Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls of the early 90s were a force to reckon with. Neither Magic Johnson’s Lakers nor Isiah Thomas’ Pistons could beat them in winning the title from ’91 to ’93. And it looked like nobody would be able to do so for the rest of the 90s either before MJ dropped a retirement bomb during the 1993 off-season. Hakeem Olajuwon’s Rockets would win the championships in the next 2 years before the Bulls would come back to full strength in ’95 with Jordan’s return and three-peat again between ’96 and ’98. Since then, it has been a debate that MJ and the Bulls would have won 8 championships if he hadn’t retired. However, Robert Horry, who was then playing in Houston, believes the Rockets would have beaten the Bulls even with MJ.
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It would have settled then and there if MJ’s Bulls didn’t lose to Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway’s Orlando Magic in the 1995 Playoffs. Or, after winning two consecutive titles, if Hakeem could lead the Rockets out of the West again. But he couldn’t. That resulted in us getting a debate for a lifetime.
Robert Horry claims the Rockets would’ve won 2 titles even against Michael Jordan’s Bulls
In a recent appearance on All The Smoke podcast, the 7x NBA Champ, Robert ‘ The Big Shot Bob’ Horry told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson about how his Rockets would have dealt with Michael Jordan and Co. if the latter hadn’t retired in ’93.
He addressed how there was no stopping Hakeem Olajuwon by a Phil Jackson team, whom Horry played for (with the Lakers), and failed to stop a skilled big man in Tim Duncan, who beat them in the 2003 Finals.
Bob also explained who would’ve stopped MJ. He claimed that “Vernon Maxwell could handle Black Jesus” as he was one of the best defenders in the league then, but was more famous for being ‘Mad Max’ because of his antics, rather than his game.
Watch the whole story in the following clip by All the Smoke’s official YouTube channel.
Vernon Maxwell was a problem, but MJ dealt with bigger problems successfully
Maxwell was one of the best defensive guards in the league, and hypothetically, could have presented a lot of problems to MJ. However, there was somebody by the name of “Gary Payton” who presented Jordan with similar difficulties Maxwell would’ve, and more in the ’96 Finals.
Jordan averaged just over 27 points in that 6 game series against the Seattle Supersonics when he had a career playoff average of over 33 points per game. His 23 and 26 points in Games 4 and 5 in which the Bulls couldn’t score over 86 and 78 points respectively, were a testament to The Glove’s defense on him.
However, with the series lead 3-2, Jordan and Co. put a defensive clinic on the Supersonics in Game 6, allowing them just 75 points in the game. The Bulls won the Championship.
So, Horry wasn’t conclusive enough when he said Maxwell would’ve stopped MJ. You could stop that man in one capacity, but that whole Bulls team, as a unit, was much more than Jordan’s offense.
