Micheal Jordan vs Sonics defense 1996 finals

[bwink23]

Was pippen playing injured during that series?

Does it matter if he was or wasn't??

Did Pippen play injured in the 98 Finals??

Did Pippen go down with a "migraine" headache vs. the Pistons??

THEY STILL WON.

[bwink23]

Rodman should've won the FMVP. When the opposing teams coach laments that he (Rodman) won 2 of the bulls 4 wins by himself, nothing more needs to be said. And don't short change Luc Longleys role in that finals. He killed the sonics when they doubled jordan.

BULLSHIT....Rodman had limited impact on the offensive end. No one outside of Bill Russell would ever win Finals MVP on just defensive impact, offensive rebounding. NEVER, EVER, EVER.

[Pursuer]

Kobe-esque shooting

That's not Michael Jordan. Nice blocked by Kemp on MJ in that series. I really wanted the Celtics to win the NBA title in 1996.

Celtics?

Anyway, those Sonics weren't as good as 08 Celtics.

[bwink23]

Celtics?

Anyway, those Sonics weren't as good as 08 Celtics.

.....08 Celtics don't have Payton on the perimeter either...kobe always struggled against 2000's sonics....

[t-rex]

Thanks for posting.

2 Observations:

1)What an eye opener. The league 20 years ago was MUCH MORE PHYSICAL than it is today. Its amazing how the game has changed. What the NBA has done in the last 15 years to basketball, is very much like what the NFL has done over the same period to try and increase the passing game in football. Defenses are much more limited today. Jordan by today's rules would be much tougher to defend.

2) Jordan was very effective as a low post/ post up player. That is a lost art in todays game. We think of Jordan as streaking to the basket off the dribble, but like Bird, a SUBSTANTIAL amount of his points came from the post. Lebron James should see this and take notes.

[97 bulls]

Does it matter if he was or wasn't??

Did Pippen play injured in the 98 Finals??

Did Pippen go down with a "migraine" headache vs. the Pistons??

THEY STILL WON.

This is a dumb post. Your knocking him for playing hurt and knocking him for missing a game cuz he was hurt. Which is it?

[97 bulls]

BULLSHIT....Rodman had limited impact on the offensive end. No one outside of Bill Russell would ever win Finals MVP on just defensive impact, offensive rebounding. NEVER, EVER, EVER.

Lol. I respect the word of the sonics coach over a bunch of sportswriters. And rodman had a huge offensive impact, he had 2 games with 11 offensive rebounds, then another with 8. He set the record for most offensive rebounds in the finals. That's another part of offense my friend

[bwink23]

Lol. I respect the word of the sonics coach over a bunch of sportswriters. And rodman had a huge offensive impact, he had 2 games with 11 offensive rebounds, then another with 8. He set the record for most offensive rebounds in the finals. That's another part of offense my friend

Like i said....NEVER, EVER!!

[Da_Realist]

-This is when Kukoc, Rodman & Kerr were superb offensively as Pippen's offensive game continue to struggle as usual in NBA Finals when bulls needed the most.

What about his defensive impact? What about knowing when and where to give MJ the ball, setting up the rest of the team for easier shots and being more or less a secondary coach on the floor on both ends? You can't just look at fg% to judge how Pippen played.

He averaged more rebounds (by 3!), more assists, more steals and more blocks than MJ did in the 96 Finals. Don't write him off like he was nothing.

He didn't shoot well, but he did everything else.
Game 1 -- 21, 7, 3, 3, 3
Game 2 -- 21, 7, 2, 2, 2
Game 3 -- 12, 8, 9, 3, 0
Game 4 -- 9, 11, 8, 1, 2
Game 5 -- 14, 8, 5, 1, 1
Game 6 -- 17, 8, 5, 4, 0

Look at how well rounded those numbers are. 3 steals and 3 blocks in Game One. 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals in Game Three. 11 rebounds and 8 assists in Game Four. 8 rebounds and 4 steals in Game Five. Not to mention the defensive impact...

[97 bulls]

What about his defensive impact? What about knowing when and where to give MJ the ball, setting up the rest of the team for easier shots and being more or less a secondary coach on the floor on both ends? You can't just look at fg% to judge how Pippen played.

He averaged more rebounds (by 3!), more assists, more steals and more blocks than MJ did in the 96 Finals. Don't write him off like he was nothing.

