For those that don't know, this is the game where Vernon Maxwell initiated the process of turning Choke City into Clutch City.
Makes no difference if it's a playoff game or a regular season game. Somewhere came to your house and showed you up. Classless.
He was 6 feet away. Even you could miss Elie from that close with a wide open Chuck Wagon standing 15 feet away and nowhere in the line of fire. Reach down between your legs and pull very hard. That popping sound you hear will be your head coming out of a place it shouldn't be
This video stirs up emotions amongst the long time and true Rocket fans. the other people of course, just want to make another 'what if' situation out of this. I saw this game with a bunch of Rockets fans back in the day, NOBODY asked " Oh I don't feel good cause that open dunk was unnecessary by Dream " at the end of the game. People were cheering and high five-ing each other and celebrating like it was a Kid N Play party. But again, I said I was amongst Rockets fans.
As stated earlier, he was a professional baseball player. He was also a high school All-American QB, and one of the top prep football recruits in the state of Oregon. Horry, on his time in Phoenix: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=jy-horry121707
Hakeem did nothing wrong, it was Danny Ainge who was the classless pos. If you get beat, you get beat. Don't get all p*$$y hurt about it. Elie should have dropped that mofo. If anything Hakeem showed more class by not whooping Ainge's ass.
I see the dunk the same way I see Deke's finger wag. Yes, it's unnecessary, but it's not done to show up your opponent, it's a celebration of sorts. Now if Hakeem had dunked then got in Ainge's face about it or something, that's different. That's not what he did. If he had dunked then beat on his chest and crap like that, but that's not what he did.
I can't believe the poll is about Hakeem in this... unless it was "Aren't you glad Hakeem threw down like this on a team that would play a punk like Ainge.
But for him to aim in that general direction, Ainge could've intended to graze them to get into their heads.
The only classless part of whole thing was Ainge and throwing the ball at Ellie. I have always thought that guy was a real piece of ummm and that just reminds me of why. There's a diff between hard noise play and just being a sore losing jerk.
http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1994_1202809 NBA playoffs/Rockets dispute Ainge's plea/Suns guard $5,000 poorer following fine TERRY BLOUNT Staff WED 05/18/1994 HOUSTON CHRONICLE, Section Sports, Page 1, 2 STAR Danny Ainge says he is innocent, but the NBA affirms he is guilty as charged. The Phoenix Suns guard was fined $5,000 by the league office Tuesday for throwing a basketball into the face of Rockets guard Mario Elie in the closing seconds of Game 3 between the Rockets and Suns on Friday night at America West Arena in Phoenix. "I thought the fine was steep," Ainge said Tuesday. "I didn't mean to do it." But Rod Thorn, the NBA vice president of operations, thought differently and imposed the fine on Ainge. The incident happened with 6.9 seconds left in a 118-102 Rockets victory. Only a few seconds after Ainge and Elie had exchanged heated words, Ainge had the ball under the Rockets' basket for an inbounds pass. With Elie and Hakeem Olajuwon standing in the lane only 10 feet away, Ainge's baseball-style throw hit Elie hard in the face. Elie screamed at Ainge, who played baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays early in his career, but did not touch him. "Anybody that has seen Danny play baseball knows he can't hit what he's throwing at," said Suns coach Paul Westphal. "And if he was going to try to hit somebody, why would he throw it at Elie? He would have thrown it at Hakeem, who was right there, too." Phoenix forward Charles Barkley said if Ainge wasn't throwing at Elie, he should have been. He told Ainge: "You should have thrown it at those guys because they were celebrating on our court . . . them and . . . their families. And if they celebrate on our court again, you should hit them again." The Rockets say their celebration wasn't meant to be a taunt. "We were just so happy to win a game," forward Robert Horry said. "What do they expect? "We didn't say anything when (Phoenix backup center) Joe Kleine came out on the floor jumping around with his arms raised up in the second game (in Houston)." After Game 4 on Sunday, Elie said Ainge came up to him and admitted he threw at him. "Oh, that's a good source," Westphal said before Game 5 on Tuesday night in The Summit. "You should have heard what Hakeem said to me." Olajuwon said Tuesday that he is convinced Ainge intended to hit Elie. "I've said all along that I know it was intentional," Olajuwon said. Ainge said after Game 3 that he was trying to throw the ball down to the other end of the floor to guard Dan Majerle but didn't get it high enough. The Rockets aren't buying that excuse. Houston forward Otis Thorpe thought the fine should have been higher. "Throwing a ball at someone is like an extension of a punch," Thorpe said. "Maybe they should have done even more, but at least some justice was done." Elie arrived at The Summit on Tuesday unaware that Ainge had been fined, but he didn't want to discuss the incident. Elie also was asked about Barkley's comment. "He can say whatever he wants to say," Elie said. "The thing has become too big an issue. I'm not thinking about that. All I'm worried about is winning these games." No matter what the league office thinks, Westphal thought the fine was too high. "I've seen guys hit people in the head with baseballs and not get fined that much," Westphal said. "I would like to know how they can look into his head. He says he didn't throw it at him, and I believe him." But Olajuwon said Ainge is notorious for doing things beyond the rules. "He does stuff like that all the time," Olajuwon said. "When I was running down the floor, he would stick his foot out and try to trip me. "I told the referee, but Ainge was careful to make sure he didn't see it. But I knew what he was doing. I've always said you can tell a person's true character when they lose."
