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In favor of the Bulls:

Bulls Bio:

• Players who have won Playoff MVP award: 1 (Jordan)
• Players on "50 Greatest" list: 2 (Jordan, Pippen)
• Players who have made All Star Team during their career: 3 (Jordan, Pippen, Rodman)

Jordan! Jordan is the biggest advantage the Bulls have over the Sixers, he can score from anywhere on the court, except in the paint where the Big Dipper will be waiting for him if he tries anything down there.  Pippen is also a more athletic player than any one the Sixers have on the perimeter.  The Bulls have to find a way to slow the game down and let Pippen & Jordan dig in on the perimeter defense.

In favor of the Sixers:

Sixers Bio:

• Players who have won Playoff MVP award: 1 (Chamberlain)
• Players on "50 Greatest" list: 3 (Chamberlain, Cunningham, Greer)
• Players who have made All Star Team during their career: 4 (Chamberlain, Walker, Greer, Cunningham)

Wilt is the man, who is better? the scoring and one on one perimeter defense of Jordan or the all around supremacy of Wilt.  Wilts teammates have plenty of scoring ability to counteract the offense of Jordan, Pippen & Kucoc,  The Bulls are stuck, they can't double team Wilt because he was  a potent passer (7.8apg) and he could get the ball to Chet Walker (19.3 ppg), guard Hal Greer (22.1 ppg) or sixth man Billy Cunningham (18.5 ppg). Luke Jackson (11.8 ppg, 10.1rpg) was an intimidating presence at power forward who would give Rodman all he can handle, he also teamed with Chaimberlain to make the Sixers nearly invincible on the boards.  The Sixers are a complete team that was built to defeat the greatest dynasty in the history of the NBA: the Boston Celtics of the 1960's, and they were not only successful, they beat the Celtics handily (4-1) in the 1967 Eastern Conference Finals.

SYNOPSIS

One of the big keys is who can dictate tempo: a slower pace would help the Bulls by allowing their great one on one perimeter defenders (Jordan + Pippen) to hawk the Sixer ball handlers.  With two tough rebounders (Chaimberlain + Jackson) the Sixers will have the ability to dictate a faster tempo to help their guards avoid the tough Bull perimeter defenders.  In this chess match the Sixers have all the weapons needed to beat the Bulls:  Perimeter players able to keep it close vs. Jordan, Harper & Pippen, a power forward with the toughness and ability to tangle with Rodman, and A huge edge in the paint with Wilt.  The Bulls can't even intentionally foul Wilt as a strategy since he was a great passer that can get the ball to the open shooters off double teams.  Besides I have never heard of a playoff game Wilt's teams lost because he was sent intentionally to the free throw line.  Besides the fact that intentionally fouling Wilt proves the Sixers are a better team, the Sixers can retaliate in the same manner since Rodman (.522 FT%) was an adventure at the foul line for the Bulls.  Between Wilt & Luke Jackson Rodman has little chance of being able to potently recover much of the missed shots by Jordan & Pippen.  Wilt can relegate these two to the perimeter since Longley is no offensive threat.  The Bulls are even out gunned off the bench since Cunningham is a far superior scorer and athlete than Kucoc.
 

1971 Bucks

1972 Lakers

1983 Sixers

1986 Celtics

1987 Lakers

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