Was the whole Jordan era fixed?

[technologic]

It seems like a sly marketing move.

[Bgil]

Hell no. The Bulls were just flat out better. The Knicks came close one year because they could match the Bulls defense but overall the Bulls were head and shoulders better than everyone else.

You can't fix 72-10.

[MaxRider]

i heard they murdered Jordan's father because Jordan refused to force a game 7

[Kobay]

I like this implosion. Lets get some Utah fans in here.

[Don Draper]

This is a funny thread.

95-96 Bulls - 72-10
96-97 Bulls - 69-13
97-98 Bulls - 62-20

Yes the era was def rigged.

[SOUL]

Yeah. Nick Anderson missing all those FT's? STERN.

[HouMac]

There are ZERO controversial endings involving the Bulls in their 6 champoinship runs. And the one time where there was some controversy(1994), they were at receiving end of the bad call. The Bulls were so much better than everybody else...the fix was never necessary unlike the case with LA.

[Chubby Chaser]

I could see it. Jordan got so many BS calls. Looking at him would result in a foul. And who can forget the infamous push off on Russell that resulted in the game winning shot against utah?

[ilikecb4]

lol at bulls being fixed. jordan could eat up anybody alive back in the day.

there was nothing fixed about jordan.

[HouMac]

The biggest myth about the NBA is that MJ received bogus calls and shot a ridiculous amount of FTs. A simple stats check from 91-98 can prove these idiots wrong. But I guess these morons would rather continue lieing to themselves and make themselves feel better then find out the truth and be miserable. MJ averaged 7.8 FTA per game from 90-93 and 95-98. Less than 9 FTA per game in the playoffs during those 6 years. That's way below then what today's star players average. And MJ played in a more physical league.

[Iggyemu]

I think there was too much choking going on during those times. Jordan got calls...we all know that. But I can't remember any game during his run being as tainted as that 2002 game 6 between the Kings and Lakers. Certainly we have to take everything under a microscope now. So nobody can say for sure. But a lot of good players like Karl Malone just choked when they played Jordan. Only Reggie Miller stepped up when he went head to head with Mike.

[SOUL]

Yeah. Nick Anderson missing all those FT's? STERN.

Oh yeah that was vs the Rockets, still its karma for beating the bulls.

[cjs55]

98 is the only year that seemed a little fishy. Regardless, the Bulls were definitely good enough to win without any intervention, and even if the Jazz had pushed it to game 7 that year the Bulls would still have likely won anyways.

http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2007/0 ... utton.html

[Don Draper]

People forget MJ played during the handchecking era. If MJ played right now he would average 40-45 PPG and he would go to the line 10-15 times per game.

[Harry Palmer]

The biggest myth about the NBA is that MJ received bogus calls and shot a ridiculous amount of FTs.

It's a myth his fellow NBA players bought into.

Sport or Inside Sports Magazine did a player poll back during the early/mid 90's, and it asked them which player got the most 'star treatment' from the refs.

MJ was so far in front as top choice, they named the article 'The Jordan Rules?' as a spin on the earlier meaning of the term. Player comments included stuff like 'you just have to know, if the game's on the line and he drives, he's gonna get the shot or the whistle'.

An interesting side-story was that the question was asked about which superstars DIDN'T get 'star treatment', at least relatively speaking, and the answers...Hakeem, Robinson, Ewing...suggested to the writers that refs were unwittingly rewarding people (like MJ, Barkley, Malone, etc.) who b*tched and complained all the time, and actually punishing the guys like Hakeem, Admiral and Ewing, who generally acted the way the refs would say they wanted people to act.

[Bgil]

There are ZERO controversial endings involving the Bulls in their 6 champoinship runs. And the one time where there was some controversy(1994), they were at receiving end of the bad call. The Bulls were so much better than everybody else...the fix was never necessary unlike the case with LA.

The 1998 last shot SHOULD have been controversial but people were so in love with MJ that it didn't register. Even if they called the offensive foul the Bulls would have kicked their ass in game 7 anyway.

[Bgil]

People forget MJ played during the handchecking era. If MJ played right now he would average 40-45 PPG and he would go to the line 10-15 times per game.

That's pretty stupid. AI, Kobe, Pierce, T-Mac etc. all played in the hand-check era too. Several of them averaged 30+ then and aren't averaging anymore now.
As you can see with Boston's defense... good zones have basically outweighed all the advantages of the "handcheck rule".

The defenses in MJ's prime weren't nearly as good as they have been after his second retirement. If you can't average 40-45 in the run and gun 80's then you can't average 40 today.

Feel free to turn on ESPN classic and watch some of those 1980's games... no team ever dreamed of holding opponents to less than 90ppg. The Jordan rules Piston's even allowed 104ppg.

[hoops4life]

Yeah sure ask Bryon Russell.

[Duffman100]

Yeah sure ask Bryon Russell.

Yeah, Jordon pushed off with one of the worst offensive fouls in the history of all time.

[deadpoolx2k6]

You guys who doubt this are looking at game fixing in too narrow a context. You think that game fixing means the NBA takes scrub teams and hands them victories, when that's not necessarily how it works. Jordan's bulls could still be considered the greatest team of all time but still have benefited from having the refs on their side. Just like many believe Bonds could of been a hall of fame player without the steroids, the steroids simply catapulted him further than his talent could have taken him.

Some of the bulls players might have been in on the fixing, and may had to have been in on it if they were too good for the refs to really screw them over. So the bulls throw a few games to scratch the NBA's back, and likewise the NBA scratches the Bulls back by making the refs give the Bulls all the right calls, just in case the Bulls had an off-night and were in danger of actually losing a game they weren't supposed to lose.