This really is a sad day for me as he came to the Rockets back when I first started following them back in the late 70's as a kid. It tore me up when he left the Rockets to go to the Sixers. I would guess Hakeem probably got hit hard by this. Houston ended up trading Mo to the Sixers for Caldwell Jones and a pick that ended up being Rodney McCray (and should've been Clyde, dammit! lol). To this day I've never seen anybody work that hard and sweat so much in the low post. The dude was a beast down low, and he helped train Hakeem to be a great low post player, as well.
One of the best players ever to play in the NBA. Moses was flat out relentless. Thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones.
My favorite memories of Moses was his Rockets team beating on the Spurs in a playoff series and his play underneath the boards. A true legend that tutored the Dream on how to play in the NBA. RIP!
It's hitting you hard because you are a TRUE Rockets fan!!! Many of us here are old enough to remember him and how he took our team to the 1981 NBA Finals against the mighty Celtics. The team played its heart out and eventually lost in 6 against a team with THREE future HOF's! These memories are etched in every TRUE Rockets fan! Truly glad you are one of us hp!!!
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Barkley too. They were very close. Points and rebounds are nice, but real legends measure their legacy in the lives that they touch.
Stunned to here this news. Very sad day in Rockets history. Won 2 league MVPs as a Rockets and 3 total. He drug Houston to its very 1st NBA championship series. He was instrumental in Dreams early development. Just terrible news. RIP Moses.
The bulk of his playing career occurred before I became an avid follower of the NBA, so I missed seeing him in his prime. I remember when I first became interested in the NBA and especially its history, I was just amazed when going back through the historical stats and seeing all the records Moses had. He seemed to me to be an almost mythical figure, like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. It was always intriguing for me to see him playing in his last years, knowing how dominating a player he had been 10-15 years earlier. Such a shame to see anyone go before his time, and in this case its particularly heartbreaking that he passed away in a hotel room without his family and friends around him, without a chance to say goodbye. But, he will always be remembered as one of the greats, arguably the greatest post player of the 80s. Moses Malone, RIP.
