With the Great Quarantine of 2020 continuing, and sports…well, not so much… we continue with another powerful “what if?” story. Today: MJ’s Bull’s vs. Shaq’s (and Kobe’s) Lakers. The best of the 90’s vs. the best of the 2000’s.
Sure, Michael Jordan and the 90s Bulls were pretty much unstoppable. On their way to a fistful of rings, they beat every other power team of the decade, including the Streetfighter Detroit Pistons, the star-studded Seattle Supersonics, Patrick Ewing and the Knicks (back when New York had a basketball team that mattered…remember?) and even Magic Johnson and his version of the L.A. Lakers.
We’ve already heard from the Big Man himself on this fantasy-game matter. Of course he’s sure his Lakers would win handily as well. In an earlier interview, Shaq said: “I would’ve killed Luc Longley, Bill Wennington, [Bill] Cartwright. The factor is me and my free-throw shooting.” (Editor’s note: Free-throw shooting? Really?!?!…)
Earlier this week, Magic made an appearance on the popular sports talk show “Lunchtime With Roggin and Rodney” in Los Angeles. He didn’t waste any words: the 2000-era Lakers – with Shaq and Kobe – would have “destroyed” the Jordan-powered Bulls teams.
Basketball wisdom from Magic: “The Bulls had no great centers, what Shaq would have done to those guys it would have been unfair. Shaq was right… it would have been unfair. The Lakers role players were better also.”
Now, to be fair to the Bulls, we’re not picking on this in isolation. In his prime, Shaq was a totally dominant force, especially in the paint. It’s no stretch of the imagination (or NBA stats and history) to say that there was no team that Shaq wouldn’t have dominated against. At his best, Shaq was averaging 27 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game.
Still, it would have been an amazing series to see. Nobody got away with pushing the 90s Bulls around. With Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman, there was plenty of toughness to go around. Sure, those Bulls never had to contend with a player of Shaq’s size and skills… But it’s also fair to say that Shaq had never seen anything like the 90s Bulls either.
Like we said, O’Neal has already talked about how he believes his team would have taken the Bulls in a 7-game series. Magic backed that up, saying “I think Shaq would have made the difference. We all know that Kobe and Michael will cancel each other out.”
More Magic, on why he’s so sure the Lakers would win the series: “One thing about Kobe, he was not gonna give in to anybody. I don’t care who it was, And finally about Shaq: “But the X factor…We have to remember that the Bulls had no great defenders. What Shaq would have done to all those guys. Oh my goodness! It wouldn’t have been fair.”