Fans and friends familiar with Jordan's time know that after Jordan won three consecutive championships in 91-93, due to the unfortunate shooting of his father, Jordan decided to retire and inherit his father's last wish to play baseball, which shocked the basketball world at that time. In 1996 (to be precise, the end of the 1995 season), Jordan chose to make a comeback, and in 96-98, he led the Bulls to complete the three consecutive championships, and retired again in the offseason of 1998, and his career can be said to be very legendary.
So, fans can't help but wonder, if Jordan hadn't chosen to retire and play baseball instead, would the championships of '94 and '95 have also been bulls? In this way, the Bulls can get the second eight-game winning streak in NBA history since the Celtic dynasty! So what are the facts? Please listen to the author slowly decompose.
After Jordan announced his retirement in 1993, the other personnel changes in the Bulls did not change, and Pippen, who was originally the second boss, became the real first core of the Bulls with Jordan's retirement, under the leadership of Pippen, the Bulls did not plummet, but with the yuwei of the three consecutive championships, the 1994 regular season played 55 wins and 27 losses, the third in the East. In the first round of the playoffs, the Bulls swept the Cavaliers 3-0, but in the Eastern Conference semifinals, encountered the Knicks led by Ewing, the Bulls had trouble, the two teams fought in the first six games to draw 3-3, while the Bulls were in a situation where no one could score at a critical moment in the seventh game, and finally the Bulls only scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, and the team lost to the Knicks 77-87 and missed the Eastern Conference Finals.
It can be said that if Jordan is still in this Bulls, then they will naturally not fall in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 94, which shows that the team foundation is still there at that time, missing Jordan can still fight with the Eastern Conference champion Knicks for 7 games, if Jordan does not retire, it is naturally a nail in the coffin to enter the finals. But don't think that if you reach the finals, you will definitely win, because the opponents they face are likely to drag down even the bulls with Jordan.
As we all know, the championships in '94 and '95 belonged to the Houston Rockets, and the absolute core of the team at that time was Olajuwon, who pushed Jordan to become the champion. Jordan conquered many superstars in the 90s, and the only one who didn't conquer was Big Dream, first jordan didn't beat him in any of the series, secondly, in the 21 games that Big Dream played against Jordan, he led by a slight margin of 11 wins and 10 losses, and secondly, in the regular season, Big Dream's Rockets also had a slight upper hand than Jordan's Bulls. So if Jordan doesn't retire and they do meet in the Finals, Jordan isn't absolutely sure he'll win the title.
In addition, fans have a misunderstanding that Jordan retired for two years, which is actually a general statement, Jordan has returned to the team as early as the end of the regular season in 94-95, and even the playoffs in 95 are not lost. However, the Bulls who own Jordan still lost to the Magic 2-4 in the 95 Eastern Conference Semifinals, and the Magic team also reached the Finals all the way to the Finals, but when the Eastern Conference champion Magic encountered the Rockets again in the Finals, O'Neal was hung by Olajuwon, and the team was also swept 0-4, facing such a powerful Rocket, do you still think Jordan did not retire to win eight consecutive championships? （ikuet）