, and skill all along the front court. Those Bulls didn't face a front court like that. And that's why I think it would be closer than some assume it would be. Dennis Rodman can't guard both big spots, and I think Rodman would have a much tougher time on Gasol than some suggest. Gasol doesn't just have size and length on Rodman, but skill. Rodman can take away size and strength with the way he played defense using leverage and grit. But taking away Gasol's skill advantage as well would be a much tougher assignment for Dennis. And if Scottie's on Kobe, that means Jordan is on Artest, who won't light Jordan up but will bang his body some on the Lakers offensive end.
I'd give the edge to the Bulls because of Michael. But I would suspect it would be a much more compe ive series than a lot of people would imagine. For that matter, I think the 2008 Boston Celtics give that Bulls team a run for their money as well, for similar reasons.
I ain't trollin. It's a hypothetical matchup question dumbass.
funny how kobe fans always say that because while its true, its also incorrect because he was schooling pippen over 3 years after the 95-96 season. pippen was getting pretty old by then.
i dont agree that Jordan and Pippen would completely lock Kobe up like some people think, but i think Kobe would have a harder time dealing with the two of them defending him, as opposed to Jordan having a hard time against Kobe and Artest defending him.
yeah, a zone is really smart when you have guys like Tony Kukoc or Steve Kerr sitting around at the 3pt line, waiting for passes from MJ and Pippen as they slice through LA's very average defense.
I didn't want to admit it before mainly because I was hating on KG, but those 2008 Celtics is without question one of the best teams in NBA history, and has been getting overlooked a lot in these "greatest teams" discussion. that was a damn good team. lockdown defense. great ball movement on offense, balance in that several players could score 20-30 any given night in different ways, and a player that is pretty much unstoppable in clutch situations (Pierce). I think they definitely could give those Bulls a tough fight, perhaps even beat them.
It's not about playing Zone per se, it's zoning the paint as you sag off of Rodman.
The only way I see the 96 bulls team win is because of their better 3 point shooters overall. Still, it would be very, very close. Look at the stats that playoff run in 96.
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