I'm going to try and watch every Bulls playoff game from '90 to '98

[StrongLurk]

Game 3 was a fun game. Not so much for Ewing, for the Bulls in general.

Ewing has moments where he seems unstoppable, but at his core he was a face up and jump shooting big guy on offense with no real go to moves when the game was in balance. At least in this series.

Couple things. Jordan was a pest on defense, he really looks like a DPOY in this game. He was playing in the flow of the offense for all of the first half, bu t after Wilkins blocked him on a rare iso possession, he played much better on offense while still remaining in the flow of the offense.

One thing is clear, there's a reason why MJ is the best half court scorer of all time. His triple threat ability is second to none, it's why he didn't need to dribble a lot to score.

Pippen was a superstar on offense in the first half. He may have had 20 points alone in the first two Q's. Cooled off a bit in the second, but MJ was rolling for awhile there. That was the classic "on" mode for MJ.

Pippens on ball defense is concerning. I keep seeing all this goat perimeter defender stuff, but I charted him for no great individual defensive plays in man to man type situations and in fact had 5 negative marks against him where Kiki Vanderweagh was beating him clean to the hoop.

His off ball defense was superb though. And MJ's. It was really fun seeing those two play help defense.

Nobody else really stood out. The main driving force was Pippens first half on offense (with chip ins from MJ here and there on offense and Majorly on defense) and then Jordan got rolling and after that it was over.

This version of the Knicks were solid on defense, MJ took and made a lot of tough shots. But their offense was poor, led by Ewing.

The Knicks were always a one-sided team (defense). They could go away with that playing in the 90's, but they would even less noteworthy is the 80's and most of the 2000's.

[SATAN]

You'll probably notice, Mj was over rated by casuals. He was good though. Just, not that good. There's a fair chance LeBron James would kick his ass one on one.

[Carbine]

Game 1 vs Philly again Pip was a beast in the first half on offense. Cartwright was also ON FIRE in the first Q, he couldn't be stopped.

One person that I haven't been impressed with is Horace Grant so far in this run. He honestly is just an energy, hustle active defender type player right now which is nothing wrong with that - but ultimately a far cry from a borderline all-star I was hoping to see. I don't know what his numbers are, but he gets a lot of uncontested dunks or lay ups off Jordan or Pippens passing. So while he may be a "16/8" guy whatever that means when I see it poted here, half of those 16 are directly off of other players ability to feed him uncontested dunks or lay ups. Hes not out there giving 16 on hooks and up and unders.

Again, Pippens Iso defense was lackluster in this one. Barkley had no issues with him in those situations, beating him every time. Pippen did have a nice close out onsomeone else though, but this game was over by the 4th Q

Comparing Barkley to Ewing. It's no contest, Barkley looks so much better than Ewing this year. I feel bad for Barkley, his team was awful. Jordan wasn't winning anything with that squad either.

[3ball]

Game 1 vs Philly again Pip was a beast in the first half on offense. Cartwright was also ON FIRE in the first Q, he couldn't be stopped.

One person that I haven't been impressed with is Horace Grant so far in this run. He honestly is just an energy, hustle active defender type player right now which is nothing wrong with that - but ultimately a far cry from a borderline all-star I was hoping to see. I don't know what his numbers are, but he gets a lot of uncontested dunks or lay ups off Jordan or Pippens passing. So while he may be a "16/8" guy whatever that means when I see it poted here, half of those 16 are directly off of other players ability to feed him uncontested dunks or lay ups. Hes not out there giving 16 on hooks and up and unders.

Again, Pippens Iso defense was lackluster in this one. Barkley had no issues with him in those situations, beating him every time. Pippen did have a nice close out onsomeone else though, but this game was over by the 4th Q

Comparing Barkley to Ewing. It's no contest, Barkley looks so much better than Ewing this year. I feel bad for Barkley, his team was awful. Jordan wasn't winning anything with that squad either.

