Houston Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon says he didn’t watch “The Last Dance” documentary on Michael Jordan and the 1990s Bulls, but he does have opinions on the comparisons between those six championship Chicago teams and Olajuwon’s two title teams in Houston.
The Bulls and Rockets were the NBA’s only two champions from 1991 through 1998, and Houston’s two titles in 1994 and 1995 immediately followed Jordan’s temporary mid-career retirement in October 1993. Neither team ever faced the other in those eight NBA Finals.
Given Jordan’s status as arguably the best player in league history, many fans have wondered whether his Bulls might have won eight straight titles, had that odd 18-month retirement never happened.
The reality, however, is that Jordan was back and playing by the 1995 playoffs. His Bulls lost in the Eastern Conference playoffs to Shaquille O’Neal and the Orlando Magic, who were later swept in the 1995 NBA Finals by the Rockets. Olajuwon elaborated on that dynamic in a Monday radio appearance on SportsTalk 790 in Houston:
In 1995, Jordan was back. The great Orlando team beat them in Game 6.
It seems like everybody forgot the big steal against Michael Jordan… by Nick Anderson. It cost Chicago the series.
“You don’t make excuses for a champion, to discredit anything,” Olajuwon went on to say in the interview. “We didn’t play Chicago in the finals, but that doesn’t discredit our accomplishments as a champion. That was the only six seed in NBA history to have ever won!”
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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 evident 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 the Bulls won the title), all on superior shooting from the field.
Olajuwon’s Rockets also seemed to have a matchup edge against Jordan’s Bulls. In six meetings between 1991 and 1993, all prior to Jordan’s retirement, Houston went 5-1. Olajuwon clearly earned Jordan’s respect, as evidenced by Jordan selecting “The Dream” for his all-time NBA team.
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While they never met in the playoffs, Chicago’s nondescript centers such as Bill Cartwright and Luc Longley offered little resistance to Olajuwon in the regular season. By contrast, many of the teams Chicago 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.
Ultimately, the Rockets and Bulls peaked at different times in the 1990s, and NBA fans never got to see the hypothetical play out in a playoff setting. As it is, though, the Rockets are happy with their two titles — and a Hall of Famer like Olajuwon will understandably push back against anyone trying to diminish his and the team’s accomplishments.
During their 1995 championship run, Houston won four playoff series against opponents that all won 57 or more games, which has never been done by any other team in NBA history. That included the Magic, who defeated Jordan’s Bulls in six games in the second round of the playoffs.
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