Ya i understand but im just saying compared to teams such as CAVS, DETROIT, PHX...Rockets dont get as much love as they deserve as good as they have been 3 out of last 4 years...ok i agree its not as bad as it used to be
There is one other thing I would like to add to the reasoning as to why that Rockets/Lakers WCF in 1986 just simply wound up not being the prelude for what was to come the next few years. I do want to point out that the problems the Rockets encountered was more than Ralph Sampson not staying healthy. People should not forget that drugs tore the team up as well. After PG John Lucas was suspended for drugs in '86, guards Lewis Lloyd and Mitchell Wiggins were then suspended the following season in addition, thus leaving the backcourt in entire disarray for at least the next four years until they would bring on the likes of Vernon Maxwell, Kenny Smith, Mario Ellie, and then Sam Cassell who would collectively help carry the team to winning the 1994 Championship. The Rockets don't win that championship without them, in addition to having Otis Thorpe and Robert Horry to team up with Hakeem Olajuwon in the frontcourt. Then there was the addition of Clyde Drexler to help carry them to the 1995 Championship. Speaking of Clyde Drexler, I'll always wonder what kind of a team the Rockets could have been had they ever gotten him at least 10 years sooner than they did. I believe that if they ever got him at least 10 years earlier, then maybe the Rockets/Lakers rivalry would have been a very storied and heated rivalry in the Western Conference for at least the second half of the 1980s. I'm only thinking that if those two teams had met in the playoffs every year, then the Lakers probably wouldn't have made it to the NBA Finals as much as they did that decade. I don't mean to say that the Rockets would have knocked them off on every playoff series encounter, but instead I think the teams would have split them in general. Still, for the 1980s, the Rockets will be remembered as the only team in the Western Conference that ever managed to knock the Lakers out of the NBA playoffs.
Hell yea man... From 1980-1990 there was only one team in the western conference that knocked off the Lakers, that would be your Houston Rockets in 1981 and 1986.
When I say the 1980s, I'm referring to 1980-1989. In 1990, the Phoenix Suns would be the first team other than the Rockets to knock the Lakers out of the playoffs since the Seattle Supersonics last did it in 1979.
Here's something sweet from ol' Rockets lore -- Game 5 of the 1986 NBA Western Conference finals against the Lakers. Ralph Sampson with the dagger! <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FvAHo-OqFJQ"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FvAHo-OqFJQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Ralph was a 7'4 KG with more skills. man he was something else. shame i was to young to remember those games. but from the games i've seen, he was a special, special player. potentially could have been the greatest rocket of alltime. maybe a top 3 big man of alltime.
i shot this video using my brother-in-law's camera and i tried to avoid shaking as much as possible because i had the zoom on
It sure would be nice if there was some video footage of Game #3 of the 1981 miniseries between those same two teams, especially the last few minutes of it.
Ease up on Rudy- not only was he fired- but then exiled- he is now a Laker Scout-I thought of him during the Video- he should at least have an honorary title with the Rockets-that is just wrong
I'm glad you titled it 40 YEARS of tradition. alot of 'members' don't know that or I guess alot of members don't care about it. The Houston Rockets have always been about caring about history and tradition. Moses taught the Dream about being physical. Ralph helped Dream by gladly playing powerforward and letting Dream be center. Dream helped out Yao. This is what its all about. Dream was just doing historically what great centers do for the Rockets, they help keep the tradition going. Keep the Dream alive.
here's the download link if anyone wants it. the quality isn't great but its better than the youtube version http://download.yousendit.com/42951C567CCF05CF
