[official Rocket Hero] Kenny Smith Appreciation Thread/Education

Have some facts and history of our beloved Kenny. For some idiots, Kenny only played 1 game for the Rockets. To us REAL FANS, we know he was a critical part of all out great teams.

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1991_773486
Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Date: FRI 03/29/1991
Section: Sports

Soaring Rockets win 13th in row

By EDDIE SEFKO
Staff

ATLANTA - The Rockets are a lot like that battery commercial with that silly rabbit playing the drum.

They keep going and going and going.

Just when it looked like the energy was sapped out of the Rockets' winning streak, they were jump-started to victory.

Vernon Maxwell scored five points in the final 47 seconds, including a 22-foot jumper with eight seconds to go for the game-winner, as the Rockets nudged the Atlanta Hawks 112-111 Thursday night at the Omni.

In a game the Rockets seemed destined to lose, they responded at crunch time for their 13th consecutive victory.

"I think," said Hakeem Olajuwon, "we've forgotten how to lose."

If it's selective amnesia, the Rockets don't ever want to remember.

They have won 25 of 29 games since they were 20-20 in late January. Their road record is 17-16, the best in franchise history after 33 games.

And most important, they are 45-24 overall, keeping the pressure squarely on Utah and San Antonio in the Midwest Division race.

While Otis Thorpe anchored the Rockets most of the game with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Kenny Smith and Maxwell were the sparks that snatched this victory. The pair combined for 15 of the Rockets' last 21 points in the final, frantic six minutes.

With the Rockets trailing 108-105, Maxwell got free for a three-pointer. To that point, he had missed 10 of 14 field-goal attempts.

He nailed the three to tie the game with 47 seconds to play.

Dominique Wilkins scored for the Hawks, but Thorpe laid in a follow shot with 24 seconds left and was fouled.

When he missed the shot, the game remained tied and Atlanta's Doc Rivers was fouled on the rebound by Buck Johnson.

Rivers made one of two shots with 22 seconds showing as the Hawks went on top 111-110.

Coach Don Chaney wanted Smith to orchestrate the final play, and he ran the pick-and-roll with Thorpe and found Maxwell open near the three-point line at the top of the key.

Maxwell faked a shot, eluded a defender, and fired a jumper with one shoe extending just inside the three-point line.

It was perfect, putting the Rockets up with eight seconds to play.

"Vernon had told me his man was leaving when I would drive off the pick-and-roll," Smith said. "He said to look for him and that's what I did. The play worked perfectly and he hit the shot."

It's the kind of play the Rockets have pulled off time and again during their streak.

"It always happens, doesn't it?" Chaney said afterward. "The guy who misses and misses and misses the whole game - boom! - when the game is on the line, he hits the big shot.

"I'll say this about Vernon and Kenny. They've got guts. In fact, this whole team is refusing to lose right now. That's our motto."

Smith, the former Hawk who was acquired by the Rockets for Tim McCormick before the season, was greeted before the game with mild cheers.

Then he showed the Atlanta fans what they lost when he was traded away, finishing with 25 points and 13 assists.

"There wasn't anything extra special about coming back," he said. "The big thing that makes it special is that we're doing things that nobody has ever done for this franchise before."

While Sleepy Floyd had an off game with just four points, Smith and Maxwell more than held their own.

"Max made some big, big plays down the stretch," said Olajuwon, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds, but was hounded by foul trouble in the second half.


"Kenny did a fantastic job of making things happen, and Otis was excellent at both ends. This team is gaining confidence."

That confidence showed in many ways on Thursday, because the Rockets did not play a crisp game for the first three quarters.

What they lacked early was the consistent shooting and quickness that destroyed Chicago on Monday. Their problems could have been traced to the two days off and the post-Bull letdown.

Whatever, the Rockets trailed by six points early, regained a 70-62 lead with an 18-6 streak in the third quarter, but never had complete control.

Ahead 89-79, the Rockets hurt themselves with silly fouls. The Hawks even got a four-point play when Maxwell nicked Doc Rivers midway through the fourth quarter. Rivers hit a three-pointer from the corner, then sank the free throw.

