Houston Rockets: Why team would have beaten Jordan’s Bulls
Rockets beat up on Jordan’s Bulls
Dating back to 1989 when both teams were starting to come into their own, the Rockets overall were able to handle Jordan’s Bulls. They didn’t necessarily handle Jordan, he did what he always does getting his 30 point games.
But they were able to control everyone else, including Jordan’s sidekick Scottie Pippen. Here was Scottie Pippen’s points per game and field goal percentage from 1989-1993:
- 1989- 14.4 points per game with a.476 field goal percentage
- 1990- 16.5 points per game with a .489 field goal percentage
- 1991- 17.8 points per game with a .520 field goal percentage
- 1992- 21 points per game with a .506 field goal percentage
- 1993- 18.6 points per game with a .473 field goal percentage
Pippen was an extremely efficient scorer making the most of the shots he got with these very high field goal percentages for someone playing the wing. Now here were his numbers against the Rockets during this time frame.
- 14.7 points per game with a .35% field goal percentage.
The Rockets forced Pippen into taking way more shots in order to produce the same way he was accustomed to. With all those extra misses though, the Rockets were able to take advantage, as evidenced by their margin of victory in their seven wins in 10 games during this time frame.
In the seven wins the Rockets had over the Bulls from 1989-1993, five of them were by double digits. The Rockets average margin of victory over the Bulls was 13.4 points.
And if you’re thinking the Bulls’ 3 wins were during the championship years you’d be wrong again. The Rockets were 5-1 against the Bulls from 1990-91 through 1992-93, winning by a margin of 12 points per game and only one game being a single digit victory.
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So while we’ll never know what would have happened had Jordan stayed in the league for the 1993-94 season or the full 1994-95 season, there’s nothing that suggests if the Bulls had made it to the finals the same year the Rockets did they would have won.
If anything evidence, along with the unlikelihood of winning eight straight championships, suggests the Rockets would have won the 1993-94 championship when Jordan was completely absent, and they did win even when Jordan was there in the 1994-95 season.
So enough with saying the Bulls would have beaten the Rockets if Jordan were there because A) Jordan was there for 1995 playing like he always did in the playoffs, B) They lost not because of rust, but because they didn’t have any size down low, and C) The Rockets head-to-head during that time frame were dominant against Jordan’s Bulls.
Next: The ten best shots in team history
So there you have it. Now pull this article up anytime someone brings that weak hypothetical argument to try and dismiss the two championships the Rockets won. Legit. No asterisk needed.