Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks doesn't think Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls would have beaten the Houston Rockets if the two teams played in the 1994 NBA Finals.
Jordan retired before the start of the 1993-94 season to go play baseball. This was after MJ won three straight rings with the Bulls.
Brooks was a guard on that 1993-94 Rockets team that won it all over the New York Knicks. He believes no one, not even Jordan, was going to stop Houston superstar and NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon from winning the championship that season:
“[The Bulls] had no answer for [Olajuwon]. It's easy for me to say this now because it's all hypothetical, but I don't think they would have beat us in '94,” Scott Brooks said on the Wizards Talk podcast, via NBC Sports Washington.
“Now, the next year it could have been a different story. But that '94 team, ‘Dream' was, it was like destiny. He was locked in. I've never seen a guy up close every fourth quarter, I don't even think he missed a shot, let alone make a mistake. He had both ends just covered.”
Hakeem Olajuwon was a monster on both ends of the floor for the Rockets during the 1993-94 season. He averaged 27.3 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.7 blocks while shooting 52.8 percent from the field and 71.6 percent from the free-throw line.
Michael Jordan and Olajuwon never faced each other in the Finals. It's a bummer to think about since they are two of the greatest players ever and would have likely put on individual shows against each other.
“The Dream” won the 1993-94 regular-season MVP award and the 1994 Finals MVP trophy after leading the Rockets to a seven-game series win over Patrick Ewing and the Knicks. Olajuwon finished the seven-game series with averages of 26.9 points and 9.1 rebounds.
Jordan returned to the NBA near the end of the 1994-95 season. However, the Orlando Magic bounced His Airness and the Bulls in the 1995 playoffs.
Olajuwon and the Rockets would then go on to defeat the Magic for their second title in a row.
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