That play closed a seven-point game to 91-88 and ensured the Rockets would have to sweat this one out to the bitter end, which actually was very sweet.

 

Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Date: SAT 11/02/1991

Rockets edge LA in 2 OT/Lakers lose Magic 126-121

By EDDIE SEFKO
Staff

Do you suppose this is how the Atlanta Braves started, too?

Going against their longtime tormenters from Los Angeles, the Rockets needed two overtimes to finally subdue a shorthanded Lakers team 126-121.

The Rockets survived a frightful post-Halloween scare in their season opener by finally outlast a Lakers team that forced the game into the late hours with some amazing heroics.

To say the least, it wasn't easy.

Otis Thorpe scored on a slam after a lob pass to put the Rockets up 123-118 with 1:25 to play in the second OT.

The Lakers cut it to 123-121 with 44.9 seconds to go, but Kenny Smith and Thorpe combined for three free throws in the final 32 seconds to cinch the win.

The Lakers, playing without Magic Johnson and with Sam Perkins missing the final three quarters, took a 94-93 lead into the final 90 seconds.

Sleepy Floyd, who was granted the starting point guard job over Kenny Smith, hit an off-balance 20-footer with 1:11 to play that put the Rockets up 95-94.

The Lakers got exactly the shot they were looking for when Byron Scott, who had burned the Rockets all night, was left open from 20 feet on the wing. But his shot was off and the Rockets regained possession.

However, when Floyd missed a jumper, A.C. Green grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 32.6 seconds to play.

After a timeout, Green, who had 23 points and 12 rebounds, missed both free throws.

The Rockets ran the clock down until Kenny Smith was fouled with 9.9 seconds left. Smith sank both shots and it's a good thing.

In the whatever-can-go-wrong-will world that the Rockets live in, the Lakers worked the ball over to Worthy, who launched a three-pointer over the outstretched arms of Matt Bullard that was all net.

Overtime No. 1.

The Rockets played dead-even with the Lakers for the first two minutes of the extra frame.

Tied at 103, the Rockets got an 18-foot jumper by Kenny Smith. LA loused up its opportunity to tie when Vlade Divac couldn't handle a pass into the paint and lost the ball.

Running their patented pick-and-roll play, Smith fed Otis Thorpe, who missed a layup, but was fouled. The two free throws with 2:20 to go put Houston up 107-103.

Elden Campbell made one free throw but Hakeem Olajuwon hit two with 56.2 seconds left to put the Rockets up 109-104.

But Worthy struck again with a three-pointer with 37.9 seconds to go, pulling the Lakers within two.

Olajuwon canned a 10-foot jump hook with 15.2 seconds left and the 115-111 Rockets lead looked quite substantial.

But they didn't plan on the longest 15 seconds of their lives.

LA inbounded and Worthy, who was beginning to look like Michael Adams by this point, pounded home another three-pointer with 11.1 seconds to go.

Up by a slim point, the Rockets were immediately sent to the free throw line when Sleepy Floyd was fouled. He made one of two free throws, and the Rockets had a flimsly 112-110 advantage.

The Lakers came back with a disorganized play that netted them only Byron Scott's 20-footer. It was way off, but there was plenty of time for not one, but two tips, the second of which Campbell coaxed over the front of the rim.

Overtime No. 2.

Again, the teams traded punches until Kenny Smith knocked down a three-pointer with 2:44 to go, putting the Rockets up 119-116.

The Lakers missed a chance to tie when Green hit a layup but missed the free throw after he was fouled.

With a sliver of an opening, the Rockets got consecutive baskets by Thorpe to open up a 123-118 lead. The second bucket was a slam off a lob pass from Kenny Smith.

Ahead by 5 with 1:25 to go, the Rockets persevered.

They had finished the third quarter with an abominable stretch as the Lakers went ahead 76-69. And the worst was yet to come.

When Dave Jamerson started the fourth period by firing an airball and having a drive rejected by Elden Campbell.

Both led to Laker baskets and an 80-69 LA lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

In need of a spark, the Rockets got it from the tandem of Smith & Smith. Larry and Kenny, that is.

