After the Bulls lost to the Magic in '95 did people, reactionary as they are, think..
- Thread starter Aje
- Start date
Marvel
Psalm 149:5-9
Yep, nobody thought the bulls would have the season they did in 96 and get that the Magic was going to the team of the East for many years. People forget that many people even predicted the Magic to sweep the Rockets in the Finals too. I'm 30 years old and remember this stuff vividly.
Penny was the heir apparent to Jordan as the best perimeter player in the league and was LOVED by everybody. Dude was adding to his game every year and would have been an all time great if it wasn't for the injuries.
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Horace Grant's departure to the Magic that season was what doomed the 95 Bulls. People don't remember that Horace was a all-star and the 3rd member of the Bulls "Big 3". They didn't replace that inside presence that Horace provided the first 3-peat until they brought in Rodman the next season...
People still going with the rusty excuse?
They lost because they got dominated on the boards. Mike in the 95' playoffs was better then he was in 96/97/98
Jordan clearly wasn't in basketball shape, he was often fatigued at the end of games and couldn't close like he was accustomed to doing in the past.
The bulls lost because Jordan wasn't himself, and we had no answer for horace grant. We had to many cross matchups because we didn't have the personnel to play them effectively.
Getting Rodman, and giving jordan a full offseason solved the issues
NYC Rebel
...on the otherside of the pond
Did your father give you any tapes of peoples reactions after the Bulls lost, or do you simply feel like somehow fitting in this discussion?
Lakerman0834
Veteran
i was actually old enough to remember the series. no tapes needed
Aje
All Madden
props
DoubleClutch
Superstar
It was all about penny back then
beenz
Rap Guerilla
All I know is I was heated as hell cuz Ho grant was out there celebrating against the bulls like he won the ship.
I remember clearly (I'm more than old enough to remember), the day after the Bulls got knocked out my classmates at Gym were talking about how Jordan and the Bulls were washed up and Orlando was the future.
Two plays that were getting a lot of screen time were:
A)Jordan getting stripped at the end of a playoff game by Nick Anderson and
B) In the final few seconds (of the very same playoff game, I believe) Jordan driving and pulling up at the top of the key as if he was going to shoot and then passing it over to Pippen, who was running baseline for the rebound. Pippen wasn't expecting Jordan to pass it and the ball ended up flying right by his head, resulting in the Bulls losing.
Jordan was consistently 2nd guessed after that game, being that there was one defender on him during that play and he had complete elevation over him (I believe one other defender might have came over to help later in the play) - making one mistake during the final seconds of a play off game can be excused, but not two, not if you're Michael Jordan.
At the end of the playoff series, the media was interviewing Jordan and they asked him if he thought the Bulls would ever return to form and he response wasn't that of a confident man.
I'm not saying the high school I went to in Brooklyn, was necessarily reflective of the pulse of the entire nation at the time, but I will say this, anyone rocking a pair of Jordan's that next day was getting shytted on something serious, on some "Take them shoes off son, Jordan old...Penny's the man!" - I can only speak from my experience.
At the conclusion of the NBA finals, I distinctively remember Bob Costas (he was calling the Finals between Orlando and Houston) saying "Michael Jordan's return not withstanding, Hakeem Olajuwon is the best player in the planet, right now".
That summer Jordan, already contracted to film space jam, insisted that Warner Bros. studios provide him with a multi-million dollar on-site gymnasium, with the works, so that he can practice with ballers from all over the nation, in between filming. He would work out before filming, during filming, and after filming, for the entire summer. Which by the way, can be seen on his video that came out shortly after the 96 All-Star break Above & Beyond. Also, if you notice, the Above & Beyond video was released before that season ended, cause even the films producers weren't sure if the Bulls would regain their championship form. Had they waited till the end of the season to release the video and the Bulls end up losing, no one would buy it.
I remember like it was yesterday. As a Bulls fan, we thought we had a shot at a title, because although Jordan appeared rusty in that first game, he did average like 27 in those 17 games and the Bulls went like 14-3. We knew Orlando was tough, and even though we lost to them, those games were close. And to whoever said Nick Anderson was just a role player, he averaged like 16 and was a great defender.
The glaring weakness we had as a team was no power forward. After Horace Grant left we were left with Toni Kukoc (a 6'11 SF) and a bunch of bums.
The glaring weakness we had as a team was no power forward. After Horace Grant left we were left with Toni Kukoc (a 6'11 SF) and a bunch of bums.
Johnny Kilroy
79 points in 1 quarter
and nem deaded all that the next year, didn't they?
beenz
Rap Guerilla
hakeem also sonned the magic in the finals that year as well.
