Orlando Magic Rewatchables: Unanswerable Questions from the 1995 Orlando Magic-Chicago Bulls series
Do the Magic win if Jordan plays the entire season?
This question might be a bit easier to answer.
If the Chicago Bulls have Michael Jordan for the entire year, they probably win. Jordan was incredible in his 17 games and the Bulls were incredible with him — 13-4 after Jordan’s return. From there, they pushed an excellent Magic team to six games and could have won that series.
It was clear Jordan was Jordan, but not all the way Jordan. He fatigued at the end of the series with the Magic’s size. And Chicago’s bench did a poor job throughout the series. Everyone still seemed like they were trying to figure out their roles with Jordan sucking up so much oxygen.
Chicago Bulls
Still, Phil Jackson made some critical errors that he would quickly correct the following season.
The roster just did not have a ton of depth and did not have a lot of weapons outside of Jordan and Pippen.
Toni Kukoc struggled throughout the series despite having a speed advantage on his matchup in Horace Grant. Kukoc averaged 11.5 points per game on 44.3-percent shooting.
The Bulls struggled to find any offensive weapons outside of Jordan and Pippen.
The Magic’s bench worked them throughout the series. Orlando’s length especially seemed to bother the smaller Bulls.
A big part of this narrative is the Bulls had to realize some of their weaknesses as they filled in gaps the following season to set up the 72-10 run — signing Dennis Rodman for more size and speed to guard Shaquille O’Neal and starting Ron Harper for more size in the backcourt, for instance.
So what would the Bulls look like against the Magic with Jordan in basketball shape and basketball rhythm? It would not have been the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals sweep. The Bulls did not have the physicality to handle Shaquille O’Neal consistently.
But, this series was close. And Jordan had a lot of rhythm and fatigue mistakes throughout the series. Orlando would have still been a tough out. The team might have still won. But Jordan has a lot more gravity than even a young Shaq. And his best was yet to come in 1996 and 1997.