Kenny Smith hit a three-pointer and Larry Smith followed with a tipin to make it 80-74.

After the A.C. Green scored for the Lakers, the Rockets scored nine unanswered points to pull into an 83-82 lead. All five players in the game at the time scored for the Rockets during the streak. Larry Smith's layup off a nice feed from Kenny Smith topped it off and the sellout crowd was rocking The Summit.

The Rockets were going with a front line of Olajuwon, Thorpe and Larry Smith and the combination had its hands full. Green, Elden Campbell and Worthy were matching the Rockets' trio point-for-point and rebound for rebound.

It was a Green's play down the stretch that kept the game tight.

Down 91-90, Green hit a 15-foot jumper with 3:10 to go. The Rockets countered with Olajuwon's slam of a Thorpe miss.

With the Rockets up by a point, they forced Sedale Threatt's missed 18-footer and had a chance to pad their lead.

However, Larry Smith was called for a three-second violation.

Worthy missed for the Lakers, but Green rebounded and was fouled. He put the Lakers back in front 94-93 with two free throws with 1:32 to go.

That set up the titillating final seconds, which turned into the final extra periods.

As if the loss of Johnson wasn't bad enough for the Lakers, the Rockets got another break when Sam Perkins went out after getting poked in the eye with 23.4 seconds left in the first quarter.

Perkins suffered a corneal abrasion and was done for the evening.

The Rockets already were well on their way to a large lead. It got as big as 40-24 midway through the second quarter.

But while this may be a new rendition of the Rockets, they still have some of the old habits, such as never making anything easy on themselves.

Thanks to a horrid rebounding effort in the second quarter, the Lakers blazed back into the hunt by going on a 14-2 surge that sliced the Rockets' lead to 42-38.

The Rockets were absolutely terrible during the stretch, backing off defensively to allow Worthy to get free for four points and Byron Scott to sink three baskets.

Olajuwon helped the Rockets regroup with a pair of buckets and a free throw, while Bullard canned a jumper to get the Rockets back out to a 49-38 lead.

But when a team goes through a quarter shooting only 36 percent, such as the Rockets did in the second period, it can't expect to maintain a lead, much less build on it.

The Rockets didn't, but it came as no surprise to coach Don Chaney

"Against the Lakers, you know you're not going to have an easy go of it," Chaney said. "You know even if you get a big lead on them, they're going to come back on you."

Well, you'd like to think that without Magic and without Perkins it might be a little tougher on them.

Of course, the Rockets weren't full strength either, what with Buck Johnson and Carl Herrera out. But it wasn't so much the Lakers' small forward, Worthy, who tormented the Rockets.

But with Scott and A.C. Green leading the charge, the Lakers did chip away. They started the third quarter down 51-46, but it took only 2:27 for the Lakers to move into a 52-51 lead.

It wasn't until five minutes of the second half expired that the Rockets scored their first basket after the intermission. And they didn't exactly come in bunches thereafter.

When Scott made four free throws for the Lakers, it put them up 58-54. The margin stayed at four until Maxwell, who was having an awful shooting night, put down a wide-open 18 footer and hit two free throws to knot the score at 62.

They still were tied up at 69, but the Rockets finished the third quarter with a pitiful series of possessions.

LA's Elden Campbell went up for a tough slam and was fouled by Olajuwon. The free throw put the Lakers up by three.

Dave Jamerson then tossed up a foul ball for the Rockets and Worthy was left wide-open for a 15-foot jumper at the other end. On the Rockets' next possession, Kenny Smith misfired and that led to a breakaway dunk by Byron Scott.

The Rockets finished the third quarter by failing to get a shot off, the 24-second clock expiring on them.

After those final three possessions, the Rockets deserved to be a lot further behind than 76-69.

 

Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Date: SUN 03/22/1992
Section: Sports
Page: 6
Edition: 2 STAR

Pair of big wins in the spotlight

Staff


Rockets 106, Jazz 97

Kenny Smith, staring at point guard extraordinaire John Stockton all night, turned in one of his best performances of the season to lead the Rockets to a victory over the Utah Jazz at The Summit.

The Rockets soared to a 25-point lead in the second quarter, then held their composure in the second half for their seventh consecutive home win.

