That time Shaq embarrassed MJ.

[Professor Emeritus]

Didn't MJ run Shaq to the West after getting swept

When Shaq had Grant and MJ didn't, Shaq won the series easy.

Next year MJ picked up Rodman and half the Orlando roster including Grant got hurt, and MJ won the series easy.

MJ didn't even play any better the 2nd time around. Talk like if Rodman wasn't there and Grant still was it wouldn't have been the exact same outcome as the first time.

And Shaq going to LA had nothing to do with MJ, don't be ignorant.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Jordan was coming off a year and a half layoff. The Magic would have never beat the Bulls if Jordan was there the whole year. We saw what happened the year after.

Y'all mad ignorant when it comes to 1990s basketball.

MJ was just fine in 1995, averaged 31ppg on 48% shooting. Bulls lost cause they had lost Horace Grant to the Magic and had no answer to replace him. Grant averaged 18 and 11 on 65% shooting that series.

In 1996 MJ was basically the same, 29ppg on 52% shooting. But the Bulls had picked up Rodman who dominated the interior that series (12 and 16 on 53% shooting) while the Magic lost Grant in Game 1 (who was getting completed sonned by Rodman anyway) then lost Nick Anderson and Brian Shaw too. By the end of that series they had to start Bowie and an injured Koncak with a completely trash bench while Bulls could still bring in Kukoc and Kerr in as 6th and 7th men as good as the Magic's #3.

Dennis Scott averaged 7ppg that series on 9-34 shooting over FOUR GAMES COMBINED as the Magic's #3 option and y'all try to big them up as Chicago's big win.

 

[Black White Sox Hat]

Nope.Anyone who watched knows '94-'95 MJ wasnt near the same.

It felt like he was playing injured that whole time.

He got his legs back and got his rings back.

 

[ALonelyDad]

No the fukk he didn’t

Shaq was 2nd most popular player in the game at that time and wanted to start doing Hollywood shyt to make his brand bigger

+ he was getting jealous of Pennys fame

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Nope.Anyone who watched knows '94-'95 MJ wasnt near the same.

It felt like he was playing injured that whole time.

He got his legs back and got his rings back.

The way y'all demand to stick to a narrative no matter what the evidence is hilarious.

You seriously say, "The Bulls getting Rodman is irrelevant! Horace Grant and half the Magic lineup getting injured is irrelevant! The Magic shooters falling apart is irrelevant! No, it's MJ "getting his legs back" (even though he took fewer shots and scored fewer points) that makes all the difference!"

These are all numbers for the Chicago-Orlando series each year:


Horace Grant in '95: 18ppg and 11rpg on 65% shooting
Horace Grant in '96: 0 points and 1 rebound, injured in Game 1, replaced by Jon Koncak (who averages 2ppg and 2rpg as the starting PF the rest of the way)

Dennis Rodman in '95: Not on team
Dennis Rodman in '96: 12 ppg and 16 rpg on 53% shooting with fantastic interior defense

Michael Jordan in '95: 31ppg and 7rpg on 48% shooting
Michael Jordan in '96: 29ppg and 6rpg on 52% shooting

Orlando offense in '95: 102ppg for the series
Orlando offense in '96: 85ppg for the series

Chicago offense in '95: 100ppg for the series
Chicago offense in '96: 101ppg for the series


But no, losing Horace Grant wasn't the difference, the Bulls adding a HOF rebounder/defender wasn't the difference, Grant/Anderson/Shaw/Koncak all getting hurt and the Orlando offense falling apart wasn't the difference....it was some imperceptible change in MJ's conditioning that decided that series even though neither his scoring nor the Bulls' scoring improved at all.

 

[The Special Man]

Embarrassed?

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Nope.Anyone who watched knows '94-'95 MJ wasnt near the same.

It felt like he was playing injured that whole time.

How old were you in 1995, 12 at most? Tell the truth.

When MJ was averaging 32-7-6 on 50% shooting in the 1st round, it "felt like he was playing injured" to your perceptive bball mind?

 

[MJ Truth]

Didn't MJ run Shaq to the West after getting swept

No. Y'all stans gotta stop with the fables.

Moving from Orlando to Los Angeles took no influence from Jordan.

 

[Ethnic Vagina Finder]

How old were you in 1995, 12 at most? Tell the truth.

When MJ was averaging 32-7-6 on 50% shooting in the 1st round, it "felt like he was playing injured" to your perceptive bball mind?

As a knicks fan I can personally attest to MJ being just fine when he came back.

 

[Luke Cage]

Shaq went to LA because it was LA. He even said that playing in Orlando he was treated like a celebrity every where he went. In L.A. he was able to blend in. That's basically what it boiled down to.

aint no 7 foot tall brotha blending in anywhere.

 

[Mʀ2ᴋDᴇᴇᴢ]

aint no 7 foot tall brotha blending in anywhere.

 

[TheNig]

I miss Kobe.

 

[UserNameless]

Coulda been the UNDISPUTED GOAT. He was already the most dominant . That was light work .

 

[Foxmulder]

Dude writing essays accusing people about not knowing 90’s basketball because some of us think a Nikka coming off a 18 month lay-off wasn’t himself. Hyping up the soft ass heartless Magic team like some fukking super team.

 

[Erratic415]

There was actually a noticable difference in Jordan's legs in the first couple games he got back and by the time he was in the postseason. His first step and leaping ability were noticably explosive by the time they played Orlando. He had less time however to gel with teammates as he did in prior and later seasons, and the Bulls didn't have any strong defender at the 4 spot like Horace Grant or Dennis Rodman. Their interior defense was lacking. Phil Jackson's gameplan was to see if Grant could make open shot, and Grant killed them in that series.

Jordan got fatigued and had some really bad plays in the clutch in games 1 and 6 of that series. That could be conditioning, or just the fact that he had to expend more energy because the team was not as strong. If they had a strong defender at PF, then they would probably not have been in that situation in the first place. If they did, I think they would have beaten Orlando, and there would be little talk of Jordan being rusty.