A Ranking Of All 24 Teams The Bulls Played In The Playoffs In 91/92/93/96/97/98

[samwana]

wow what a lot of memories come up reading this thread. and one isn't enough. thanks man! amazing work!

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[boundbymusic]

God damn this brought back some memories.

[prolific passer]

Jazz were tough but the Knicks in 92 and the Pacers in 98 took the bulls to 7 games. 93 knicks were up 2-0 on them.
The 92 playoffs was really tough for the bulls as they went back and forth with the knicks, cavs, and blazers who won 10+ games less than the bulls did during the regular season.
Also the 96 finals changed when Payton guarded Jordan in games 4-6. Who knows what would have happened if Payton guarded Jordan from the start.?

[Howling Mad]

Great bump for off-season content. I didn't catch it the first time around but I really enjoyed the read. Thanks for the time into this.

I remember all of these teams so vividly. The power of video games.

My peanut gallery comments -
1. I think the Knicks are given too much credit. They were a great team, but the Bulls always handled them pretty well
2. Pacers were much better than they achieved. I feel like besides the Sonics and Jazz, the 98 Pacers were the only real threat to every beat us. They came so damn close that one year. 98 Reggie was the last real year we saw him. He got injured after that and got old, lost a step and was never the same.

I respect the hell out of those Pacers teams, but the Riley Knicks just felt more intimidating. Another thing is, that was the 98 Bulls...I do feel like the 96 or 97 Bulls might've defeated those Pacers quicker.

Also, don't sleep on the 93 Suns. They were never quite able to reach the same level after that season, but I think they were for real in 93.

I'll have to agree with Dice...

very good team, GREAT rivalry

Jordan always came to play vs the Knicks. Rivalry wise, it was great for the volume. It seemed like every year we butted heads with NY, but after the Detroit years, we were well-trained for the physicality of NY.

Great, great team but they always felt short of being a real contender. Ewing was always hobbling come playoff time and although they had great defense, ours was clearly better. And we had Jordan, the ultimate Knick killer.


That 98 Pacers team, though.

That was the sole series I was really worried. When Miller slipped the screen and went inside, pushed off Jordan and hit that 3 I thought our run was over. Then the same feeling a couple games later when they tied it up. Even game 7 was close and could have gone either way. I don't think a team has ever really pushed us that far.

NY had a 2-0 lead but we handled them pretty well, even if they did squeeze another game out of the series.

Suns were great, but we were a matchup nightmare for them. Even with Barkley exploding to gargantuan numbers, we still pulled it out in 6 games.

Reggie...man. Never have I hated a basketball player so much only to learn to respect and love him post-retirement. If I had to pick a #1 villain for MJ it wouldn't be Dumars, Isiah, Drazen, Sindey Moncreif, Dominique, Clyde... it'd be Reggie.

[prolific passer]

Missed opportunity was not being able to face the rockets in the 97 finals which was Hakeems last all star season. That team was truly a veteran point guard away. 97 was the last great season for a lot of hofers like Ewing, Stockton, Hakeem, Pippen, Barkley, Drexler, etc. Kind of sad when you think about it.

[troza]

Missed opportunity was not being able to face the rockets in the 97 finals which was Hakeems last all star season. That team was truly a veteran point guard away. 97 was the last great season for a lot of hofers like Ewing, Stockton, Hakeem, Pippen, Barkley, Drexler, etc. Kind of sad when you think about it.

Everytime there are multiple good teams there are some matchups that just don't happen... like Lebron vs Kobe that everyone wanted...

For the Bulls I would say that Bulls vs Rockets is the major one in the 90s but I would still had the following for our club:
- Bulls vs Celtics at a different time (we could have some more series... we had with Celtics on top and Bulls not being yet good... but we could have some during the rise of the Bulls and fall of Celtics and even one with the Bulls on top and Celtics bad);
- Bulls vs Spurs (98 would be the only year when that matchup would be somehow meaningful, although we all believe that it would happen in 99 if the team was kept together)
- Bulls vs Lakers (mainly 98 - it would be awesome)

Then we could have had more series against some really good teams but things just didn't turn out that way... We only faced the Pacers once, for example...

So... besides the Rockets we really faced every big name during the dynasty... although we could have faced some interesting team on the first years or latter years of the dynasties that would be nice to have now that we know what happened but I guess that, at the time, were not the more desired.

