Bulls vs. Rockets: 1996 (72-10 season) 

​ááááááaaa

I am telling you

Best perimeter defender ever, shutting down passing lanes, blocking shots, causing turnovers, drawing charges, running the offense pip is definitely top five in the 90s

The next year Barkley was thrown into the mix too

Cassell and Horry too

People don't understand bro, that dude was everything

He's definitely a top five guy in the 90s

Yup

IKR, Hakeem is just insane Bulls has no answer to him. Jordan was right if they face them in the final Rockets might beat them. But i will still pick bulls to win against them anyday xD

Him or Shaq I'm good. Def not Kareem or Wilt tho.

He is so underrated.

Shaq best center of all time

@@thomasyoung4193 Most dominant. No doubt.

That was nasty

Yup

He only got one with the celts?

@@erikhopkins9488 whoops

Derrick Dixon same here. Probably would have gone 7 games

@@mauricemoton1069 Really don't know how they would have stopped akeem

@@ivorianking6942 same way they did in this game plus I believe rodman would of started to bother him more I think bull win in 5 or 6 games

😁 Yes❗

Nahhhh, 96 sonics were stacked

We got robbed

Absolutely would have been a juggernaut! Who do you think would have got the chip?

@@erikhopkins9488 The rockets

@@dynamic6645 Jordan got bailed out here by his team....like a lot of his career.

@@erikhopkins9488 definitely not if they met in 1996

I like Shaq but yea I don't know why he would say that prolly jealous of more mobile players that were good.

Shaq is a clown. Pippen was underpaid for the first half of his career and had to earn his money, that's why he's so great. Shaq was paid right away from the start. He was lazy and disrespectful to the game. So Shaq needs to stfu every time there's a discussion about these men Jordan-Pippen-Rodman-Olajuwon-Drexler and other oldschool all time greats who did have a lot of respect to the game and to the fans.

Pippen was a bum after he left the Bull’s, even for Houston.

@@mockingslur6945 shaq was pretty weak once he left the heat. I wouldn't say he was a bum tho lol. Especially on the Cavs man was not up to par. still great tho

I posted in another comment that I was excited when Pippen came to the Rocket’s though.

TheKingOfRuckus perfect wing player who didn’t win DPOY

Gary payton is much better in steals

+abatch12 They would've Swept the Warriors!

kurod amon if they would sweep the warriors than why didn't bulls make their record impossible to beat?? Clearly GSW is trying to defeat every record in the book... all curry needs now is 101 points to beat wilts record and than GSW legally becomes the best team to ever play since they have beaten pretty much all the records.

What does the record have to do with being able to sweep GS? If you can't see clearly that this league is so wide open offensively than you don't understand why that 72 win mark was possible now. Did you see the team they beat in this video? The players they ran up on every night? How physical they were allowed to play with fouls being called. Not to mention every team had three point shooters. The NBA had to get more exciting after MJ and the other legends left. No hand checking, no arm bars. It's no wonder why there are so few players in the league now who square up offensive players or shade them to the off-hand. Maybe they wouldn't have sweep GS but you have to understand why someone would think they could.

kurod amon ...And remember, their overall record of 87-13 hasn't been touched. I would go on record of saying that I don't think that will be broken. A team is going to have to run the table from start to finish, basically. Very difficult to do. Just shows you how special the 96 Bulls were/are.

kurod amon 16' Warriors. YES!! 17' Warriors with KD Added. IDK man. I think the Warriors would win that. That's too much Fire Power.

And hakeem thé greatest all time defenser

Pippen is a forward.

Pippen not a guard

@@sofianerida1769 no he's not he didn't play 94 fert like Pip could

mark lee put some respeck on 97 bulls

gothatway09 I kinda like those jerseys and court tbh

chapaev36 of course he was their best player but he did not do everything . hIS job on offense was to score. he could play the passing lanes but scottie was better overall in defense . he always had great rebounder and defenders to help immensely . when people talk about the bulls , I think about defense FIRST and jordans fade aways and clutch shots comes after that lol. Jordan WAS A GREAT PLAYER BUT LETS NOT ACT LIKE HE WAS AVERAGING A TRIPLE DOUBLE LIKE OSCAR OR MAGIC AND BIRD WHO CAME CLOSE TO IT

