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Originally Posted by st0rmb11 |
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Ok, I'll address the 1986 Celtics matchup first.
Jordan (at 23) with NO ONE around him, couldn't be contained by the Celtics. By himself, Jordan led the Bulls to some close games with that team.
I do think Pippen could control Bird one on one (and by control, I mean hold him in the low 20s). Jordan wouldn't have a bit of trouble with Johnson, Harper would handle Ainge quite well. Parrish would have his way with Longley, but I do think Rodman could manage McHale. It would basically come down to what the benches did. The Celtics had no one off the bench like Kukoc, and as stated many times in the original argument, Kukoc would be the X factor.
as far as the '87 Lakers, it would be a better series. I'm sorry, but Rodman would own Green on the boards. I would go with Jordan on Magic. Let him try to use his quickness and intelligence to hold Johnson down. Have Harper on Scott. Kareem was certainly a better player than Longley (even at that age), but his age would come into play, as the Bulls would sub big men like Wennington, James Edwards, John Salley, & Jason Caffey to help on Jabbar. I say on defense, maybe consider Rodman on Worthy, and Pippen on Green. Or vice versa; either way.
Cooper coming off the bench is the only bench player on any teams we've mentioned, that could hold down Kukoc. So that would be very interesting. Kurt Rambis would be a possible X factor, as he could match the intensity of Rodman.
While I will admit that this would be a great series, I have to go Bulls. I feel like they could keep the Lakers from getting out and running as much, and no answer for Jordan.
This series would most certainly not be 4-2 either way. I'd say it would go to an epic 7th game, that may even have an overtime or two. I'd say Bulls in 7 because game 7 would be in Chicago.
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I think your underrating McHale and Worthy in the respective series.
I do think that the Bulls would be able to beat the Celtics. But I disagree that Rodman would be able to handle McHale. Next to Olajuwon, McHale had the best post moves I've seen from a post player. And yeah, Pippen might keep Bird under 20 points but he won't keep Bird from getting his 9+ rebs and 7-8 Assists. And the whole key to stopping Bird was stopping him in the clutch moments. Bird may only score 18 but he'll score most of them in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line. Jordan and Bird are the only players in history I want to see with the ball late in the game with the game on the line.
As far as the Lakers, Worthy would be a big problem. He was not called 'Big Game James' for nothing. And consider this, in the 1991 Finals Phil put Jordan on Magic and got Jordan into early foul trouble in the first two games. And this is when Jordan was in his prime and Magic was playing in his last season. Now go back to the 87 Lakers vs the 96 Bulls matchup. You got Magic in his prime against a 'still effective' Jordan but definitely past his prime. How do you think that will work? Maybe I might have under-estimated the Bulls but I still think they would loose in that 7th game.