'95 Rockets vs '95 Bulls: Were the Bulls Too Small? A Kenny Smith Fact Check
Before we fact-check Kenny, here's a quick summary of what the kinda ridiculous ’95 Rockets vs ’95 Bulls debate sounds like:
Rockets Fan: Jordan played in the ’95 playoffs and couldn’t even make it to the Finals to play against us. So why we even talking about this?
Bulls Fan: Nice try. What we’re talking about is what if Jordan never retired and it’s full-strength Jordan in ’95? Instead of just “Baseball Legs” Jordan? Doesn’t “Basketball Legs” Jordan get to the Finals against the Rockets? And doesn’t full strength Jordan feast on the Rockets' souls just like he did everyone else in the Finals?
Rockets Fan: Feast on their souls? Man, he was full-strength Jordan. Jordan’s ’95 playoff stats were better than his playoff stats in ‘96. The problem was that team wasn’t good enough. So he ain’t feastin’ on nothin’. He’d be fastin’ more than Hakeem during Ramadan.
Bulls Fan: Maybe squint a few times and look again, dude. Yeah, MJ’s points per game and shooting percentage were basically the same in the ’95 playoffs as in ’96 but his turnovers were way up in ‘95. Plus, Jordan’s averages went down in ‘96 because the comp tends to go up when you play through all four rounds.
Rockets Fan: Not sure I follow you there, homey. If they were any good, they would have got to play in all four rounds.
Bulls Fan: Bottom line is this: If you actually watched ’95 Playoffs Jordan and thought Baseball Legs #45 was as good as ’96 MJ, you gotta hook me up with your ice cream man.
Reasonable super fans can ping pong these points and argue about who the obviously high one is until the end of time. But what about a professional? What does Kenny “The Jet” Smith say?
Kenny says that the ’95 Bulls were too small. They were just too tiny to cope with the ’95 Rockets. Because that Bulls team didn’t have Horace Grant or Dennis Rodman. And it’s true—neither Rodman nor Grant was on the ‘95 Bulls.
So we’re done here, right? ’95 Rockets beat the ‘95 Bulls! Even with a Full Strength MJ! Right?
Not so fast.
Yes, the tough Horace Grant left the Bulls in the offseason to sign with Orlando as a free agent. Yes, the rugged and raw Dennis Rodman didn’t arrive in Chicago until the following season because the Spurs hadn’t yet grown tired enough of his smelly feet to give him away for a case of Natty Light and Will Perdue[1]. Toni Kukoc was the ’95 Bulls starting power forward. He was tall—6’11—but admittedly, he was not tough, rough, rugged or raw.
So I guess we really are done here now. No way the Bulls could hang with whatever total bad ass the Rockets had at power forward in 1995.
Wait. Who did the ‘95 Rockets have at Power Forward again? Let’s meet the crew.
Otis Thorpe—OT the OG is what Stuart Scott used to call him. Started 35 games for the Rockets. I love me some OT the OG—total bad ass. So yeah, Toni probably would have got ethered. But wait a second….why did Otis only start 35 games for the Rockets in ‘94-’95? Oh, yeah. OT the OG wasn’t on the team after mid-February. Because he was the guy the Rockets traded to the Blazers to get Clyde Drexler. So lets meet the ’95 Rockets Power Forwards who actually played for them in the playoffs.
Carl Herrera—Solid player, especially as a backup, and he even started 26 games for the Rockets in ’95. Sure, was only listed 6’9”, 215, which sounds kind of small for a power forward—but I can honestly say he played bigger than that. And unlike Otis Thorpe, Herrera did actually play for the Rockets in the ‘95 playoffs that season. In one game….for six unforgettable minutes….and scored two tell-your-grandkids-about-it points. Definitely not his fault, but Herrera’s prolonged recovery from shoulder surgery meant he was a non-factor. Who’s the next?
Any real Rockets fan can tell you all about Carl Herrera’s legendary ‘95 Playoff Run.
Pete Chilcutt—Pete Chilcutt sounds like a dope ass DJ. Unfortunately, Pete was not a dope ass NBA player. His ’95 playoff ‘averages: 16.2 minutes, 4.9 points and a punishing 2.9 boards. Hmm. Who I am forgetting here?
Pete Chilcutt: As Legendary an NBA player as he was a DJ.
Chucky Brown—Brown was listed at 6’7”, 214 lbs, so dealing with Chucky would have been far from…..child’s play. But, in the NBA, he was smaller than Kukoc and Pippen. Of course, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t board. ’95 Playoff averages: 15.5 minutes, 4.5 points, and 3.1 rebounds. Not bad—I mean he did grab playoff rebounds at a higher rate than Kukoc. Just not Pippen…
Robert Horry—Finally, a high quality player who played for the Rockets in the Playoffs! Horry was primarily a Small Forward at this stage, but once the Rockets got to the Finals, Rudy T. started Horry at PF and he got the lion’s share of the minutes there. Chucky only played about 10 minutes per game in the Finals. And DJ Chillcutt was relegated to Sound Provider duties at most team functions. Since it was summer ‘95, he played a lot of “Shimmy Shimmy Ya”, “This is How We Do it”, and “Freak Like Me” by Adina Howard. Great set. Had the club jumpin'.