YOU ARE CHERRYPICKING WITH THE ADAVANCED STATS AND I COULD SHOW STATS THAT WERE NOT IN JORDANS FAVOR THIS IS WHERE YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE GAMES AND NOT JUST LOOK ON BASKETBALL REFRENCE . PIPPEN SHUTS HIS OPPPONENTS DOWN AND FROM 93 ON PIPPEN WAS FLAT OUT BETTER DEFENSIVELY . JORDANS BEST YEARS WERE IN THE LATE 80S AND EARLY NINETIES. NOTICE IN THE SECOND THREEPEAT IT WAS PIPPEN TAKING ON THE TOUGHER ASSIGNMENTS . Was Jordan a good defender? Yes. 2. Was he the best defender in his team? No. 3. Was he the second best defender? No. 4. Did handchecking make defense easier? Yes. 5. Do people mention handchecking when discussing about Jordan's offense? Yes. 6. Do people mention handchecking when discussing about Jordan's defense? No. 7. Is Jordan GOAT? Arguably Yes. 8. Do people usually think Jordan is the god of basketball? Yes.

ryanr20091 Actually if you check Jordan's stats from 88-89, he nearly did come close to a triple double- 32.5 points, 8.0 rebs, 8.0 assts, and 2.9 steals per game.

ryanr20091 You are correct with Pippen, but Jordan lead the league in steals three times, was defensive player of the year, and was one of a few players who had 200 plus steals and 100 plus blocks in back to back seasons. The other is Olajuwon.

chapaev36 YOU CAN USE STATS BUT THERE ARE SO MANY AND SOME ARE LESS IMPORTANT THAN OTHERS. OSCAR NUMBERS BLOW JORDANS OUT OF THE WATER FROM AN ALL AROND STAND POINT. SAY WHAT YOU WANT BUT THAT FEAT WAS NEVER ACHIEVED BY ANYONELSE , INCLUDING IN THAT ERA . WHY DIDNT ANYONE ELSE PUT UP THOSE RIDICULOUS NUMBERS. JORDAN WILL NEVER THE FULL COMPLETE PLAYER OSCAR MAGIC BIRD WAS. LEGACY WISE YOU CAN SAY HES BETTER HES ONLY BETTER BECAUSE OF THE RING COUNT . JORDAN MADE HIMSELF BETTER BUT HIS TEAMMATES WERE GOOD WITHOUT HIM

beautifully said!

and old men love Tim Duncan

hahahaha

Gay

children! ...Children.

+Jay Scribe nah... look at their record when they played before those finals series the rockets won. the rockets matched up well with the bulls, and usually prevailed.

+Kolby K Have to disagree. No one could guard or stop Jordan, which creates so many opportunities for his teammates. If the Bulls could get past Ewing's Knicks, they could beat Olajuwon's Rockets

Jay Scribe reggie miller, scottie pippen, gary payton, reggie lewis, joe dumars -- jordan was not unguardable by any means... but the person who gave him the most hell was vernon maxwell; again, go back and look at those games. and olajuwon's rockets got past ewing's knicks too , with only 1 superstar (olajuwon). in fact, olajuwon is the only player in nba history to win a title with no other super star. the team was incredibly good, and i think they could have taken jordan, or at the very least, gave him a solid run for his money in 7. back to the original point, even jordan himself has said maxwell gave him incredible headaches on defense. even horry gave him problems defensively when they matched up.

+Jay Scribe if Shaq's Magic could beat the Bulls....so could Hakeems Rockets.

+FuShengAlex lmao yeh and they had jordan who retired for a year and half and played 17 games...while all of the magic players were healthy...and what happened when jordan played a full year...sweep

Are REAL NBA fans do, buddy. It is the best era!

The Jordan's toughest rival were the Knicks and arguably the Pacers. A few teams (Knicks, Suns, Sonics, Jazz, Spurs, Rockets) always seem to have the Bulls number during the regular season, but always got dominated in the playoffs. With the exception of the Magic, which was more of a fluke than anything.

The Kicks, Pacers, Supersonics and Suns had negative records against Jordan's Bulls. Maybe the Knicks represented a tougher opponent, specially in the 1992, 1993 and 1994 playoffs, but they were usually defeated in the regular season and playoffs. About the rest, the Spurs were a tough nut to crack, but in the end Jordan had a positive record against them. Only the Rockets, the Lakers, the Jazz and Bird's Celtics had positive records against Chicago between 1984 and 1998. And Jordan's Bulls managed to beat the Lakers and the Jazz in the NBA Finals, so their record was kinda even. The Celtics with Larry Bird were a pain in the ass for Jordan, but when Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant arrived, the Bulls slowly began to even the cards. And after Larry retired, Chicago basically destroyed the Celtics until MJ himself retired. That leaves only the Rockets as Chicago's toughest rival...had they both met in the 1994 and 1995 finals, I believe they would've split victories. During Chicago's second 3 peat, MJ would've beaten The Dream, but in the first 3 peat I'm not so sure. They had no answer for Hakeem, but MJ was a fucking beast in the finals.