We really faced every good team in the East and almost all superstars in the NBA during our time. We just don't have a series against the Rockets (although only Olajuwon didn't face the Bulls) and the only superstar that we missed during that time was David Robinson.

[prolific passer]

Missed opportunity was not being able to face the rockets in the 97 finals which was Hakeems last all star season. That team was truly a veteran point guard away. 97 was the last great season for a lot of hofers like Ewing, Stockton, Hakeem, Pippen, Barkley, Drexler, etc. Kind of sad when you think about it.

Everytime there are multiple good teams there are some matchups that just don't happen... like Lebron vs Kobe that everyone wanted...

For the Bulls I would say that Bulls vs Rockets is the major one in the 90s but I would still had the following for our club:
- Bulls vs Celtics at a different time (we could have some more series... we had with Celtics on top and Bulls not being yet good... but we could have some during the rise of the Bulls and fall of Celtics and even one with the Bulls on top and Celtics bad);
- Bulls vs Spurs (98 would be the only year when that matchup would be somehow meaningful, although we all believe that it would happen in 99 if the team was kept together)
- Bulls vs Lakers (mainly 98 - it would be awesome)

Then we could have had more series against some really good teams but things just didn't turn out that way... We only faced the Pacers once, for example...

So... besides the Rockets we really faced every big name during the dynasty... although we could have faced some interesting team on the first years or latter years of the dynasties that would be nice to have now that we know what happened but I guess that, at the time, were not the more desired.

We really faced every good team in the East and almost all superstars in the NBA during our time. We just don't have a series against the Rockets (although only Olajuwon didn't face the Bulls) and the only superstar that we missed during that time was David Robinson.

Bird and Jordan almost met in the 92 ecf but the Celtics lost to the cavs in a tough 7 games.

[WherePipAt]

I get why you ranked the 92 Knicks as high as you did but there's no way they're better than the 93 team. In 92 I think we were just caught off guard and surprised by how tough teams played us in the playoffs coming off of winning a title. That 93 Knicks team is statistically one of the best defenses of all time. Overall this is amazing though, definitely took me on a trip down memory lane!

[troza]

Missed opportunity was not being able to face the rockets in the 97 finals which was Hakeems last all star season. That team was truly a veteran point guard away. 97 was the last great season for a lot of hofers like Ewing, Stockton, Hakeem, Pippen, Barkley, Drexler, etc. Kind of sad when you think about it.

Everytime there are multiple good teams there are some matchups that just don't happen... like Lebron vs Kobe that everyone wanted...

For the Bulls I would say that Bulls vs Rockets is the major one in the 90s but I would still had the following for our club:
- Bulls vs Celtics at a different time (we could have some more series... we had with Celtics on top and Bulls not being yet good... but we could have some during the rise of the Bulls and fall of Celtics and even one with the Bulls on top and Celtics bad);
- Bulls vs Spurs (98 would be the only year when that matchup would be somehow meaningful, although we all believe that it would happen in 99 if the team was kept together)
- Bulls vs Lakers (mainly 98 - it would be awesome)

Then we could have had more series against some really good teams but things just didn't turn out that way... We only faced the Pacers once, for example...

So... besides the Rockets we really faced every big name during the dynasty... although we could have faced some interesting team on the first years or latter years of the dynasties that would be nice to have now that we know what happened but I guess that, at the time, were not the more desired.

We really faced every good team in the East and almost all superstars in the NBA during our time. We just don't have a series against the Rockets (although only Olajuwon didn't face the Bulls) and the only superstar that we missed during that time was David Robinson.

Bird and Jordan almost met in the 92 ecf but the Celtics lost to the cavs in a tough 7 games.

Yet that would not be the opposing situation of the Bulls in 86 and 87 as the Celtics did win 50+ games but with Bird facing health issues it would be kind of the opposing situation. But would be amazing to have that on the history books.

[prolific passer]

I get why you ranked the 92 Knicks as high as you did but there's no way they're better than the 93 team. In 92 I think we were just caught off guard and surprised by how tough teams played us in the playoffs coming off of winning a title. That 93 Knicks team is statistically one of the best defenses of all time. Overall this is amazing though, definitely took me on a trip down memory lane!

92 team felt deeper. Knicks traded out Gerald Wilkins and Mark Jackson for Charles Smith and an old Doc Rivers.