Dude everyone knew Horace was a simple dunker

You will never see him do anything else, and yes, sometimes these guys make 1 all-star team, similar to PJ Brown or Oakley

And yes, everyone always got theirs on Pippen.. in every series - the stats show this and now your eye test will see it

[Phoenix]

Comparing Barkley to Ewing. It's no contest, Barkley looks so much better than Ewing this year. I feel bad for Barkley, his team was awful. Jordan wasn't winning anything with that squad either.

Barkley was probably the 2nd best player in the league at that point. What you're perceiving in terms of him looking better than Ewing is because he was prime for prime.

[Smoke117]

What you'll notice is that everyone on the team including the Kerr's and Will Perdue's of the world - everyone was "Jordan-ing" their matchup.. This is shown best by winning contribution, or win share, which measures how players perform compared to others at their minute-level

Kerr would post a 5+ win share while Ray Allen would get 3 on the Heat because Allen was playing too many minutes (30 min), while Kerr as comfy destroying the 15-minute guys.... perdue would come in for 3 minutes and get 2 rebounds and 1 dunk and go to the bench having destroyed his 3 minute counterpart on the opponent's bench..

the Bulls' minutes were managed well and everyone had the assassin mentality to dominate their matchup.. teammates never missed a shot when MJ passed to them for a game-winners - when it was their turn for a "jordan moment", MJ's fearlessness had rubbed off on them.. no scared donyell Marshalls or korvers or Hills lol

You’re so ****ing pathetic. You’re like 50 years old and acting like a 16 yr old teenage girl over Jordan. What the **** is wrong with you?!

[Indian guy]

One person that I haven't been impressed with is Horace Grant so far in this run. He honestly is just an energy, hustle active defender type player right now

Horace was never regarded as anything more than a quality role player though. Good finisher off set-ups, could hit the mid-range jumper with consistency and a versatile defender. I'm a little confused by why you were expecting something more. And he was never a "16/8" guy. The most he averaged was 15 ppg and hung around 12-13 ppg otherwise.

Again, Pippens Iso defense was lackluster in this one. Barkley had no issues with him in those situations, beating him every time. Pippen did have a nice close out onsomeone else though, but this game was over by the 4th Q

Pippen on Barkely is a bad match-up. Simply didn't have the strength to deal with him. And as great as he was defensively, post defense was always a weakness of Pippen's.

Philadelphia's defense is a complete joke, btw. Statistically their DRTG was below league average but they come off looking way worse than that in their 2 series' against Chicago in '90 and '91. Couldn't stop dribble penetration to save their lives. Nonexistent interior D. MJ and Pippen could pretty much do anything.

[Monta Ellis MVP]

Where are you watching the games? I want to watch after I’m done watching the Michael Jordan documentary. The Last Dance.

[RRR3]

You'll probably notice, Mj was over rated by casuals. He was good though. Just, not that good. There's a fair chance LeBron James would kick his ass one on one.

LeBron is bigger so he would very likely beat Jordan one on one. That had absolutely nothing to do with who’s better at basketball though

Shaq would destroy everyone one on one

[Phoenix]

Horace was never regarded as anything more than a quality role player though. Good finisher off set-ups, could hit the mid-range jumper with consistency and a versatile defender. I'm a little confused by why you were expecting something more. And he was never a "16/8" guy. The most he averaged was 15 ppg and hung around 12-13 ppg otherwise.

Probably because there are some on here who act like Horace was more than you described.

[Carbine]

Horace was never regarded as anything more than a quality role player though. Good finisher off set-ups, could hit the mid-range jumper with consistency and a versatile defender. I'm a little confused by why you were expecting something more. And he was never a "16/8" guy. The most he averaged was 15 ppg and hung around 12-13 ppg otherwise.



Pippen on Barkely is a bad match-up. Simply didn't have the strength to deal with him. And as great as he was defensively, post defense was always a weakness of Pippen's.

Philadelphia's defense is a complete joke, btw. Statistically their DRTG was below league average but they come off looking way worse than that in their 2 series' against Chicago in '90 and '91. Couldn't stop dribble penetration to save their lives. Nonexistent interior D. MJ and Pippen could pretty much do anything.

