<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>VIDEO: Preview Tuesday's <a href="https://twitter.com/KBergCBS">@KBergCBS</a> long-form story on the 1994 NBA Finals - <a href="http://t.co/ccDQn1AK67">http://t.co/ccDQn1AK67</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ForgottenFinals&src=hash">#ForgottenFinals</a> <a href="http://t.co/qSOmO6svzk">pic.twitter.com/qSOmO6svzk</a></p>— CBSSports.com (@CBSSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSports/statuses/472473454877634561">May 30, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
CBS needs a dunce cap... it's actually the "most glossed over" NBA Finals. It was arguably the best NBA Finals matchup of the last 25 years. The NBA Finals have been pretty forgettable, especially the ones with the Spurs...unless they are matched up against a real team.
NBC's choice to interrupt game 5 with split screens of the white Bronco police "chase" will always bother me. I wonder if NBC makes the same decision during any of Jordan's prior finals? His NBA finals match-ups with Magic in '91, Clyde in '92, or Barkley in '93 were all ratings bonanzas. IMO, NBC diminished the '94 finals series between Olajuwon and Ewing -- in effect ending the era of legendary big men finals match-ups -- in favor of a more 'entertaining', backcourt brand of basketball. Jordan's return (from '95-98) pushed back Shaq's championship window until his retirement after the Jazz finals in '98. By then Shaq was on his way to Los Angeles to join forces with the poster child of ball dominant, high flying, high volume scoring superstar guards. Efficiency be damned. It's about entertainment.
The guys I was watching the game were all cheering for Juice to blow his brains out during the chase.
Screw the media, it would have been not been called 'forgotten' if the Knicks won regardless if OJ was running from the LAPD. why the hell are they talking about Starks instead of Maxwell? Something about streaky players on the Knicks, the media tends to overrate the hell out of them. Clutch City will never be forgotten, in fact, it's eternal and forever.
Those...those have been some of the best ones... Spurs - Heat (Rematch coming up) and Spurs - Pistons were both nail-biting series.
I agree on 3 of the 5 Spurs finals match ups, but the 05 Pistons series and last years Heat series was great IMO.
the intros were so much better back in the day <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Rryd_lUtZ8I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
nice. I actually like the CBS intro more than the NBC intro , both awesome though. love this <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pHB7RC6FIc4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
One of my oldest memories as a child that I still cling onto is getting into a crying fit every time they would switch to the OJ chase. There was nothing else on Earth I'd rather be watching at that time.
Ken Berger is on CBS Radio right now. They just got through talking with Pat Ewing about it, and Rudy T's coming on at 6:00. (less than 30 min from now). Listen here: http://player.radio.com/listen/station/cbs-sports-radio Patrick said the worst part about that finals was that they were literally separated by 1 game in the standings, which would have swung home court advantage to the Knicks. He also said he'd sit in the cafeteria at Toyota Center when he was an assistant coach with the Rockets. He said they have a big splash of Hakeem blocking Starks' 3 at the end of game 6, and he can see himself WIDE OPEN at the freethrow line. So every now and then he'd call John up and curse him out. He also mentioned that the 99 finals was much worse for him because he had to sit on the sidelines and listen to the crowd yell at his teammates, and he couldn't get out on the court at help them. Really interesting stuff.
Rudy T We had Patrick on the show earlier. ... How much have you thought about that, that at the time, we thought these guys would be battling for championships year after year? You're absolutely right. Those guys were projected to be there all the time but reality kicks in and it's so hard to get there unless you're part of a rare dynasty which doesn't seem to be happening over the last 20 years. Maybe Miami, we'll see how they do here against the winner in the West but they got one going now. Back in those days, you're lucky to get there. Numbers from that series, I had completely forgotten about it, when your squad put up 93 in the game three, it was the high water mark of the series. How tough of a defensive series was it? It was very tough. Pat Riley, tremendous coach, especially on the defensive end. He had a team that could carry out his plan. We were very concerned because of the physical play that they had. Back then, we could still hand check. Their guards were tough. Derek Harper was tough on the point guard. They always had a fresh guy on Hakeem. That was a concern of ours. We really, really feel good about getting through that series victoriously because they were good. How about the notion your back to back titles overshadowed in history by the fact that it was sandwiched in between Jordan's threepeats on either side. Does that bother you that people don't give those Rockets teams their due? There's nothing we can do about other people's opinions and takes on certain things. We had to go through Ewing, who is a championship type player. We had to go through Charles and KJ twice. We had to go through Malone and Stockton twice and then we had to beat San Antonio, who had a great year. I feel very proud of what we did. The 2nd year, we had to do it never having home court advantage. What other people say really doesn't matter because we were there and it was really a great accomplishment. 2nd championship--you won the year before but felt you needed to shake it up a bit. Why the move to get Drexler and difference between those teams? I did not want to do that starting out. I figured, if a group of guys can hang in there and win a championship, they deserve to be stuck with. The way things were going, we were not responding like a championship team. Our defense fell apart. We lost real hurtful games. We just didn't have any life. The possibility of getting Clyde to come to Houston after playing there at the University of Houston, that was very enticing. We didn't know how it would work but because of...and that's the only star we could have done it with in the middle of the season because Hakeem and Clyde respected each other. They knew each other; their habits, their game. Clyde was hungry for a championship. That was the number one focus on his mind. He came in and Clyde could not have been better, not only as a player but as a teammate. It was truly amazing because not many thought we could do it. The '95 team, everyone brings up how Michael wasn't there. He was there in '95 wearing 45 and you swept the team that beat the Bulls. ... Why is it...Hakeem doesn't want to coach. Patrick Ewing has been an assistant coach and can't get a head coaching job. Why is that? That bothers me some. I've gotten to know him, not well, but he was in Houston later, I was gone on to LA but I would come back there and scout and I got to talk to him. He's a heck of a good guy. It could be that there's an unconscious prejudice against big guys. I don't know. You would think, as you see guards being coaches, and usually not all-star guards but role players. Guys who sat and watched a lot. You look at Doc Rivers, Lionel Hollins, those guys seem to fit a mold. I was different in that I was a scorer. A lot of big scorers weren't coaches. I'd love to see him get a chance. He's been in some good systems and he's an intelligent guy and I'd love to see him get a shot. You had Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley under you. Did you know that someday they'll be stars on TV? I had no idea at all. I love them both. Kenny was one of the greatest shooters in Rockets history. He really turned that Orlando series around. Even though we swept them, they had us down in the first game and the lead in just about every other game in the 4th Q. Then Charles, really entertaining. Another good guy. The rare thing about Charles, he's the only guy I know who in the NBA who sat in the front of the bus. He sat behind the bus driver and razzed that guy in a loving way. He was definitely a unique guy and an enjoyable guy to be around. Take on this West finals so far? I had guys I know on both teams. Scottie Brooks played for me. Jim Boylen is now an assistant coach with San Antonio. He's loving the experience of being with Coach Popovich. It's wonderful. It's like seeing family members do well. Scottie's gotta find a way to win tonight and break the cycle with the home team winning so big.
