Yeah, I agree, I just went with Mario because of importance, but knocking off the Lakers was awesome for sure, just wish it went somewhere further than the Finals.
Just like T-Mac stating anyone can win a chip? Hahaha, don't get me wrong it was incredible just wish he had a shot to win a series in the playoffs like that.
If all this thread is going to be is a bunch of Jerry Lin lowlights then it'll be the first time I've ever subscribed to any thread here.
I hated that Phoenix team with a passion when I was a kid. Them and the Jazz were the opposite of cool to a kid. And kiss of death? I take it Mortal Combat was out already in 95. The defense wasn't as good back then as it is today. There's no way you could make that cross court pass to the corner and a defender be that far away from it. You could barely make that pass without it being intercepted 50% of the time.
I think I was like 7 or 8 years old when the Sampson miracle happened so my memory of that shot is still pretty vague, I do remember my dad going nuts though and it felt like we had won the championship because of how great that Showtime Lakers team was. I remember this moment in time as when I first started getting addicted to basketball, it's what started the whole thing for me and is around the time when I started paying attention to Rockets games. The Kiss of Death will always be one of my fondest memories of watching Rockets basketball, though. Just the way it happened, how the Rockets were able to escape Phoenix despite being down to them two years in a row. There was something magical about that moment where you just had the feeling that team was going to prevail no matter who they played. Different guys stepping up every game, Dream in his absolute prime, the Summit was one of the loudest buildings in the game back then and the atmosphere and the fans were a much different breed than what we see at games today. Miss the hell out of Gene Peterson, I would listen to many of those games on the radio while watching the telecast muted. How sweet it was! Wish the current team could achieve this level of greatness and I hope we will one day see that atmosphere return. Clutch City love!!
Man this is hard for me. There are 5 shots that instantly come to mind when it comes to greatest shots in Rockets history. -Sampson's tip against the 86 Lakers (but no championship) -Maxwell's 3 with about a less than 2 minutes left to put the Rockets up 7 in game 7 of the NBA Finals. The game was super close, chippy and could have gone either way but his shot ultimately sealed the deal. -Elie's kiss of death against Phoenix completing the 1-3 comeback and thus going on to the championship. A lot forgot but we were not playing well those last few mins of game 7. KJ was tearing us a new one, and just right before bricked a FT that could have made that 3 pointer meaningless. (he was like 20-20 FTs at that point) -Smith's 3 pointer to tie the game in game 1 of the 1995 Finals. Smith's 2nd half of that game was remarkable and legendary in Rockets history. We were down 21 at one point and because of him (He had the NBA finals record for most 3's) we came back to tie, and send the game into OT. Had we not won that game the series may have been completely different. This was one of the greatest NBA finals games of all time. So many clutch, (and not clutch...ehhem....NICK) shots -Hakeem's tip in with .3 left on the clock in the same game, for the same reason as Smith's. the demoralization of the hot, new, young sexy favorites. They never had a chance since. All are super important. However, out off all of them I would say Sampson's shot was the least impactful from a Rockets historical perspective. All of the others directly contributed to us winning Championships. Something we cant say for Sampson's. Not a knock on it, we just lost the NBA finals that year but we did knock off the former champs. Honorable mention: Sam Cassell's 3 pointer game winner at MSG in game 3 of the 1994 Finals Robert Horry's 3 pointer with 15 seconds left in game 3 of the 1995 finals.
Without that shot, we'd only have half the number of media conspiracies that we've had in our history. The other half come from that John Starks blocked shot. Praise Hakeem hallelujah, bringer of both moments.
Sampson's shot was a lot more important than most of those shots you listed. The only play that rivals the kiss of death and Sampson's shot in my mind is Hakeem's block on starks' 3 pointer.
