NBA: FINALS DEBATE: Bulls have 8 les if Jordan didn't retire (or get suspended...)

[DUNCANownsKOBE]

Nah. Hakeem took that series personal when Robinson was awarded MVP in his face. Nothing Robinson could have done, Hakeem wasn't losing.

I don't disagree but Robinson sure didn't help himself by chasing the 2nd best player on his team around with a bible

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I voted no. Even if they overcome the matchup issues everyone's pointing out in 95, I don't buy that anyone, even Jordan, had the drive to keep from getting complacent at some point along the way before hitting 8. , even if MJ stays on top of his game that entire time (and Pippen and Jackson did as well, which is even less likely) that's another two years that Krause has to find the right role players to round out the roster, something that gets tougher and tougher to do as time goes on. And last that's such a long ass time that given 8 straight years to work on the problem I have to believe that someone like Riley could set in motion a long term plan to figure out and assemble the exact team it would take to beat them.

[Phillip]

In '94 the Magic got swept in the first round. Penny was a rookie and Shaq was in his 2nd year, there's no way that team was getting by the '94 Bulls with Jordan. They still had Horace Grant and old ass Bill Cartwright which would have been enough to prevent Shaq from completely dominating.

I think it's hard to say that at the very least the 94 Bulls don't steamroll the eastern conference. You can argue they'd lose in the finals to Houston because of how good Olajuwon was, but imo it's hard to say a team like NY/Orlando/Indiana was getting by the '94 Bulls w/ Jordan.

I don't think they win in 94 simply due to lack of focus/it was due for them to be beaten. They just won 3 straight, and by the 3rd, they didn't seem quite as focused that season as they were previously, or perhaps just not as good in general. But hard to say. They still had the squad to pull it off though.

But even with MJ playing for a full season, I don't think they beat Orlando in 95. I'm very confident they simply would not have won in 95, regardless of cir stances with MJ. I don't think their team was good enough.

[StrengthAndHonor]

I'll give that Bulls their 4th straight le. Jordan in his prime was on another level. Imagine Lebron with out the choke factor. He just came off one of the best Finals performance of his career, hard to imagine he'll suddenly lose that edge the following year.94 Rockets was also one of the weakest championship team in recent history. Jordan would have a field day against Houstons perimeter D.

[Double-Up]

I'll give that Bulls their 4th straight le. Jordan in his prime was on another level. Imagine Lebron with out the choke factor. He just came off one of the best Finals performance of his career, hard to imagine he'll suddenly lose that edge the following year.94 Rockets was also one of the weakest championship team in recent history. Jordan would have a field day against Houstons perimeter D.

Vernon Maxwell was on his ass back in the day, yea he got his but he had to work for it every single possession. He wasn't called Mad Max for nothing...

[baseline bum]

In '94 the Magic got swept in the first round. Penny was a rookie and Shaq was in his 2nd year, there's no way that team was getting by the '94 Bulls with Jordan. They still had Horace Grant and old ass Bill Cartwright which would have been enough to prevent Shaq from completely dominating.

I think it's hard to say that at the very least the 94 Bulls don't steamroll the eastern conference. You can argue they'd lose in the finals to Houston because of how good Olajuwon was, but imo it's hard to say a team like NY/Orlando/Indiana was getting by the '94 Bulls w/ Jordan.

Oh , I didn't remember that Grant was still there in 94. I thought he went to Orlando because he hated Jordan (I remember Michael fighting him in a practice one time), but yeah... no way the 94 Rockets get through a 94 Bulls team with Jordan. I do think the 95 Rockets would have beat Jordan's ass good though, even without Grant defecting to Orlando.

[baseline bum]

I don't disagree but Robinson sure didn't help himself by chasing the 2nd best player on his team around with a bible

That wasn't cool when Hakeem chased him around with a Koran those 6 games.

[Killakobe81]

This ...8 les is pretty damn impossible ...
MJ could not of stayed THAT hungry and Like Exile said I sure as doubt his team-mates could have ...

[lefty]

This ...8 les is pretty damn impossible ...
MJ could not of stayed THAT hungry and Like Exile said I sure as doubt his team-mates could have ...

Not to mention he was already burned out after the 92 Olympics

Dude had to take a break at Atlantic City during the 93 ECF