Pippen got caught on bad positioning in a post feed on one of the hoops he gave up to Barkley, but Barkley got the ball 20 feet away from the bucket a couple times on a wing iso and faced him up, blew right by him. He beat him with quickness, not stength. At least in this game.

[Carbine]

Game 2 Vs Philly was the first game of this run where I thought Jordans defense was suspect. He had a rough stretch in the first half. He had some some individual plays here and there but overall it wasn't good in that end.

Horace was the big catalyst in the clutch in this one, with Pippen chipping in. Jordan was really a non factor in the last 3-4 minutes oft his game, beside a nice defensive play. Horace got some back breaking Offensive rebounds.

Pippens defense was also poor in this one individually. Barkley got whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted in iso coverage. They doubled quite often. Barkley settled for jumpers in crunch time for this one.

Paxton and Purdue were very solid in this one too.

[Hey Yo]

Dude everyone knew Horace was a simple dunker

You will never see him do anything else, and yes, sometimes these guys make 1 all-star team, similar to PJ Brown or Oakley

And yes, everyone always got theirs on Pippen.. in every series - the stats show this and now your eye test will see it

Funny how you downplay 1x All-Stars but constantly bring up 1x All-Star Mo William's and how great he was with the Cavs.

[LAL]

There's a good reason for that.

If Phil Jackson felt that Jordan having the ball in his hands all the time was the best way to win, then Jordan wouldve had the ball in his hands all the time.

But it couldn't have been more opposite.

Loughery let MJ do that, but it never worked in the playoffs. Collins turned MJ into a point guard where he did have the ball all the time and that didnt work either.

Jackson approached Collins and suggested that they have to find a way to get MJ to give up the ball more.

Collins (paraphrasing): "Good luck with that!"

Jackson stuck with it, though, installed the triangle, took the ball out of MJ's hands (much to MJ's chagrin), and the rings came rolling in.

In general, coaches feel quite comfortable with LeBron having the ball in his hands all of the time.

Harden, though, may need to be MJ'd for more success i.e. less may be more with him.

It worked stats wise, didn't win in his first 7 years just like lebron? He could average a triple double in his sleep. Lebron can't play the Kobe or MJ role (off ball scorer, triangle), they can play the point however, enough proof. They just want to be active scorers and read the game as true wing players, adjust whenever needed but always take the shot when open or when they can beat their defender, not only excerting energy on fast breaks or transition points. Lebron's playmaking in his system is him hiding his weaknesses. You think Kobe,MJ or KD couldn't put up Doncic/Westbrook stats? Still has many many flaws that has nothing to do with MJ or Kobe. That's why Heatles underachieved, couldn't truly adjust, to this day. Gasol last week said stars are so focused on all around numbers, kobe would've easily outdid a Westbrook if that was his focus, just saying.

[Carbine]

Game 3 was very interesting.

Will Purdue hurt the Bulls for a stretch in the middle of the fouth Q. Taking sweeping hooks over Bol....... bad turnovers.

I'm still waiting for this best perimeter defender of all time to show up. This is the sixth straight game I think his individual defense is poor. He has a strong game in the NYK series with the help defense though, with other moments sprinkled in via help defense, but overall...... He's WAY more important on offense. He's actually playing at a 1B type level on offense right now, with the way he handles, makes plays, pushes the ball in the break.

Pippen did have two awful possessions in crunch time of this game though, one of which was end of game situation down 1.

Jordan was up to his usual defensive ability in the first half, to me there is no question who the better on ball defender is between the two RIGHT NOW between him and Pippen. However he did have bad moments on defense in the second half.

He missed 3 free throws in the final 2 minutes of the game and ultimately he was the reason they were down by 1 point in the final posession. They were up by 2 and he helped off a scorching hot Hawkins one pass away in the corner off a Barkley drive and Jordan couldn't recover in time - bang right in MJ's face.

MJ didn't always come through in the clutch. He certainly didn't in this game (neither did Pippen)

Horace was very solid in this game, both sides of the ball.