Allen Iverson’s all-time starting five: ‘Stephen Curry, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal’

Your contests are interspersed between three Michael Jordan puzzles. Do you think that the Rockets got their due for what they accomplished? Kenny Smith: You can’t erase history. I don’t know if you get what you deserve, but you can’t erase history. Everyone always says, “Yeah, Michael was out. No, he wasn’t – he wore number 45 (in 1995). And everybody says, “Oh, he was rusty.” No one said he was rusty when he had 55 points at Madison Square Garden that year. He had 55 points against the Knicks, who were arguably the best defensive team in basketball at the time. No, he was Michael Jordan. (The Bulls) weren’t just a good basketball team. The team they lost to, the Orlando Magic, was swept. I never looked at it as getting respect. You cannot delete history. And we are here to stay. He actually played that year, so there was only one year of absence. He played (during his second title run). He was there, and we didn’t get a chance to meet them. -via Houston Chronicle / August 14, 2024