Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins
That '98 Jazz team was not that good. In fact, neither was the '97 Jazz team either.
The West was weak at that point. It was before Shaq and Kobe established themselves, before Duncan matured, after Robinson, Hakeem, and Barkley's primes.
The best team the Bulls played in the Finals was the '93 Suns.
|
It is debatable whether the best finals teams they played were the Suns but lets not overlook the fact the Bulls played tough teams before they got to the finals. They didn't have a cakewalk to the finals every year like LeBron does and like the Warriors have had this year due to injuries.
The best team MJ played when he won his 6-championships IMO was the 1998 Pacers. That team was ridiculously deep from top-to-bottom and came very close to beating the Bulls. The 1992 Knicks are also being overlooked here, they took the Bulls to 7-games as well and were well-coached by Pat Rilely.
I disagree when you say the Jazz were not a good team. Malone-and-Stockton is the best PG-PF combo of all-time. Both clear cut HOFers and Malone is arguably the best PF of all-time. Certainly the best scoring PF and he won the MVP in 1997 over MJ. Stockton was a top 5 PG. Both were good defenders too.
The Jazz had great chemistry. Stockton-to-Malone was very very hard to defend.
I don't think the Bulls would have a problem with the 73-9 Warriors. If the Warriors got taken to 7-games by the 55-27 Thunder and blew a 3-1 lead to the Cavs I don't think they'd be able to beat the Bulls. Maybe a 6-game series. Warriors were great in the regular season (obviously) but their playoff bball, when teams try harder and shorten their lineups, was far from impressive.
The teams that gave the Bulls the most problems usually had really good big-men and were extremely physical. Warriors don't have that. They are a bunch of skinny jump-shooters for the most part. Bulls D w Pip and MJ would give them a lot of problems. You could put Pippen on Curry for large stretches of the gm and MJ could guard Klay Thompson. It's just a bad matchup for the Warriors.
Plus The Warriors wouldn't be able to stop MJ especially wout/ handchecks (assuming they play under the current NBA's rules) and if they play'd with in MJs time-rules it'd be just as bad since you'd see the Bulls use a lot of physical D against the Warriors.
I'd say Bulls in 6-games against those Warriors. It's impossible to say for sure since they both play in different eras with different rules but saying that LeBron beat a better team than MJ ever faced in the playoffs is misleading. No doubt in my mind those MJ championship teams could and probably would beat those Warriors.