[official Rocket Hero] Kenny Smith Appreciation Thread/Education

another person with lack of knowledge.

that was 7 3-pointers.

(June 7, 1995) The Orlando Magic thought they had it won in the second quarter, should have won it in the fourth quarter, and watched it all slip away in overtime. The Magic held a 20-point lead in the second period, but saw it shrink to 11 points going into halftime of Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals. Orlando held a 110-107 lead with 10.5 seconds left in the game when Nick Anderson missed four straight free throws to give the Rockets life. Kenny Smith then drilled his NBA Finals-record seventh three-pointer to send the game into overtime. The two teams played to an overtime score of 118-118 with mere seconds left. Clyde Drexler drove the lane but had to change his shot to avoid Shaquille O'Neal. Hakeem Olajuwon was in perfect position to tip in the miss and give the Rockets a 120-118 win. "Hakeem didn't know his shot had beat the buzzer until Mario (Elie) and I told him we had just won the game," Smith said.

 

i believe you are the troll. IC2000TROLLS.

what do you have say about Kenny but hate? nothing. why are you on the appreciation thread? why don't you go a JVG thread. but you can't. cause you know this is the best thread right now.

and you just replying mindlessly to this thread, maybe not a troll. Definitely a lemming.

 

i really want you to keep replying to this thread cause you have nothing better to do.

 

please keep replying without anything related to the topic.

 

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1994_1247045
Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Date: SUN 12/25/1994


Some "fans' a disgrace

I am greatly disgusted and must speak my mind. As I walk anywhere in this town, proudly donning my Oilers jacket, I am ridiculed and laughed at. I hear comments such as, "Why are you wearing that piece of junk" and "You like the Oilers!" I cannot believe this city's attitude.

I sent a letter last year to show my support for the Oilers, and I feel I must do so again.

What kind of town do we live in? Walking through my own school, I see people wearing Cowboys jackets and 49ers jerseys, yet very few even consider wearing Oiler paraphernalia. One would think that the Cowboys are the home team here.

This town has a terrific football team. In times such as now the Oilers need our support and understanding more than anything. They need to know that we still care for them and that we know good times are ahead.

I say to the moronic fools of this town that you don't deserve such a team as the Houston Oilers. I also say to the Oiler organization that you still have some fans and we love you. Amol Gavankar Houston

Equal play -- "We Three Kings (Sports 2, Dec. 18) is a clever lead-in, though a bit much. It simply reinforces the extreme veneration of football as religion -- locally and nationally. I too appreciate the athletic prowess of those three fine young men. But please, give equal press to the academe. Rosemary Mackin Houston

In praise of Kenny -- I do not feel that Kenny Smith is getting the credit he deserves for his contribution on the court.

Go back and check the videotapes for the Rockets' success and losses with the two different point guards on the court. Against .500 or better teams, Houston has won almost all periods of playing time with Kenny Smith and has lost almost all periods of playing time with Sam Cassell. Even the announcers are realizing this, or they are stating that the Rockets win with Kenny Smith.

Both last year and this year -- most of the time -- we won with Kenny Smith on the court and suffered losses with Sam Cassell on the court as point guard. However, the times (coach) Rudy (Tomjanovich) has played both Sam Cassell and Kenny Smith at the same time have been very successful. In the Charlotte game Dec. 8 (a 101-95 Rockets victory), the only time the team won was when both Kenny Smith and Sam Cassell were on the court.

The Rockets are not as effective a team with Sam Cassell as they are with Kenny Smith. There is not much teamwork. Each player starts to do his own thing. It appears Hakeem (Olajuwon) feels it is not going to get done unless he makes the effort to do it himself. Max (Vernon Maxwell) becomes an individual player, too. This results in shots being taken before good shots are earned. On the defensive end, the Rockets are not as effective on defense. The opposition plays better together with Sam in the game than with the five starters in the game. Sam fouls more than Kenny. Sam turns the ball over more than Kenny.

Truthfully, we need both Kenny Smith and Sam Cassell on the team. They are different style players and it is good to disturb the opposition's defensive efforts with variety. However, I feel as many, many people I've talked with that Kenny is the better, stronger, more dependable player and shooter, and the best team leader of the two.

Someone has to give Kenny Smith credit. Virginia Coleman Houston

Chronicle invites letters

The Chronicle welcomes letters from readers. Address letters to the Sports Editor, Houston Chronicle, 801 Texas Avenue, Houston 77002 or FAX to (713) 220-7866. Letters must include writer's name and full address. Please include telephone number for verification. Letters are subject to editing.

 

keep replying. i promise i won't answer, just making you reply so you can waste your time and keep the post count high on this thread.

please. thank you.

 

i didn't write that article, someone who wanted Kenny to get some credit. those were opinions from fans back in the day. Back in the day, it was a tandem of Kenny/Sam in the back court. Kenny was the starter. Rudy T was the coach, he wanted it that way and he put the players in which he felt would be best in each situation.

so if you hate on Kenny splitting time. then you must hate Rudy T's coaching philosophy that year... you know, the one where we win the championship.

props to Virginia Coleman of Htown, if she's still alive.

