Vernon Maxwell’s surprising words “I would rather defend Michael Jordan than Drazen Petrovic”.
Vernon Maxwell, a champion with the Rockets alongside Olajuwon, recalls the struggles he faced every time he went up against Petrovic: “He gave me nightmares.”
Vernon Maxwell was a player of maximum intensity, a two-way shooting guard, valuable both on offense and defense, who was one of the key players in the 1990s Rockets championship team, the team that won two titles, with Hakeem Olajuwon at the helm, taking advantage of Michael Jordan’s first temporary retirement. Nicknamed Mad Max for his temperament, intensity, and some on-court excesses, Maxwell’s style would have fit perfectly in today’s NBA.
In fact, he himself shared that those Rockets, coached by the legendary Rudy Tomjanovich, played a style of basketball that influenced the game in the years to come. They focused on spacing the floor with shooters to create more room in the paint for Olajuwon, a devastating scorer in the low post: “Rudy T and Don Chaney asked us to play like the teams started to play later. They wanted us to move the defenders away from Hakeem so he could operate in the post. They couldn’t double-team Olajuwon because we always had at least three guys on the perimeter who could hit from three. There were also Kenny Smith, Mario Elie, Sam Cassell, Robert Horry...”
During the championship years, Maxwell averaged 13.6 and 13.3 points. He also did an excellent job defending against opposing point guards and shooting guards. Recently, he was a guest on the All The Smoke podcast, hosted by former players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, where he spoke about the players who gave him the most trouble defensively, particularly those who may be undervalued in today’s NBA. Maxwell had no doubt, naming Dražen Petrović: “He gave me nightmares. I had never seen anyone like him. I’d rather defend against the damn Michael Jordan, the black Jesus. That’s how bad it was with Petrović. He was bigger than me and it was frustrating; he scored on me in every way. I couldn’t stop him. You couldn’t give him an inch of space. These European guys have all the tools: mid-range shots, three-pointers, drives… he had it all. He destroyed me.”
Maxwell is well-known for his famous Twitter account, where he often mocks franchises like the Oklahoma City Thunder or Utah Jazz—an obvious rival of the Rockets in the ‘90s (the John Stockton and Karl Malone years in Salt Lake City). He also makes headlines when discussing the rivalry with the Bulls, who won six championships, with the Rockets’ two titles framed between those three-peats. Since they never faced off in the Finals, there’s always been speculation about what would’ve happened if Michael Jordan’s Bulls had competed for the title against Olajuwon’s Rockets.
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Mad Max has always been clear: “We used to beat them all the time, so... I know the playoffs would’ve been different, but we could’ve beaten them. Look at the numbers, they don’t lie. We were blowing them out. We didn’t win by five, we won by 15, 17, 16, 13... For eight years, our record against them was 9-1. That has to mean something.”
An eternal question for the Rockets
The reality is that those Rockets don’t like it when their two titles are associated with Jordan’s absence. Olajuwon himself made it clear that Jordan was indeed in the 1995 playoffs: “It’s talked about like our Finals matchup was impossible, but they were in the playoffs. The problem is they lost in the Conference Semifinals to the Magic. That Magic team was monstrous: Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson... but we managed to beat them. Jordan played against them and lost in the 1995 playoffs.” Kenny Smith, point guard for those Rockets and now a well-known TV analyst, has always shared the same opinion: “We would’ve beaten them if we’d played. They lost to a Magic team that we swept (0-4). Jordan played. When he scored 55 points at Madison Square Garden, no one doubted he was back. He was back, and lost.”
Smith believes it’s difficult to imagine the Bulls winning eight consecutive titles even if Jordan hadn’t retired: “No one in the modern era has won eight titles in a row. There are injuries, concentration issues... LeBron made it to eight consecutive Finals, but he hasn’t won them all. In 1995, we were better than the Bulls.”
Those who believe that it was indeed Olajuwon’s year, when he played at an imperial level, point out that the Rockets didn’t make it to the Finals between 1991 and 1993, but they amassed a 5-1 record against the Bulls in regular season, partly because the Bulls were more vulnerable at the center position. However, they didn’t face any great centers in their championship series. It’s undeniable that Michael Jordan had only played 17 games before the playoffs in the 1994-95 season, after announcing his return. But in the postseason, he averaged 31.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 48% shooting. In 1996, after the 72-win season, his playoff numbers were 30.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 46%. But the Bulls, indeed, fell (4-2) in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1995 to that Magic team of Shaquille (24.3 points, 13.2 rebounds, 4 assists), Penny Hardaway (18.5 points, 7.5 assists), Nick Anderson (15.2 points), shooter Dennis Scott (14.8 points), and former Bull Horace Grant (18 points and 11 rebounds on average).
The Rockets, after becoming champions in 1994, wrote an extraordinary story in 1995, the year of never underestimate the heart of a champion. In February, Clyde Drexler joined the team, and the Texans made it to the playoffs as the 6th seed in the West with only 47 wins. They defeated the Jazz, Suns, Spurs, and Magic—teams that had won between 57 and 62 games—without home-court advantage. Against the Suns, they came back from a 3-1 deficit, winning the fifth and seventh games in Phoenix. It was an incredible playoff run in which Hakeem averaged 33 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.8 blocks. Drexler averaged 20.5 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, Robert Horry 13.1 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists, and Smith 10.8 points and 4.5 assists. That’s why some believe that Rudy Tomjanovich’s team, with Olajuwon, might have been the Bulls’ toughest challenge in the ‘90s.
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