Hakeem and Clyde is the obvious answer- most talented duo that won a championship. You left out Hakeem and Thorpe, 93-94. Thorpe was no slouch, he was an All-Star a couple years before our first championship. You also left out Yao and Francis. IMO, that duo (plus Mobley) would have gotten us much, much closer to a championship than T-Mac and Yao did.
Sir Uncle Les Alexander and Hakeem the Dream Olajuwon Two back to back ttiles under their leadership @tinman @Rasheed
I'm not sure how Francis and Mobley were most exciting. I remember I used to feel like "OMG Francis might get 30 tonight!". Harden drops 40 and I don't think anything of it because that's just what he does. I haven't looked but guaranteed Harden breaks 40 more frequently than Francis broke 30. And I wouldn't be all together shocked if he's scored 50 more times than Francis went for 40.
Drexler was still pretty damn good that year. When Dream was out during the 95 regular season, he carried the team, including a crazy 40 foot buzzer beater in Denver, and that awesome 41 point 18 rebound game against the Clippers. I believe there was a playoff game where Dream and Clyde both scored 40 points. He was no slouch the rest of his time with the Rockets, either. He almost got a quadruple double in 1997. Certainly much better than that bum Pippen they brought in to fill his shoes when he retired.
Westbrook and harden haven’t played a game yet Together in a rockets uni that’s why I didn’t add them. Francis and Mobley were exciting to me. Didn’t result in many wins but the alleys, fancy dribbling and dunks were entertaining imo
Love all that Deck..takes me right back.I don't think many here realize how great those teams were...IMO even better than our title teams. Certainly not taking anything away from the guys that finally got it done. It's just a testimony to those loaded squads in the eighties. Hey, we were the only team besides the Lakers to get out of the West in the decade. Only to have to face the other all time dynasty at full force..the hated Celtics.each time.For me, Ralph's shot is right there with winning it all, as far as all time moments. That injury, suffered early on against Boston killed us. Needless to say, Ralph was a unique/massive talent..and,would automatically be in every all time great discussion were it not for the injuries. We'd have more banners too.
I think I may have made that argument at some point. That that team, healthy and at full strength, was better than our championship teams. You're right about the Celtics. We ran into a buzz saw. Heck, they added Walton, for crying out loud, who came off the bench and was healthy for once, as if they needed him. That Celtics team is definitely in every conversation about the greatest NBA teams of all time. We would have beaten them eventually had the team kept it together, had Ralph been healthy. Had Lucas, and the rest who were kicked out of the league, stayed out of trouble. People sometimes forget that we had lost our starting point guard and were in the playoffs with Bobby Joe Reid, a swing man, playing point. Allen Leavell was banged up during the playoffs (played only 11 mpg), with Reid playing most of the time at the one. That was a deep team!
The best Rockets duo may not even be on list yet. If Brodie does not work out, Russ could be traded for 3 lock down 3-D wings, then Beard and Splash would be the duo that wins it all.