+TheLegendaryLinx nah

HELL NO!!! MJ barely beat Pacers in 1998 without having to play those two seasons for his baseball hiatus. MJ had trouble with a team who's best player (Reggie Miller) couldn't create his own shot. Had to run off screens. MJ right place at right time. If he had played in the 80's with his championship squads, he would have gotten waxed by Celtics and Lakers. You can bring up 1991 Finals all you want but MJ never had to play against fully loaded Lakers with Kareem at Center.

TheLegendaryLinx but instead Shaq sent Jordan packing and teaming up with ex BadBoys

Not likely. Fatigue alone would've been a factor. They wouldn't have been as hungry whereas the competition would've been.

omieg89 So Lakers and Celtics didn't play against the best of the Bulls too... Stop this shit. Bulls 1996 the greatest team ever! And Bulls 1997 is easily in top 5

With Jordan getting eliminated by Magic in 1995 playoffs. I hate how people try to make it seem like he was still retired in 1995.

2008sALINAs he returned after all star game

2008sALINAs Yes, lets not forget those 17 regular season games Michael Jordan came back and played and how the Bulls were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Orlando Magic 4 games to 2. Lets also not forget how the Bulls won 72 regular season games the following season, swept those same Orlando Magic 4 games to 0 and won the 1995-96 championship... and the following two championships as well.

That's cause they added Dennis Rodman.

2008sALINAs But he come back in march 1995. He played only 17 games I thing. He wasn't the same and the next year he take his revenge and swept them

If L B J 👑 played in the 90s, the 72-10 bulls wud have no RING

Real Is Real 🤦🏿‍♂️ Bruh The Pistons alone would have injured him so bad and how he’s mentally fragile they would have son’d your King hate to say it . They did Jordan and the league dirty LeBron would have been no exception at all and all that passing woulda been turnovers lol cause they actually played defense then so for surely he would of been gettin mugged especially when they would have realized he’s soft lol it woulda been over for him and he definitely wouldn’t have been called no King in that time when Magic was already doing what he tries to do except the Dunking LeBron does and his Vertical anything else wouldn’t have been anything new to the league at that time so nah LeBron would be just a dude wit a futuristic name in the 80s and 90s cause I don’t see the Dream and everybody else letting him just have his way as he does today in that Era not Dominique not those tough Sixer teams Hornets none of those guys would have just let him have his way and when LeBron doesn’t have his way he what ??? He 😢

7 rings for Robert sorry Scotty and Mike LOL

@@terryadams8300 yea 7 rings but got owned by Fisher 0.4 baby remember?

can't top 7 rings

@@raybugz9275 how many bulls have 7 rings

Lolllllll

+dota leavers nah.

I agree

Keep dreaming fool. Rockets owned the Bulls series. Look it up lol

@Ulysses432 east was weak dude . Rockets 17-13 yes they owned them . Smh.

@Ulysses432 how many hof did Jordan have? How many did Hakeem have ? Exactly .

How do u think they would lose in 94 and 95 when Houston couldn't beat the bulls in 91 92 or 93 then they had chances in 96 97 and 98 and that same championship team of Houston couldn't beat the bulls in the regular season. In 94 bulls would have made it to the finals if they had Jordan and he never retired. I just don't get a team not winning when a guy is there wins it twice when that same guy is not there or at full strength then disappears when he comes back and loses games like these and not even reach the finals again.

@@brogawd2052 Houston couldn't beat the Bulls from 91-93? Rockets were 7-3 against Chicago in the regular season.

@@brogawd2052 By 1996, the Rockets got outclassed by Seattle. They had no business being in the Finals. 97 and 98, they ran into a better team in Utah. Matchups do matter. Just because you win a title in a given year doesnt necessarily mean you wouldve won had you faced a different opponent.

@@brogawd2052 you dont get it when a team doesnt make it to the finals in certain years, then wins when a player is not there? The NBA world doesnt revolve around one player. Depending on matchups and what bracket youre in, it will determine how far one team goes. Fact of the matter is the Rockets were there in 94 and 95. MJ decided not to show up and retired in 94 and most of the 95 season. Cant blame Houston for that.

Ray Dominguez you are wrong dude; the bulls would have won it in 94 and 95 because in Jordan you had the greatest player ever and in Pippen you had one of the best defenders along with Jordan. Why do you think the Rockets never won it in 91n 92 93 96 97 and 98. because Jordan was in top form.

Nope I don't remember that that's insane

And Rodman missed 18 games... could've went for 80 wins...

Sensational range by Pip denial Cassell 🤔then double down on Hakeem which force to kick back out but didn't see the angle

that was the regular season though and think about how the Knicks took them to a game 7 ...the bulls always had the upper hand against them

+eye2thebeholder - The Magic defeated the Bulls in 1995 but they got swept by the Rockets.

