5-11-2017 - nba playoffs western conference semifinals - rockets vs spurs game 6 ryan anderson's last shot as a houston rocket Spoiler 3rd quarter - 1:47 Ryan Anderson misses 28-foot three point jumper
Regular season: "Brown loses it, no timeouts remaining, Tracy McGrady for the win! Yes!" Playoffs: Kiss of death. Just has to be for me. I love the Sampson shot, but kiss of death all the way.
We need to remember that the Celtics that year are considered to have been one of the greatest team's in NBA history. Many pundits, certainly at the time, gave them that accolade. Some said they were the best ever. When you have a healthy Bill Walton coming off the bench as the 6th man (he won 6th Man of the Year) behind Larry Bird (won MVP and was an All Star, obviously), Kevin McHale (All Defensive 1st Team and All Star), Dennis Johnson (All Defensive 2nd Team), Danny Ainge, and Robert Parrish (All Star), and all playing at a legendary level, then you have an unbelievable team. They finished 67-15 that season. The Rockets won more games (series went 6 games) against the Celtics that any other team the guys in green played that year in the playoffs. The Rockets were considered by the media to be at the beginning of a dynasty that would contend for years. Then the White Powder and Ralph's injury (in the Finals series against Boston) put paid to those dreams. It was maddening at the time. Had that Rockets team stayed together and healthy? Championships.
The Celtics and the Lakers of the 80s were legit Dynasties . Beating the Lakers showed our potential being realized.
Ralph's shot is the best. It was such an improbable shot and it beat one of the greatest teams in the history of the NBA on their home floor to send us to the Finals. It really put the Rockets on the map as we hadn't done much before that, aside from 1 Finals appearance. Look at all we've done since then. Perennial playoff team. Mario's shot was probably the most important, but it was against the Suns who don't even compare with the showtime lakers in their prime.
Absolutely right, really great post/insight! Man it's the what if thing again, with the damn injury/powder mess up etc, always been plagued in Houston sports by something. I'm so happy we got 94 and 95 even if the media forgot about the Rockets after 86 we certainly did not.
Ralph was injured in the Finals? I've never heard that before. Always heard it was the following season. Is that why he went 1/13 in game one?
Sampson had a terrible fall in Boston, which hurt his back and his hip. You could hear the smack of his back hitting the hardwood from one of those falls where he could do nothing to protect himself. The Boston crowd was dead silent for a moment, stunned. He shook it off, but unfortunately, the fall had a long term impact. That's what I recall hearing during the next season when he just didn't look "right" and there was speculation as to why. My understanding is that he started running a bit differently as a result of the Boston incident and it did a number on his knees. He also began to have issues with his back that he couldn't ignore. Ralph was never the same player after that. If my memory is off, someone will point it out, I'm sure. I would have to do a little digging to recall which game it was. I did! Actually, it was an earlier game in Boston. Here's a quote from Clutch that would confirm that it wasn't the series (and I would have sworn that it was), but earlier (the hazards of getting older, I guess -- where's my memory?). The link will give you the whole excellent column, plus highlights! From Clutch: June 5, 2011 A few thoughts about this game, series and Rockets era: For a short time, Ralph Sampson was a great player (MVP of the All-Star Game in 1985) and the sky seemed to be the limit, but injuries really tore him down. He had a scary fall, landing flush on his back, earlier in the season (coincidentally in Boston) and as a result of compensating for his hip pain, he developed knee problems. This fight also hurt Sampson’s image and, in a way, was the beginning of the end, just a few weeks after his miracle shot to beat the Lakers had the city hoisting him on its shoulders. The media blasted Sampson. Celtics players took shots in the press, with Sichting saying that his “little brother” had hit him harder and that he didn’t know if it was a “punch or a mosquito.” Larry Bird couldn’t believe Sampson picked a fight with Sichting. “Heck, my girlfriend could beat [Sichting] up,” said Bird. Celtics fans were merciless, taunting Sampson in Game 6 with chants and Boston passed out signs that read, “Sampson is a Sissy.” We thought we had a Rockets dynasty in the making, but a year and a half later, Sampson was shipped to Golden State and the Rockets were struggling to find the right puzzle pieces. Spoiler [*]No suspensions were given out for this fight, despite roundhouses flying all over the place. Think the league has changed since then? Rod Thorn, then the VP of operations, said there were no suspensions because it wasn’t “premeditated.” Now that’s funny. “[Sampson] threw a bunch of punches, and connected with three or four, but we’re trying to take into consideration that it wasn’t premeditated,” said Thorn. “I think you’ll see, at the start of next season, that if we continue to have violent incidents, we’ll suspend people. But we didn’t want to start here. The Celtics and Rockets were playing an important game, were on an emotional high, and we didn’t feel the situation warranted a suspension. What happened appeared to be spontaneous, but we don’t want to have another Rudy Tomjanovich incident, either. We have huge people involved, and they’re not on hockey skates, where people don’t have leverage. We have to do everything in our power to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” [*]Youth vs. Experience. The Celtics were used to the physical play and the Rockets weren’t. This is probably illustrated best by Hakeem Olajuwon (then “Akeem”), who just comes flying in to the pile throwing haymakers with no regard for human life, connecting with Bird’s back and Dennis Johnson’s face. Olajuwon had an amazing playoff run, but was kicked out of critical games for fighting/arguing — Game 6 in Denver (final game of series), Game 5 in Los Angeles (final game of series) and this elimination game against Boston. He had a lot of maturing to do … and mature he did. [*]This fight ignited a brief inferno under the Rockets, who led by just one at the time. They proceeded to blowout Boston, outscoring them by 23 points in the middle periods. Robert Reidhad 17 assists, with 13 of them coming in one half, but it was really the Dream who stepped up huge — Akeem just started wrecking shop from that point against the Celtics’ historic front line, finishing with 32 points, 14 boards and 8 blocks. Some of his highlights are just sick. http://rockets.clutchfans.net/1626/ralph-sampson-punches-jerry-sichting/
I was just stating a shot that was impressive I never said it was the best Others posted other shots to
