'What If?' Series #2 - The Lakers defeat the Bulls in 1991

The 1990-91 NBA season was seen as the year when former Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan finally emerged as the new leader in the pro basketball world. Before the end of this season, the NBA had been ruled by former Los Angeles Lakers icon Magic Johnson and Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird. Between the two players, they won 8 NBA championships (Johnson 5, Bird 3) from 1980-1988. They also, along with Julius Erving, spearheaded an entirely new awareness of the NBA that brought the game to levels of popularity it had never seen. Going into the 1990-91 season, Jordan was starting to be recognized as one of the NBA's elite players but didn't have a championship to go with his growing resume.

In what was a fitting NBA Finals matchup for that season, the Bulls took on the Lakers in the NBA Finals. After losing the first came to L.A., Chicago came back and took four straight to win its first NBA championship.

But what if instead of Jordan and the Bulls making history, the Lakers found a way to outlast the Bulls and win it all? Would it have changed the entire landscape of what we knew as NBA basketball in the 1990s? The answer is no.

If the Bulls would have been defeated by the Lakers, knowing Jordan's competitive nature, he would have come back stronger and more focused than ever in the 1991-92 season. So the 1992 and 1993 championships still would have went to Chicago. But here is where it gets different. If Jordan only won back-to-back championships instead of the three-peat we all know from 1991-93, would he have left to play baseball? In my opinion, I don't believe he would. He would have looked to three-peat in 1994, which means that Chicago would have likely crossed paths with the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals. These two teams might have even played each other for the championship in both 1994 and 1995.

Where things could be more different is that after winning three or four championships in a row, perhaps Jordan would have taken a break from the game in 1996 or 1997. Or he might have stayed to see if he could close out the decade with seven or eight titles.

Whatever the case may be, Jordan would not have denied championship glory even if he lost in 1991. He was too good and he had too talented of a team for that to happen. What are your thoughts?

Reminiscing is fun,

LandoRigs