Hakeem Olajuwon has heard the comment so many times that he doesn’t bother getting annoyed by it. He simply serves up a saucy counter whenever someone tells him that the two titles the Houston Rockets won, in 1994 and 1995, happened because Jordan wasn’t there.
“You know, a lot of people they say that and it’s amazing because they act like (a Bulls-Rockets Finals) couldn’t have happened. Orlando beat them,” Olajuwon said. “He was playing (in 1995). He missed a year. They say he missed two years, but he lost in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference. Against a tough Orlando team. You have Penny Hardaway, (Nick) Anderson and Shaq. That’s a monster. They beat them!”
“We would’ve won. Yes. We did win the title. He did play, wearing No. 45, and they lost to a team we swept. So, we were a better team that year,” Smith said, pushing back on the notion that Jordan wasn’t fully himself that season.
“When he had 55 points at Madison Square Garden, nobody was saying, ‘He’s not back.’ It was like, ‘He’s back! He just lost that year.’ And I always say this: they won three, we won two and then they won three again. I don’t think that they would’ve won eight titles straight. I think, between injuries, between lack of focus, between whatever it might have been, I don’t think they could’ve won eight in a row. It hasn’t happened in the modern-day era. LeBron James has gotten there (eight) times, but he didn’t win (eight) times. I just think that we were the better team that year, regardless of who was there.”
During their 1995 championship run, Houston won four playoff series against opponents that all won 57 or more games, which has never been done by any other team in NBA history. That included the Orlando Magic, who defeated Jordan’s Bulls in six games in the second round.