They are 10-4 under Rudy Tomjanovich and won for the first time against Utah after three losses by an average of 20 points this season.

And it was largely Smith's doing. He carved through the Jazz for 28 points and had nine assists. He hit 10 of 11 free throws, the most trips he has taken to the line since Nov. 16.

"It's getting to where Kenny has got to be mentioned with some of the top point guards in the league," Tomjanovich said. "He's been playing extremely well for us and he's finishing plays now."

Smith mutilated the Jazz on the pick-and-roll play, slicing through the defense for several uncontested drives to the basket. And when a defender was there, Smith wasn't afraid to initiate the contact and draw the foul.

Buck Johnson hit a crucial 18-foot jumper from the wing on the play that sealed the win.

"They wore me out tonight," Smith said. "That's the most I've gotten to look at the rim and make decisions on the drive in a long time."

Back a mere 40 games or so, Smith swallowed hard and said he didn't mind taking the blame during a particularly bad portion of the Rockets' season. But he expected the praise to be equal when -- if? -- the good times rolled.

Well, the good times are rolling. The Rockets' win firmed up their grip on a Western Conference playoff spot.

For Utah, it was its second defeat in two nights, after a loss to San Antonio on Saturday. The Jazz's lead over the Spurs in the Midwest Division is a modest two games.

Utah's comeback was possible because Karl Malone and Stockton picked the Jazz up by themselves. Malone, after just six points in the first half, scored 30 in the second. Stockton, battling Smith all night, had 25 points and 16 assists. But it wasn't enough.

"We got into our pick-and-roll game late and that was the difference," Tomjanovich said. "Kenny did a great job using all the options."

The Jazz had chipped away at the Rockets' huge lead, which was 55-30 late in the second quarter. Utah went on a 51-30 run that carried into the early portion of the fourth quarter.

Malone, who had an 18-point third quarter, scored seven of the Jazz's points and Stockton hit a jumper to cap an 11-point surge early in the final period.

The Rockets were up by only four with 1:30 to go after Malone's layup pulled the Jazz within 98-94.

That's when the pick-and-roll best served the Rockets. They had worked the play for two baskets to keep Utah from creeping closer than four points. But with the pressure on, Smith worked the play to perfection.

He used Otis Thorpe's pick and slashed into the paint. With defenders closing from all sides, he passed to Johnson, who was on the wing and wide-open. His jumper swished with 1:10 to go.

"I'm open on the jumper a lot of times because of the way the defenses rotate," Johnson said. "All I have to do is make the shots.

"Kenny did a good job of looking for me in the corner."

Smith said the play, on which there are several options, worked to perfection.

"There's going to be something open on that play," he said. "Once you execute the pick-and-roll, all you have to do is look around and see what's there."

Often, it was Smith's lane to the basket, but Johnson did his part by sticking the jumpers.

After the play, the Jazz faltered, with Malone being called for an offensive foul and Stockton missing a 3-pointer.

Meanwhile, the Rockets made three of four free throws to move ahead 103-94 with less than a minute to play.

In all, it was a game in which the Rockets were able to prove to the Jazz, and to themselves, that they can compete with the Midwest Division leaders.

And given the possibility these teams could meet in the first round of the playoffs, any boost in confidence is valuable.

Even more so for Smith, who has toiled in the shadow of point guards like Stockton for the past few seasons.

 

Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Date: FRI 12/23/1994
Section: Sports


Smith gives Rockets needed boost/Guard equals season high with 25 points

By W.H. STICKNEY JR.
Staff

Kenny Smith sat at his locker in a state of amazement Thursday night after the Rockets' 114-106 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

The Rockets had come up with a victory they direly needed to bounce back from a fortnight of ineffectual play. But what had Smith agog was the revelation that not only had he equaled a season high with 25 points, but he had played 43 minutes, nearly a full regulation game, to easily reach another season milestone.

"Rudy (Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich) always says he goes on a feeling. I liked that feeling tonight," Smith said. "Any player likes to be in the flow. Fortunately, I was able to get into the flow tonight."

