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

The Bulls’ Second Championship Era (1996 – 1998)

Michael Jordan only spent one full season away from the game when he went to play Minor League Baseball for the Birmingham Barons. The 1994-95 season was a tough one for Chicago without Michael, as they were sitting with a .500 record 62 games into the season.

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After a Major League Baseball strike helped push Jordan back to basketball, they were able to make a push into the playoffs but ultimately lost to the Orlando Magic in the second round. Orlando, of course, would end up suffering the same fate as New York when they would meet the Rockets in the NBA Finals.

It was during the Bulls’ second three-peat years that they finally turned things around against the Houston Rockets when it came to head-to-heads. Chicago won five out of six matchups with Houston over that stretch.

The Bulls had an average win margin of 12 points over the Rockets in those years with their only loss being a 16-point beating in January 1997. Olajuwon put up a flooded stat-line of 32 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, four steals and five blocks in that win.

Overall, when the Rockets matched up against the Bulls with Jordan at the helm, they went 13-11, with most of their losses coming after the 1994-95 season.

It’s easy to get lost in the dominance of the Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls throughout the 1990s. Just don’t forget that Hakeem’s Houston Rockets weren’t so bad themselves.