Former Michael Jordan teammate believes the 1996 Playoffs would have panned out different if he was available for Shaq and Penny.
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Horace Grant, the $35 million worth Bulls legend, much like Robert Horry and Steve Kerr is one of the luckiest players to ever play the game of basketball.
No doubt 6ft 10″ power forward must have done all the hard work to be selected as the no.10 pick of the 1987 Draft that also gave us David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller (11th pick) and a few more legends of the game.
But to land with Pippen in the Chicago Bulls team that had already drafted a juggernaut 3 years back was just pure bliss for the Clemson forward. The 1994 All-Star went on to be an important piece for Michael Jordan and Co. in their 3-peat from 1991 to 1993.
After Jordan’s premature retirement in ’93 and not getting a good contract, Grant left the Bulls as a free agent to join the Orlando Magic, who had drafted a 7-foot-1 phenomenal athlete just a year ago, who clearly had the potential to do things which had never been done before.
Horace Grant fancies Orlando Magic’s chances against Michael Jordan and the Bulls of 96 without him being injured
With Shaquille O’Neal at five, Horace at four, and rookie Anfernee Hardaway at the guard position, Magic formed a team solid enough in the East without Jordan for the upcoming seasons.
And Grant remembers it as clear as a day when he and his group went on to defeat the Bulls in the 1995 Playoffs even when MJ had made a comeback but was still in “Baseball Shape.” He averaged 13.7p/10.4r/1.9a/1.0s/1.1b per game in those Playoffs but upped it with 18.0 points and 11.0 rebounds in 6 games against his former team.
The 4x NBA champ talked about it with The Ringer’s Bill Simmons back in the day and remembered how it could have panned out in the 1996 Playoffs if he didn’t get injured in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals when they faced the Bulls again.
Clearly, Grant believes he and the Magic had the chance to beat the Bulls but as Simmons said they would have lost anyway because MJ and Co were on a mission that season setting an NBA record 72-10 season.
Also read: ‘Michael Jordan doesn’t play Game 7’ but LeBron James is the GOAT of Game 7s
Getting swept by that team shouldn’t be a cause for any shame as they would also go on to 3-peat once more after that title win. That could have changed if Shaq and Penny didn’t have a fallout that season. Who knows how many titles they would have won? Horace thinks, definitely more than two.
Grant got himself another title when he found himself lucky enough once again to be traded to the 2000 NBA champs, the Los Angeles Lakers, join O’Neal for the second time and finally win a title with him.