He didn't shoot well, but he did everything else.
Game 1 -- 21, 7, 3, 3, 3
Game 2 -- 21, 7, 2, 2, 2
Game 3 -- 12, 8, 9, 3, 0
Game 4 -- 9, 11, 8, 1, 2
Game 5 -- 14, 8, 5, 1, 1
Game 6 -- 17, 8, 5, 4, 0

Look at how well rounded those numbers are. 3 steals and 3 blocks in Game One. 8 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals in Game Three. 11 rebounds and 8 assists in Game Four. 8 rebounds and 4 steals in Game Five. Not to mention the defensive impact...

Great post Real. And didn't payton defend pippen the first 3 games?

[Ne 1]

Rodman should've won the FMVP. When the opposing teams coach laments that he (Rodman) won 2 of the bulls 4 wins by himself, nothing more needs to be said. And don't short change Luc Longleys role in that finals. He killed the sonics when they doubled jordan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20ByBuATTyg

In the 1996 Finals, Rodman deserved consideration for Finals MVP that went to Michael Jordan.

During those Finals Rodman averaged 8 points and 15 rebounds in 38 minutes per game. He tied an NBA Finals record for most offensive rebounds in a game with 11. And he did that in Game 2 and the deciding game 6.


The Bulls had a commanding 3-0 lead after Jordan had his series high in points. Payton would outplay Jordan the next two games delaying the inevitable, but Jordan won the Finals MVP. I don't think Jordan deserved it. Rodman won the series with his offensive rebounding. - Elliot Kalb, Who's better Who's best in basketball?


During the Finals Jordan not only shot terribly from the field, he was absolute shit in the fourth quarters too (shot 33.3% in them, and only 15.4% in the fourth quarters of the three close games). In the two close wins of the series, Rodman averaged 11 offensive rebounds/game. He was setting records, and when MJ was shooting the team out of the game with bricks (rest of the team struggled shooting wise too), it was Rodman getting all those rebounds to give Bulls the extra possessions. Bulls as a team shot much lower than Sonics in that series...why do you think they still won? They got 34 more possessions from offensive rebounds (Rodman alone had 41!). MJ's scoring could have been replaced in that series, but Rodman's historic offensive rebounding? Not so much.

Rodman should have been the MVP of that Finals. The Bulls shot much worse from the field than the Sonics in the Finals but still won. How did that happen? Simple. The Bulls got more shot opportunities from offensive rebounds basically negating many of their misses. Rodman, by himself, secured and additional 41 possessions for the Bulls with his offensive rebounding including 2 games where he tied an NBA Finals record. That's like playing H-O-R-S-E and someone giving you multiple "do overs" after you've missed.

In the deciding Game 6 Jordan went 5-19 (26 FG%) while Rodman set a Finals record with 11 offensive rebounds. At the very least he was the MVP of the close out Game 6.

[Ne 1]

Seattle coach George Karl said,

[Da_Realist]

Great post Real. And didn't payton defend pippen the first 3 games?

He did. If there was ever a series that looks bad on paper, it was this one. It was a slugfest with two proud, physical teams going hard on both ends. Nobody's numbers looked great. It was a war of attrition. Both teams had to deal with injuries to key players during the series (McMillan for Seattle and Harper for the Bulls) that sort of them off a little bit. If anything, Pippen's "other" contributions should mean more considering the type of series it was. Same with Rodman's rebounds.

Put it like this... Seattle wore MJ out that series -- which was the plan. What if Pippen didn't play and MJ had to assume an even larger role than he already had? Like I said, Pippen's contributions were vital. Harper went out and the Bulls lost 2 straight games. It's the little things that matter in a series like this.

[97 bulls]

He did. If there was ever a series that looks bad on paper, it was this one. It was a slugfest with two proud, physical teams going hard on both ends. Nobody's numbers looked great. It was a war of attrition. Both teams had to deal with injuries to key players during the series (McMillan for Seattle and Harper for the Bulls) that sort of them off a little bit. If anything, Pippen's "other" contributions should mean more considering the type of series it was. Same with Rodman's rebounds.

Put it like this... Seattle wore MJ out that series -- which was the plan. What if Pippen didn't play and MJ had to assume an even larger role than he already had? Like I said, Pippen's contributions were vital. Harper went out and the Bulls lost 2 straight games. It's the little things that matter in a series like this.

It was definately a war of attrition. The sonics knew the only way they could beat the bulls was to be physical and muck up the game. During the whole bulls dynasty, it was understood you weren't gonna out finnese the bulls. Or beat them playing straight up. The best waay to beat them was to try to beat them up. Going back to the bad boy pistons, then the knicks, then the heat, the jazz, the pacers. They all went out and tried to play jungle ball vs the bulls. The sonics were no different.

I don't know how or why the bulls were tagged as a team that would give in to physical basketball, cuz they never lost these types of series.

[97 bulls]

[QUOTE=Ne 1]Seattle coach George Karl said,