Kenny Smith on Michael Jordan and 1990s Rockets-Bulls hypotheticals: “He did play. The team they lost to, the Orlando Magic, we swept.”
The Rockets and Chicago Bulls 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 an 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 second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs to Shaquille O’Neal and the star-studded Orlando Magic, who were later swept in the 1995 Finals by the Rockets.
In a new interview with Greg Rajan of the Houston Chronicle, Kenny Smith — the starter at point guard on Houston’s 1994 and 1995 championship teams, and now an NBA analyst for TNT — was asked if he thinks those Rockets get their proper due, seeing as how their titles came in between a pair of three-peats by Jordan’s Bulls.
Smith replied:
You can’t erase history. I don’t know if you get proper due, but you can’t erase history. Everyone always says “Well, Michael was out.” No, he wasn’t — he was wearing No. 45 (in 1995). And everyone is saying “Oh, he was rusty.” No one was saying he was rusty when he had 55 points at Madison Square Garden that same year. He had 55 points against the Knicks, who were arguably the best defensive team in basketball at that time. No, he was Michael Jordan. (The Bulls) just weren’t as good a basketball team. The team they lost to, the Orlando Magic, we swept.
I never look at it as getting respect. You can’t erase history. And we’re here to stay. He did play that year, so there was only one year he wasn’t there. He did play (during the second title run), he was there and we just didn’t get an opportunity to meet them.
To Smith’s point, the Bulls had something of a hole at power forward in 1995. Horace Grant, who started there during the first three titles, joined the Magic (who went on to beat Jordan and the Bulls).
Dennis Rodman, who ultimately replaced Grant and started at power forward during Chicago’s second three-peat, wasn’t able to join the Bulls until the offseason after the 1995 playoffs.
As for Jordan and any allegations of rust, it’s worth noting that he averaged more points, rebounds, assists, and steals per game in the 1995 playoffs than he did in the ensuing 1996 championship run — all while shooting a higher field-goal percentage in 1995, as well.
The bottom line is that even with Jordan in elite statistical form, the 1995 Bulls simply weren’t good enough to beat the Magic. Two rounds later, that same Orlando team was swept by Smith, Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, and the rest of a gritty Houston squad.
As Smith said, that history can’t be erased.
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