Like his Rockets teammates, Smith has been riding a roller coaster of late. He had reached a season high with 25 points in a Dec. 8 win over Charlotte during which he put in a career-high seven 3-pointers. But in the last two games before Thursday -- both losses -- against the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, Smith was a combined 9-for-20.

At halftime Thursday, Smith was 5-for-11 and 1-for-3 from the 3-point line. As a team, the Rockets were having difficulty finding the range, despite 14 points from Smith and 10 each from Hakeem Olajuwon and Otis Thorpe. Tomjanovich was concerned that the Rockets had made just 36 percent of their shots from the floor and were only 2-for-12 from the 3-point arc.

"I told the team at halftime they were getting great looks at the basket," Tomjanovich said. "I told them to have confidence and don't worry about a thing."

Smith certainly took the message to heart. He made all four of the shots he took in the final 24 minutes, including three from behind the 3-point line.

Asked if he entered the game -- and particularly the second half -- with a different plan of attack than in recent outings, Smith said no.

"It's the same as it's been in the last four or five games: Take the open shot, be aggressive and try to make plays," he said. "It's just that things are starting to fall into place for me."

The start of the third period turned into a mini-shootout between the Rockets and Suns. But a seven-point Houston lead was down to only 82-79 in the opening minutes of the fourth period.

That's when Smith stepped up and buried a 3-pointer that inflated the lead back to 85-79.

With 2:20 to play, reserve Mario Elie knocked down a 3-pointer that effectively put the game on ice for the Rockets at 111-102.

"The shots went for us," said Smith. "I think everyone in the arena expected us to take those shots. That's why they go down."

The Rockets also had some ball movement that Thorpe said had been somewhat lacking from their attack of late.

"With us moving the ball around like we did, it opened up things a lot. When we're moving the ball around, it gets guys involved," Thorpe said. "You had several guys who were in double figures tonight. Any time you move the ball around like that, you have so many different angles to shoot from that it makes us a lot more powerful."

And on this night, no one was more prolific from 3-point range than Smith.

"Any time he's shooting the ball that way, it opens up a lot for us," Thorpe said. "That gets the team going, really. Any time the outside shot is falling like that, a lot of guys get into it more.

"Those are the shots we ask him to take; those are the shots we want him to take, because that's the Kenny of old."

 

faithful? what predict us to win a championship every year? what kind of idiot would he look like?

its NOT KENNY SMITH that has to do something for the HOUSTON ROCKET FANS.
its the HOUSTON ROCKETS ( YAO, TMAC, ETC) that has to do so something..

ON THE COURT.

if Hakeem says that he thinks the Spurs (last year) were better than the Rockets, would you hate him too?

 

This is absolutely legit analysis.

1. Steve Francis - I know you homers think he's in all star form, but he hasn't been the same since he's left the Rox. Absolutely a good point, we don't know if he's All Star Steve or Isiah Thomas Knicks Steve.

2. Chemistry - all whole bunch of new players plus a new coach, quite obvious.

3. Rafer - how many Rafer threads were there last year? like 2 million?

4. The Yao/Tmac COEXIST = distribution of scoring NOT IF THEY LIKE EACH OTHER.

 

considering you have zero credentials as a Rockets fan, we take your posts as bad comedy.

Real Rocket fans know the greatness of Kenny Smith and that we haven't had a solid starting PG since Kenny Smith.

Let me help you cause you don't know anything about the Rockets.


Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE


'94 NBA FINALS/Smith's 3-pointer looking like a turnaround jumper

By DALE ROBERTSON
Staff

IT had come to this. Kenny Smith, still the Rockets' starting point guard, replaced rookie Sam Cassell with just under seven minutes left Sunday night and there was an audible murmur of concern, even displeasure, from the customers filling every nook and cranny of The Summit.

You didn't hear any boos, but you most assuredly didn't hear many cheers, either. Smith had become the Rockets' glaring un-hero in these NBA Finals, the one guy whose mettle clearly wasn't measuring up in the suffocating heat of battle.

In five games, he had made a sum total of seven baskets, having thrown up 30 shots. He was being physically overwhelmed by the Knicks' guards, particularly Derek Harper. Smith couldn't get the ball in play against Harper and he couldn't seem to hinder him much at the defensive end, either. They had become the mis-matchup of the series.

