Rockets Tout Success Against Michael Jordan, Bulls in Twitter Video

Michael Jordan and the Bulls captivated NBA fans once again on Sunday night with the premiere of ESPN's 10-part documentary 'The Last Dance'. The film details the Jordan's 13-year run with the Bulls, a dominant stretch that was briefly interrupted by a two-year hiatus in which Jordan played minor league baseball. The Rockets thrived in Jordan's absence. 

Houston won back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995, and the franchise's two championships are sandwiched between Jordan's pair of three-peats in Chicago. Jordan's Bulls and Hakeem Olajuwon's Rockets were the two best teams of the 1990s, though they never met in an NBA Finals. How would a potential Finals matchup between Jordan and Olajuwon shake out? The Rockets appear confident. 

Houston released a video on its social media channels on Sunday with the caption, "the record speaks for itself." The video features a highlight montage of the Rockets against Jordan and the Bulls from 1991-93, a period in which Houston won five of six regular-season meetings. And the Rockets didn't hold back in their narration of Sunday's video. 

"Olajuwon would’ve eaten [Luc Longley] up, and [Vernon] Maxwell would’ve guarded Jordan beyond belief. Look at the head-to-head matchups," the narrator said. "The Rockets were the best team in 1994 and 1995."

Jordan and the Bulls could have faced the Rockets in the 1995 Finals as Chicago's superstar returned to the hardwood in mid-March. But the Bulls fell short in the Eastern Conference semifinals, losing to a Magic team that ultimately lost to the Rockets in the Finals. Houston then reached the Western Conference finals in 1997, but the Rockets lost to the Jazz in six games. Jordan and the Bulls then defeated Utah for their fifth championship in seven years.  

Jordan and Olajuwon combined for eight Finals MVPs and 23 All-NBA selections in their illustrious careers, closing the 1990s as perhaps the two best players of the decade. Yet despite being drafted in the same year, the pair of superstars never met with the Larry O'Brien Trophy on the line. Jordan retired (for the second time) in 1998 as the greatest player in basketball history. But there's no guarantee he would have outlasted Olajuwon in the Finals. Just ask the Rockets.