 

here's a good article of Kenny being a peace maker and how the Rockets were always getting screwed by the refs.


Paper: HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Date: SAT 12/24/1994
Section: Sports
Page: 1
Edition: 3 STAR

Rockets homered for the holidays

By DALE ROBERTSON
Staff

SAN ANTONIO -- A year ago, the Rockets win this game.

Then again, maybe they don't if Tommy Nunez had been refereeing it.

Houston, everyone chip in and let's buy Nunez a Christmas present. How about some eyeglasses? No, his vision's worse than that. How about a seeing-eye dog? Either Nunez had it in for the Rockets Friday night or Dennis Rodman's hair blinded him.

If Vernon Maxwell traveled with 18 seconds left, giving the Spurs the ball and Rudy Tomjanovich a sudden, severe case of the crazies, then I'm Santa Claus.

For the record, I am not Santa Claus.

Tomjanovich got so upset at Nunez he ripped his suit coat off and flung it. His pants and shoes might have gone, too, if Kenny Smith hadn't put his arms around him and held on to him for dear life. Although Vinny Del Negro missed the resulting technical -- a brief reprieve for Rudy -- would-be Rocket Sean Elliott didn't miss his winning jumper and the Rockets had to swallow a bitter 98-96 defeat.

They did not, mind you, leave town in the proper holiday spirit. Peace on earth, good will toward men? Not as long as Nunez, a longtime adversary of Hakeem Olajuwon for reasons nobody can put a finger on, resides on the planet as a homo sapien. ....

Silent night in locker room

Afterwards, the Rockets stood around the locker room, watching the videotaped replay of the call and seething. Every time they saw the same thing, Elliott hand-checking Maxwell as he tried to drive the lane. Every time a chorus of grumbling and chortling erupted. Ordinarily, I hate to take sides in these "we wuz robbed" post-game snits, but the Rockets were absolutely right to be irate.

If Max was traveling, there is traveling on every play in every NBA game.

"Losing like we did tonight hurts the worst," Smith admitted, gritting his teeth to keep from saying what he wanted to say, which would have lightened his wallet.

Hakeem had already spoken his mind on the court in the early moments, and received a T from you know who for his candid assessment of Nunez's competence, or lack thereof.

"I shut up after that," Olajuwon said. "He was looking for an excuse to give me another and throw me out."

Olajuwon wound up playing only 32 minutes -- and some of those on eggshells -- because of nagging foul trouble, but the Rockets held their own rather nicely without him, turning up the heat in the third quarter particularly with a show of force reminiscent of their routine heroics a year ago.

Ironically, it was almost exactly a year ago that they pulled out an impossible victory right here, courtesy of Maxwell's last-second shot. Sure, you remember the win, which left the Rockets 22-1 and seemingly bound for the greatness they came to verify by claiming Houston's first-ever world championship.

Now, they're just faces in the crowd again, a relatively pedestrian 14-9 and no more of a force than any of a half-dozen teams in the wild, wild West. Putting up a helluva fight on the road against a foe of San Antonio's merit while saddled with some goofy officiating used to count for something, but the Rockets have advanced beyond that with their newfound stature.

Close doesn't cut it anymore. ....

Rodman nothing but ornament

The Spurs, for their part, lead the league in weird hair and bad tattoos, and have a six-game winning streak to boot. You have to admire the Rockets' effort in light of this, I suppose, because it's hard enough just to keep a straight face, much less an accurate shooting trajectory, when you're on the court with them.

Rodman's head, to cite the obvious example, looked as though it should have been on a Christmas tree instead of his neck. I have no idea what the red male symbol -- against a field of glow-in-the-dark green fuzz -- meant and I had no intentions of asking him.

But let us bless the Worm for his festive adornment and also forgive him for he surely knows not what he does.

Even Spurs coach Bob Hill, who could pass for a televangelist with his styled silver mane, stands out in a crowd, although to mention his distinguished 'do in the same sentence with Rodman's bizarre doo-doo does Hill a terrible disservice. He merely appears a little too slick for his own good.

He's not a very good basketball player at present, either, having spent most of the season on various leaves of absence, paid and unpaid while trying to get his head -- and hair -- together. He tended to only get in the way while he was on the court agains the Rockets, who paid him no mind.

Worm first turned up with the Spurs ahead 18-6 and holding a 10-3 rebounding advantage. Both quickly disappeared. He stayed rooted on the bench, a living ornament, during the frantic finish when San Antonio was doing everything right and Houston, regurgitating a disturbing pattern of late, was doing everything wrong.

With ample help from Nunez, of course.

 

where's the examples of him dissing the Rockets?
where's the INCORRECT ANALYSIS of the Rockets?

yeah along time ago. some people don't appreciate history. that's why they go on appreciation threads right?

This thread is for the ones who do appreciate the old days. the Summit, the red and gold, the CALVIN MURPHY/WORRELL 20 VISION Crew. The crappy Gallery Furniture store.

Hakeem was here along time ago too.

 

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