But Rudy Tomjanovich, who has guided the Rockets to within 48 minutes of a world championship coaching by the seat of his pants, summoned Smith this night in as tense a situation as they have yet confronted. Again a Houston lead was shrinking -- from 12 to four -- and now there were no more tomorrows left if it disappeared altogether.

Had Rudy T lost his mind? Didn't Cassell, despite his youth, have all the crunch-time credentials? Hadn't he been the fella Madonna wanted on her arm?

"Hey, Kenny's the starter," Cassell took it upon himself to remind everybody later. "The stuff he did down the stretch he's supposed to be able to do."

Indeed. What Kenny did down the stretch wasn't a lot, not in terms of statistical volume, but it gave the Rockets just enough breathing room to survive a predictably frightening closing flurry by the New Yorkers. First, Smith made a gallant stop on Harper, forcing him to brick an awkward 12-footer, then he calmly went to the Rockets' half of the court and sank a 3-pointer.

The Rockets suddenly led by seven and they would, in the end, find a way to survive, winning by two, 86-84, to force the sudden-death climax of a Game 7. Tomjanovich called the bucket, from straight up beyond the top of the key, "probably the biggest shot of his career." Smith said the same thing -- subtracting the "probably."

"I've never played in a game as big as this," he said, "so it has to be the biggest."

Fact is, it might have saved his career.

What it didn't do, Smith insisted, was redeem him. He said that wasn't necessary in the least despite the cacophony of criticism swirling about him.

"I don't feel any redemption or vindication," he replied to a direct question suggesting same. "Everybody wins together in here and everybody loses together.

"I know what I can do. I hadn't given up on myself. I wasn't scoring because I wasn't getting any clean looks at the basket. The Knicks don't leave me alone. I'm not going to score 25 points on that team."

No, he had scored 21 points total in the five previous games. But the opening -- the kind of opening the Rockets kept giving their Knicks counterparts -- finally came on a deftly executed pick and roll between Vernon Maxwell and Otis Thorpe. Thorpe took the pass from Max, New York doubled down and there stood Smith, all alone.

O.T. saw him and, showing poise himself, kicked the ball back out. Smith's arching jumper found nothing except net.

"That's a shot I can make when I get it," he said. "I haven't been getting it, that's all. I needed to find a spot where I had an opening, where I could see the bucket. I'd kill for the kind of looks the Knicks' guards have had."

Smith desperately needed that basket for himself and, truth to tell, he needed it to win back his teammates, some of whom were doubting him. Mario Elie had gone on the record in New York as saying, "Derek Harper's been having his way with Kenny."

Smith countered with some umbrage, blaming his lack of playing time for his lack of contribution.

"I'm not good enough to do it in 19 minutes," he groused.

The trouble was, he wasn't showing himself to be good enough or effective enough to deserve more minutes. The circle had become a vicious one, but only Smith could break it.

He had to take advantage of an opportunity, any opportunity, and do something important.

"I'm so happy for Kenny," Elie said Sunday night. "I'm glad Rudy showed faith in him. You could see his confidence come back when he made the shot."

He wouldn't score again, though, and he did badly miss his last attempt, jacking up an off-balance 10-footer after he had dribbled away most of the 24-second clock with the Rockets clinging precariously to their two-point advantage.

"I only had one or two seconds," he said. "I didn't know if I had time to pass or shoot. I decided to get the ball to the rim and hope the big fella (Hakeem Olajuwon) could get it if it didn't go. If I passed, the clock was probably going to run out and nothing good could happen."

Nothing good did happen, of course, but the last 6.9 seconds expired with nothing good happening for the Knicks, either. So the Rockets lived to fight another day and maybe, just maybe, on what will be the biggest night of their lives, they'll have a different Kenny Smith on their side.

A Kenny Smith who can make a difference.

They need that, you know. He's the starting point guard. He's supposed to do those things.

 

hey if you hate Kenny why are you on this thread?
that's pretty sad.

 

i know you agree with me. its for the haters.