Fellow Clutch members, After the Pistons dismissed the Lakers in 5, what is your opinion on a Finals match-up between the Pistons 04 v our Rockets 95? IMHO Hakeem would have broken Finals scoring records by averaged 45-50 pts based on the single coverage used by the Pistons. He would demoralized them period. B. Wallace is a worthy All-defensive player but Hakeem is a level above him. Rockets would win in 6.
Let's look at the squad Billups - Rip - Prince - R Wallace - B Wallace v Kenny - Drexler - Horry - Thorpe - Hakeem Bench Williamson - Ham - Campbell - Hunter and Mehmet v Maxwell - Cassel - Elie - Herrera - Chuckie Brown I think the rockets in 6 [I dunno . .was Drexler the start SF that year. . i thought he was the SG . .but not 100%] funny thing is. . . other than Hakeem . . . they rest of the 95 Rockets are the Prototypes of the Pistons Ben Wallace = Otis Thorpe 2.0 Prince = Horry 2.0 Rip - Drexlerish billups - Cassel [at that time] 2.0 Maxwell on rip would have been fun to watch Rocket rIver
WRONG, ROCKET RIVER, Drexler was not in the '94 squad, only on the '95... he never played with THORPE at all... go rent CLUTCH CITY... then Double Clutch... Pfffttt... no contest HERE... my beloved ROCKETS [ approaching Anniversary of 1st Ring] in 6. Now go post this same question on the Pistons' fans' board... let's see what THEY say...
The way they rolled into that Finals series in 95....no one was going to beat the Rockets. Take a look at how Hakeem abused David Robinson when both were at the peak of their careers. Geez that was a fun time to be a Rockets fan wasnt it!
I was just thinking about the similarities. In '95, Portland trades away their franchise player in midseason only to have him win the championship with his new team. Then, it happens to them again in '04. Shaq's teams rolls through their respective conferences and enter the Finals as favorites only to get their butts handed to them because of shortcomings by Shaq's teammates. Both teams even had traitor power forwards who left their previous teams when it was obvious the ship was sinking.
Starters Billups - Hamilton - Prince - R Wallace - B Wallace Smith - Maxwell - Horry - Thorpe - Olajuwon First 3 off the Bench Campbell - Hunter - Williamson Elie - Herrera - Cassell This sort of thing is always a tough exercise, since you never really can say for certain how things would play out. But I'll bite. -Olajuwon in 94 was playing at a level far above that where Shaq was playing this year. Especially on the defensive end. The Pistons' attacks on the basket would be far less effective. -Hamilton would be just as effective with his screen-based running, if not more so. Maxwell and Elie would have a hard time dealing with that. On the flipside however, Rip would be forced to guard Maxwell, which would not bode well for him. -Prince versus Horry would be close to a wash, with Horry having a slight advantage with his shooting. -Rasheed Wallace would be effective only if he brought a continuous attack from the peremeter. -Ben Wallace would have a difficult time with fouls guarding Olajuwon. -Billups would likely win the PG matchup, being quicker and more athletic than Smith, and more poised and able to direct the offense than Cassell. -The Rockets in 94 had a unity and defensive cohesion that, if not equal to the Pistons, was far greater than this year's Lakers. With Olajuwon in his prime, they tip the scales a bit. Rockets in 6 or 7. Evan
I would have to say '95 Rockets in 7. Why? Because they had the legs to run with the current Detroit squad. Not to mention, they were not afraid to dump it down low to the big guy every time, unlike the Lakers. Hakeem was playing like a man possessed during the '95 playoffs. He absolutely dominated The Admiral and Shaq.
this is the simple answer for the Rockets in 95. i don't think i could pick anyone to beat them. would they be overmatched playing some of the better teams of all time?? sure..but they seemed overmatched in every series they were in. they turned weaknesses into strengths with a chemistry rarely seen in pro sports. we saw a glimpse of that from this pistons team. but i'd still go with a team-focused Dream.
Dream would be the main factor they would beat the Pistons. Dream is a trillon times more athletic than shaq, he would have poured it on big time. In his own word, "UNBEATABLE"!!
3 things that would have made this battle a no brainer 1. Dream--if he wasn't going to be stopped by 'MVP' Robinson and a thinner faster Shaq, what makes ANYONE think Ben Wallace could have stopped him? Dream would drop 40 points a night easily. 2. Perimeter Players (or our Guards)--Lakers couldn't buy a bucket from the outside. Clyde, Kenny Smith, Cassell and co would have erupted. 3. Bench. Cassell, Elie, and Chucky Brown. 'nuff said. Rockets in 4.
excellent point. i think this and the difference in sheer desire manifested in grabbing loose balls/rebounding/etc was the real difference in the Pistons/Lakers series. had the Lakers been able to knock down open jumpers, it might have been an entirely different series. that rockets squad could knock them down.
my mistake. . . i thought he was traded for Thorpe. . but i check the 95 rockets on the archives and they had thorpe there. . .i forgot the midseason trade ssshhhheeseessshh . . .calm down Rocket River
one question: ZONE OR NO ZONE would that make a difference [and where would the 3 pt line be] Rocket River
Dream and his turnaround fadeaway out of bounds was unstoppable. That would be enough to pull Ben Wallace out of the court to stop him from getting the rebound. It would have to be guard by committee for rasheed wallace though, but heck if the legend can guard shaq. He can guard rasheed . Clyde drove to the basket at will. Elie would have hard time keeping up with rip or prince though with their height and length but he would give it all he had. Our guys wouldn't be afraid to shoot. Billups would have an advantage over the younger cassell and non-defense of smith though. Of course i'll pick rockets but it would be interesting. We were pretty defensive minded ourselves unlike the lakers who play part-time defense. WE'd pull it out in 5 or 6.
here is the major difference....the 95 rox had heart and they had the spirit of being a champ. this lakers team was an absolute joke. i mean it was pretty disgusting watching how flippantly they viewed the series. whenever the rockets got down they played hard and they played like a clutch team. if the rox were down 3-1 in that series i guarantee you it would be going 7 games. larry brown would pay for not doubling dream. the rockets hit their shots and would hit shots when they needed...unlike the lake-show. the rockets would play hard defense as hard as the pistons. the pistons advantage against the lakers was wanting to win much more and depth. the rockets have both of those and i think the rockets have the advantage of experience and the best player on the court. rockets in 5.
Good points, RR. The line was moved in for the '95 season (1994-95 to 1996-97). I don't think the zone would have made that big a difference, imo. Not sure about the line. It's the same for both teams, so our perimeter shooters win that matchup. Hakeem dominates. I was going to say Rocks in 5, but with the 2-3-2 format, I think Brown is going to take 2 of 3 in Detroit, so Rockets in 6. That would be one hell of a fun series!
I was thinking about that because I thought they were so much similar because the Pistons ran as many fast breaks as I ever seen. The Rockets were consistantly running the floor that it wasnt even funny. There is a reason why they average 114 points a game. As for this series, I would say Rockets in 6. This matchup is heavily debatable.
props to the pistons for winning a championship and putting down a heartless lakers team but nothing will convince me that a 95' rockets team would even struggle to take out the 04 pistons. hakeem during that span was playing as well any player in the history of the game and had a perfect compliment of role players and oh yeah another hall of famer. hell i think this years rockets could have atleast gotten to a game 6 with detroit.
