I miss the feeling that were probably going to win alsmost every game. I miss Hakeem blocking shoots. I miss the Championship logo and unis. I miss the food at the Compaq Center when I am at the Toyota Center.
Those were the best years and I remember like it was yesterday...the entire city was upside down with excitement and joy. I remember jumping in my car and riding down Richmond to celebrate with the other crazy rocket fans...seems like half the city was out that night having a blast! Rudy was incredible and alway intense...every possession and you're afraid to move because you might miss something great. Remember game 7 of the '94 series when Dream got a fingernail on that shot by John Starks...just enough to keep it from going in? Remember the next year in Utah when Kenny was unconscious from the 3-pt line and he later was shooting lights out in game one against Shaq and Penny in the finals? Madd Max quit the team and they just kept getting better after that first round with Clyde the Glide...you knew it was fate and our year when Nick missed not one but two big freethrows in game 1 of the finals @ Orlando... Wouldn't it be nice if Houston gets the 2nd or 3rd seed and has to beat the Clips in Rd 1 and then face SA or Dallas in Rd 2...how sweet would that be. I want us to face the best and win even when we're not playing out best...don't peek too soon but get better each month and just be dangerous in April and May when I'll guarantee that nobody is going to want to face us in a 7 game series.
I lived in Dallas for a few years and I can only say one thing...I'm glad to be back home in Houston...and I hope the Rocks crush Avery's team this year. Even Avery favors Houston...his primary residence is in H-town...
For people who have forgotten or don't know about the origins of "Clutch City", from nba.com: I remember it annoyed me when the Rockets beat the Knicks and Costas held up the Chronicle and said "here is the headline for tomorrow's paper - Champions" when The Post had the much better headline of "Champ City" because it ended the trilogy of Choke, Clutch, and Champ - tied into new Rockets lore. Crappy Chronicle.
The whole Choke City thing actually had its origins in the Houston Sports psyche long before the Rockets of '94. For those unaware or too young to remember, Houston had at that time already set the "Gold" standard for high-profile choking (see UH vs NC State & Oilers vs Buffalo). So when the '94 Rockets coughed up 18 & 20 pt leads in consecutive home games (the 20 pt lead in game 2 they lost in just the 4th quarter alone!) ... it was too much for us to take. The feeling was "Oh my God, here we go again." The headline CHOKE CITY was, IMO, accurate in expressing the feeling of local sports fans. It was terrible! So utterly humiliating for this crap to come just 2 years off the Oilers' infamous debacle vs Buffalo. Definitely one of the lowest moments in my life as a Houston fan. But when those legendary '94 Rockets unexpectedly came back to take 2 must-win road games to even up the series, the feelings suddenly flipped 180 degrees to CLUTCH CITY. By later winning it all, they took us on one heck of a crazy roller coaster ride. As for the '95 Rockets, there wasn't much choking involved. They just went on one of the greatest playoff runs of all time and totally legitimized their claim to the CLUTCH CITY name by shocking the world with classic perfomances of "The Kiss of Death," "The Real MVP," and "Sweeping out the Shaq."
