It's been ten years (hard to believe it's been that long) since Houston's first major sports title. Now that the Rockets are back in the play-offs, it is a fitting time to honor those who built CLUTCH CITY out of the ashes of CHOKE CITY. The Honor Roll (the 1993-1994 Houston Rockets Roster): Hakeem Olajuwon Otis Thorpe Vernon Maxwell Kenny Smith Robert Horry Mario Elie Sam Cassell Carl Herrera Scotty Brooks Matt Bullard Eric Riley Richard Petruska Larry Robinson Chris Jent Earl Cureton All hail the Dream. Long live the Dream! Post your thoughts and memories here.
Here are my memories from that play-off run: Rockets going down 0-2 (losing 20 pt leads) to Phoenix at home ... prompting the CHOKE CITY! headline. Vernon Maxwell with a monster game in Phoenix to help salvage the series. The classless Danny Ainge nails Mario Elie in the head with the rock. The classless Charles Barkley shoves Dream to the floor, having lost game 7 in Houston. Clutch City is born. Dream's baseline spin and slam on Ewing. Sam Cassell's clutch 3 pt shot. The freakin' white bronco .... (damn you, OJ!). Dream's fingertip block on Stark's last 3 pt shot of game 6. Kenny Smith with a lucky 3 pt'er off the backboard in game 7. Robert Horry's primal scream in Oakley's face after an alley-oop from an inbounds pass by Vernon Maxwell. Maxwell's clutch 4th quarter 3 to seal the deal. ... and finally, absolute joy! Sweet, baby, sweet.
Man, doesn't seem like it's been that long. We had some amazing shooters on those teams. Mad Max was freaking awesome.
... and a helluva defender too. I still have Maxwell's (#11) replica jersey that I bought back then. Comes in handy when I want to go retro. I always get good conversation about Max ... mostly talk about how crazy he was. "Mad Max" wasn't just a nickname; the dude is/was a nut case. But you gotta love that competitive fire he brought. Michael Jordan once singled him out as one of the guys who gave him the most trouble.
1994 was the year i officially became a rocket fan. And becoz of the dream. That was his year, the year he catapulted himself to nba superstardom. A place where only the likes of jordan, magic, bird , thomas, jabbar, dr. j, moses malone reside. He distinguished himself from the likes of barkley, karl malone, ewing, robinson and pippen as the BEST PLAYER IN THE GAME. I dont give a damn that jordan retired that year becoz even if he was playing, the comptetive fire was already waning and he was vulnerable. And the dream after a strong mvp type performance in 93 was ready to pounce on jordan and took away his reign as the best player in the game. How time flies. TNX for the memories hakeem, ot, rob horry, sam, kenny, mad max, carl, et al. The rockets are going to win game 2 baby. Go rockets!!!!!!!!!!
