A dive into how the Rockets fared against the Michael Jordan era Bulls

With the eyes of the sports world on Michael Jordan this weekend, we take a look at how Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets fared against his Bulls.

The first two episodes of the 10-hour documentary series “The Last Dance” aired at 9 pm ET on ESPN Sunday, which featured an in-depth look at the last season of the Michael Jordan era Chicago Bulls. With the Houston Rockets being successful in his formative years, we examine just how well they did against the greatest player of all time.

Every fan of the Rockets has heard the “if Jordan hadn’t left, Houston wouldn’t have won those titles” argument. As ridiculous as that argument is, there’s something to be said about the fact that Jordan was able to threepeat a second time upon his return.

Obviously, there’s no logical reasoning behind belittling the back-to-back titles the Houston Rockets earned while Jordan was away from the game. Hakeem Olajuwon was just as unstoppable in those playoff runs as Jordan was for the Bulls in their championship seasons, and the role players for Houston were on a mission as well.

Still, the fact that Michael was able to come back to the league and take it back over as he did is one of the most remarkable NBA feats of all-time.

One of the biggest “what-ifs” ever is undoubtedly what would have happened if Michael hadn’t stepped away from the game and led his Bulls to the NBA Finals against Rudy Tomjanovich‘s prime Rockets.

While we’ll never know for sure, unfortunately, we can at least take a look at how H-Town fared against the Jordan-led Bulls throughout the years.

Next: Record before Jordan's departure