+Darkness Breaker and in 96 got swept by the bulls whats your point that jordan played a full year instead of 17 games like in 95

***** The 96 Bulls had Rodman to guard Shaq,the 95 Bulls didn't had Rodman.The Rockets were always a tough team for the 90s Bulls.Even if the 95 Bulls beaten the 95 Magic in the 7 game series,they would had lost to the 95 Rockets in the Finals and getting their first Finals lost.

jordan was averaging 30 ppg in that series. i don't really buy the 17 games excuse.

yea i know , but now lets count the playoffs games too .. the Ws are lost already i guess mm 7 0r 8 , the bulls lost only 5 or 6 am not sure , and the warriors are not reaching the finals yet .. so am still stick with this 1996 bulls

jaboo82681 yea good point , tomorrow will be a great game 7 good luck to both teams !

Lots of teams 1967 Philadelphia 72 & 87 Lakers, 86 Celtics ...

More like Jordan is back, Orlando beats Chicago and Houston wins another ring.

***** Full season Jordan = 3 straight beatdowns at the hands of the Pistons. Swept by Larry Bird's Celts (again). I guess he wasn't as invincible as you make it seem.

***** Pistons 3 series wins vs "full season" Jordan. If Hakeem won when Jordan was retired, then how come Nick Anderson robbed MJs ass during the playoff year Houston won the title?

***** If, coulda, woulda. But he didn't. So at the end of the day Horace Grant was the one dancing on Chicago's floor....right in Jordan's face. He had to be brought down to earth by Houston in the Finals. And there's 0 evidence Jordan made player personnel decisions, yours just grasping for straws.... He's the guy that got mad when Krause wouldn't listen when he wanted to draft ex Tar Heel teammate Joe Wolf over some guy named Scottie Pippen.

*****​​ if you wanna see what down and out looks like, type in "Michael Jordan choked in the playoffs " on RU-vid. Jordan was " gone" because he face planted at midcourt in front of Nick Anderson. 

WxtchMeMove -x ur kidding

I always wanted a rich girl, hit me up. 714-Cas-hman

Q the omnipotent What the fuck?

Hakeem is one of my all time favorite players! Tell him we all said what's up!

He dumb I would knock on your door on purpose!!!!

+chris shifflett maybe because he wasn't in either of the teams...

+chris shifflett when did Larry Bird played or in a Rockets or Bulls roster?

Hahahaha

U trolling, one dude fail for it too.😂😂

Maybe 94 but Jordan was in the NBA late in the 95 season. also Jordan was lucky he didn't go to that years finals they would have dismantled the bulls

There is no version of the Rockets that would have ever been able to the bulls had Jordon kept playing..PERIOD! The rockets barely beat the Knicks, what makes you think they could have stopped a fully charged Bulls team? The Rockets and their bandwagon fans got lucky because #23 was going through an emotional time.

Yes they would have the rockets had Clyde and maxwell to gaurd Jordan and no one was going to stop olujuwon

Jordan played and lost in 1995. People act like MJ wasn't there. Guy scored 55 in the garden and was hitting game winners before playoffs started. He averaged over 30 pts in 95' playoffs. Bulls didn't lose because it was different Jordan, it was a different team. They added Rodman next season and got deeper with Kukoc off the bench.

Based2kgod14 and who told you maxwell and Drexler will stop Jordan from getting his? I recall jordan killing Drexler in the finals in 92 and michael jordan becomes a different animal in the playoffs/finals....the Rockets were not an overly physical team....the bulls would've beaten them. If the knicks forced them to 7 games the bulls would've beaten them in 5 or 6 games.

***** Michael Jordan is on record as saying he is happy he never had to play the Rockets in the Finals. The Rockets had their number. But regardless your opinion ir your opinion, I was just giving mine.

***** In general teams who perform well in the regular season perform well in the playoffs.

Hakeem is the defending Champ here...

It was after his peak prime. Same w/ Jordan. Hakeem was still in his general prime till 97'.

The Rockets Did not OWN the Bulls bcuz they won a few times against them JORDAN AND Pippen COOKED the Rockets iN 96,97,&98 iF THE BULLS HAD PLAYED THE ROCKETS iN THE FiNALS OVER THE UTAH JAZZ SAME RESULT iT WUD HAVE BEEN JORDAN DUZNT LOSE iN THE FiNALS THE REGULAR SEASON PERFORMANCE HAS NUTHiN TO DO WiTH HOW U WiLL DO iN THE PLAYOFFS BCUZ iF THAT WAS THE CASE UTAH WUD HAVE BEAT THE BULLS iN THE SERiES THE SAME YEAR THEY SWEPT THE BULLS iN THE SEASON 2 GAMES TO 0

both we're snubbed on additional MVPs too.

Just stop talking, lol.