Scott Brooks: 1990s Bulls had ‘no answer’ for Hakeem Olajuwon

Scott Brooks: “It’s easy for me to say this now because it’s all hypothetical, but I don’t think they would have beat us in ’94.”

Long before his days as an NBA head coach, Scott Brooks played as a reserve guard with the Houston Rockets over parts of three seasons.

One of those years was 1993-94, when Houston won its first NBA title in team history. With ESPN’s “The Last Dance” film airing in recent weeks, the debate has been reignited over whether the 1993-94 and 1994-95 Rockets would have won those titles, had Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan not abruptly retired for 18 months in the middle of his career.

But Brooks, who now coaches the Washington Wizards, isn’t buying it. On the Wizards Talk podcast, here’s what he said:

[The Bulls] had no answer for [Olajuwon]. It’s easy for me to say this now because it’s all hypothetical, but I don’t think they would have beat us in ’94.

Now, the next year, it could have been a different story. But that ’94 team, ‘Dream’ was, it was like destiny. He was locked in. I’ve never seen a guy up close every fourth quarter, I don’t even think he missed a shot, let alone make a mistake. He had both ends just covered.

Brooks wasn’t a part of Houston’s second championship team in 1994-95, following a midseason trade to Dallas.

The “what if Jordan hadn’t retired?” question about the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons is understandable on a superficial level, since Jordan’s Bulls won the three NBA titles before and after those two seasons.

But they also never defeated the Rockets in any of their championship runs, and there’s certainly reason to question whether Chicago’s nondescript centers like Bill Cartwright and Luc Longley could have held up against the Rockets — led by an MVP big man in Hakeem Olajuwon.

By comparison, many of the teams the Bulls defeated in the NBA Finals — such as Charles Barkley’s Phoenix Suns, Karl Malone’s Utah Jazz, and Shawn Kemp’s Seattle Sonics — lacked the offensive production at center to challenge the Bulls at their weakest position.

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that Olajuwon’s Rockets were 5-1 against Jordan’s Bulls in the three regular seasons (1990-91 through 1992-93) prior to his unexpected October 1993 retirement. It should also be noted that Jordan did play in the 1995 playoffs, but his Bulls lost in the second round to Orlando. That Magic team was later swept by the Rockets.

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One popular theory is that Jordan was “rusty” in the 1995 playoffs after only playing in 17 regular-season games. But that’s not shown in the data. Jordan averaged more points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game in the 1995 playoffs than he did in the 1996 playoffs (when Chicago won the title), all on superior shooting from the field.

Ultimately, the Rockets and Bulls peaked at different times in the 1990s, and NBA fans never saw the matchup in the playoffs. But it’s a debate that has lived on for decades in NBA lore, and former players like Brooks are understandably ready to jump in and defend their accomplishments.

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