Maybe I’m missing something. Better check out the team rebounding stats.
Playoff Rebounding Differential. The ’95 Rockets and the ’95 Bulls both got outrebounded in playoffs. Per Baketball-reference.com, the Bulls were out-boarded by an average of….0.6 rebounds per game. But the Rockets got outrebounded by an average of….4.2 boards per game.[2]
What’s that you say, Imaginary-Rockets-Fan-Voice-That-Lives-Inside-My-Head? You’re exactly, right! The Rockets did play stronger rebounding teams than the Bulls, teams like the Suns and Spurs. A not terrible point! Although, I would like to point out the that the Bulls outrebounded the Charlotte Hornets in the first round and that team did have Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson….
And consider this—even though the Bulls and Rockets played in separate conferences, they did have a playoff opponent in common: The Orlando Magic. So how well did each team rebound against Orlando? The Rockets were outrebounded by the Magic in the Finals by 2.7 rebounds per game. The Bulls were outrebounded by the Magic in their ’95 playoff series by…1.5 rebounds per game. game.[3]
So far, the too-small case ain’t lookin’ so good. But the real question is this: how would the Rockets and Bulls have rebounded against each other? Let’s look at the regular season matchups between the Rockets and Bulls.
Bulls at Houston 11/17/94 The Rockets won that game big and outrebounded the Bulls 43-38. But unsmall Luc Longley didn’t play for the Bulls. And super bad-ass action hero lookin' dude who wasn't on the team after February Otis Thrope did play for the Rockets.
Houston at Chicago on 1/22/95—Thorpe played again for the Rockets, but this time Big Luc played for the Bulls (And obviously Jordan didn’t play in either of these regular season games). The Bulls won this game big and outrebounded the Rockets 53-38.
Now admittedly, size isn’t just about the rebounding battle. And there is another angle to consider here. The Rockets’ best player was obviously Olajuwon. The MVP. Probably a Top 10 to 15 of all-time guy. Maybe Kenny just means the Bulls lack of size would hurt them when they were guarding Hakeem.
Which turns this into a conversation about double teaming the Dream. The Bulls occasionally used Horace Grant as a double team guy on the post player, but usually the doubler was Pippen or Jordan, who were shorter than Grant but were more effectively pesky at knocking the ball away. Grant’s size was definitely useful on the defensive end, but he was shorter than Kukoc.It was Grant's defensive skill that mattered most.
So let’s look at individual matchups, then I think we may able to render a verdict on the Kenny Smith Fact Check.
Rockets
The Starters
SF-Mario Ellie 6’5”
PF-Robert Horry 6’10”
C-Hakeem Olajuwon 7’0”
SG-Clyde Drexler 6’7”
PG-Kenny “The Jet” Smith 6’3”
Guys Who Would Play
PG-Sam Cassell 6’3”
PF-Chucky Brown 6’7”
C-Charles Jones 6’9”
Bulls
SF-Scottie Pippen 6’7” (Going out on a limb and guessing he guards Horry)
PF-Toni Kukoc 6’11” (Going out on a limb and guessing he guards Elie)
C-Luc Longley 7’2” (Perdue started in the regular season but Longley started more in the playoffs)
SG-Jordan 6’6”
PG-BJ Armstrong 6’2”
Bench Guys Who would Play
PG-Steve Kerr 6’3”
C-Will Perdue 7’0”
C-Bill Wennington 6’11”
So how were the Bulls too small for the Rockets again? As this video shows, there’s no one in this world that’s not too small for Kenny…..
……but that doesn’t mean the ‘95 Bulls were too small for his team.
[1] Come on, Will-Due Nation, it was a joke. Can you please just let it go this time? I don't want to have to have plastic surgery and change my identity again!
[2] Here’s the 1995 Playoff Stats. The Rockets averaged 39.1 rebounds per game. Their opponents averaged 43.8, a difference of 4.7. The Bulls averaged 39.2 rebounds per game. Their opponents averaged 39.8, a difference of 0.6.
[3] The math: The Rockets were outrebounded by Orlando 184-173 in 4 games. 11 divided by 4 = 2.7. The Bulls were outrebounded by Orlando 249-240 in 6 games. 9 divided by 6 = 1.5.
“Feel Me Flow" by Naughty by Nature. A little something DJ Chillcut added to his playlist for the Rockets 1995 Draft Party.