Yao Ming

[Guest Ripper]

Robinson is the guy who would look visibly frightened when Greg Poppovich would diagram plays for him to take the shot at the end of games.

And then go on the court and hit them.

 

And you keep saying Popovich and him recently...how can you take a player out of thier prime and at the end of their career and just ignore the guy that was puttin up 28 pts, 10+ rebounds, 3+ blocks for every other year of his career.

 

When the Spurs lost in the first round to Phoenix 2 years ago without DUncan, David Robinson scored about 35% of their points and most of them from offensive boards...the guy was playing the team by himself. Nothing about Robinson has ever seemed soft to me.

 

Lets remember that Shaq has 1 game winner in his career...is he a pussy too.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

Scoring alot of points doesn't make a player any less soft. Vince Carter is soft, but he scores points. Saying that someone is soft, doesn't mean that they can or can't kick my ass, it means they are lacking heart. If you want to mention Shaq, look at all of the games that he has carried the Lakers on his back and look at him during the playoffs where he was hitting big free throws during crucial moments of games. If someone is supposed to be weak at free throws, yet they always hit them when the game is on the line, that shows that they have heart in my opinion or that they are clutch players.

[Guest alkeiper]

If someone is supposed to be weak at free throws, yet they always hit them when the game is on the line, that shows that they have heart in my opinion or that they are clutch players.

 

Why don't they hit them in the 1st period too? Does heart mean that you slack early and then say "oh shit" when the game's too close? Or is it just luck? I think the latter. There's no such thing as a clutch player. Sometimes you just hit a rythmn.

[Guest Redhawk]

About David Robinson: Yes, he was a great player, and I don't think he got soft when Duncan got there, which is what some people say. But you can't deny that in the last couple of years, he wasn't getting utterly punked by Shaq. And I understand that EVERYBODY gets punked by Shaq, but David had seemed to concede that he was going to get punked before the series would even get going.

 

About the '94-'95 Rockets: If Jordan hadn't retired, the Rockets would never have won the title. They might have got to the Finals, but there's a reason why they never won it before MJ retired. The only difference between the '93 Rockets (who lost to Seattle in the Western semis) and the '94 Rockets was the addition of rookies Robert Horry and Sam Cassell, unless I'm mistaken. There's no way that those two would have made so much of an impact that Houston would have beat the Bulls.

 

About free throws: Taking a free throw in the 1st quarter is light years different from taking one with the game on the line. Look at Nick Anderson. He was like an 80% free throw shooter, and he blew four of them in the clutch in the '95 Finals. So Shaq isn't slacking early, he's just super-focused late.

[Guest Ripper]

The only problem in your reasoning is that Hakeem didn't play like the league MVP in 93. The rockets weren't setting records, leading the league in 3 point attempts and makes in 93. Robert Horry and Sam Cassell made they one of the deepest teams in the league. The Rockets were down right dominant teams those two years...then they traded Cassel and Horry for barkley...maybe they did make that much of a difference.

 

I can't possibly see the Bulls beatins THOSE 2 rockets teams. Well, actually, they might have had a chance with the first one, but the second one was pretty much dominant. Come on...Bill Wennington and Luc longley against Olajawon. I would take Vernon Maxwell, Mario Elie and Clyde Drexler checking MJ over that any day. Scottie/Horry match up...we know who has gotten the better of that over the years. Cassell/Smith against BJ Armstrong and Steve Kerr... Otis Thorpe and or Carl Herrera against Dinky Simpkins and Corie Blount...or Jason Caffey??? The Rockets had a better team...and I am a Suns fan so you know How much I hate saying that.

[Guest Ripper]

And the last couple of years, David robinson has been a run down version of his former self. he has been playing since '87. He is a 15 year vet of taking a pounding below the boards and has had at least 2 major injuriess(back and knee surgery). Yes, the younger and bigger Shaq has been getting the better of him the last few years. But I must once again bring up that before the big injuries, David Robinson owned Shaq...bottom line.

[Guest Redhawk]

The '94 Rockets took the Knicks down in 7 games...the '94 Bulls, without Jordan, damn near took out that same Knicks team in the Eastern Finals...And we all know that with Jordan, the Bulls always beat the Knicks...Therefore, I would say that a '94 Bulls with Jordan, would definitely beat a Rockets team that needed 7 games to beat the Bulls' personal bitches.

 

In '95...We all saw how well Clyde Drexler did against Jordan when the Blazers lost to the Bulls in '92...And while Jordan aged well, Clyde did not...And yes, Hakeem would have dominated the Bulls' centers, but Jordan would have dominated the Rockets' guards...And Horry hasn't really got the better of Pippen in recent years, because each one of them are merely role players now...But back when Pippen had Jordan doing the important things for him, he was one of the 5 best players in the league and would have outplayed a 2nd-year Horry.

[Guest Ripper]

The 94' Bulls took 2 games from the Knicks, they lost in 6. In the second round. The Knicks beat the Pacers in the east finals that year.

 

The Knicks played the Rockets so well because they had a deep team that matched up well against the Rockets...The Bulls didn't.

 

And yes, I do remember watching Drexler/Jordan in the finals. Drexler averaged somewhere around 28 pts...I also remember him shuting Jordan down in the second half of game six with the title on the line for the bulls. THey were down 15 at the start of the 4th and SCOTTIE FUCKING PIPPIN and the reserves take over with Jordan on the bench and tie the game before jordan comes back and the bulls eventually win by 4....of course, the only highlights they show of that series is Jordan shrugging his shoulders in game 2 like he carried the whole series...but that just goes on my list of reasons to hate the NBA marketing machine.

 

Don't get me wrong...The 96 and 97 Bulls teams would have taken the Rocket Championship teams, but toss Jordan back in the league in 94' and 95' and the same team would have been hoisting that title...Hell, I still think the Magic might have taken the bulls if jordan had played the whole year.

[Guest Redhawk]

The 96 and 97 Bulls teams would have taken the Rocket Championship teams

So are you saying that Dennis Rodman would have been the main difference maker?

[Guest Ripper]

Yeah, a extra 15 boards a game is quite the difference maker.

[Guest ant_7000]

As a Bulls fan I felt that we were cheated from winning title if that damn Hue Hollins (ref) didnt call that stupid call on Pippen, they would of won the series against the Knicks beat the Pacers and then beat the Rockets without Jordan in the 1st of his retirement. And oh would beat the Rockets both times if Jordan was there. Its bias but its true.