We'd rather pay to see somebody try their hardest and lose than someone half ass it all night and win. EXCEPTION: If you half ass it and win a championship ...ok. You da man. We love you even more. But if you half ass it and don't win, then your just a bum and stealing our money (we pay for the tickets).
http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/millennium_index.html (May 5, 1995) On the brink of elimination, the Rockets' two best players combined for one huge night. Clyde Drexler scored 41 points on 12-of-18 shooting, while Hakeem Olajuwon scored 40 points by connecting on 14-of-22 shots from the field as the Rockets pulled even with the Utah Jazz with a 123-106 win in Game 4 of the First Round of the 1995 NBA Playoffs. (May 21, 1994) From Choke City to Clutch City to the 1994 Western Conference Finals. The Rockets completed their comeback from an 0-2 deficit in the Western Conference Semifinals by winning Game 7 104-94 over the Phoenix Suns. "I'm so proud of this team, especially with the gigantic hole that we had to crawl out of," Rockets Head Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "This team has done it all year long." Hakeem Olajuwon led Houston with 37 points and 17 rebounds followed by rookie Sam Cassell with 22 points and seven assists. (June 7, 1995) As soon as Kenny Smith saw he was open, he knew he was about to send Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals to overtime. With 5.6 seconds left in the game and the Rockets trailing 110-107 to the Orlando Magic, Smith hit one of the biggest shots in Rockets history. "I got the ball, dribbled a little, then faked Penny (Anfernee Hardaway)," Smith said. "When I saw the basket, I knew I was going to make the shot." Smith drilled his NBA Finals-record seventh three-pointer to tie the game at 110 with 1.6 seconds left in regulation. The Rockets ended up winning the game 120-118 in overtime after trailing by as many as 20 points in the second quarter.
http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/millennium_index.html (May 16, 1995) Bill Worrell could tell something was wrong with Clyde Drexler the minute he saw him. "I've never seen an individual that sick in my life," the Rockets' television commentator said. Suffering from a bad case of the flu, Drexler made it to the arena 30 minutes before game time and put on his uniform. The Rockets, trailing 3-1 to Phoenix in the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals, were amazed that Drexler was going to play. He didn't play his usual amount of minutes, but Houston got 31 points from Hakeem Olajuwon to claim a 103-97 overtime win in Game 5 of the series. (May 13, 1994) Down by 12 points at halftime in Game 3 of the 1994 Western Conference Semifinals, Vernon Maxwell turned the Rockets into road warriors. After losing the first two games of the series to the Suns at home, Maxwell made sure Houston wouldn't go down 0-3 in Phoenix by scoring 31 second-half points to lead the Rockets to a 118-102 win. "We are back," Rockets Head Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "Phoenix still has home-court advantage, but the pressure is on them now. And it's a lot different playing when you're under pressure." (May 20, 1995) Everybody expected Mario Elie to throw the ball to Hakeem Olajuwon, but Elie had a feeling he was going to be the one to kiss the Phoenix Suns goodbye. With the score tied at 110 late in Game 7 of the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals, Robert Horry spotted Elie across the floor in perfect position to get the ball to Olajuwon. "Dream was wide-open, but I had my feet set. I let it go and it felt good," Elie said. As his shot swished through the net, he ran toward the Suns' bench and blew a kiss to let them know the game was over. The Rockets won 115-114.
exactly, i have never heard of or seen a team half-ass it to the championship. And no, heart does not mean winning a title, but when a talented team plays with heart, the chances go up immensely. For me, heart means the willingness to do what is needed for the team to win. That includes giving the effort every play. The Detroit Pistons that won the championship a few years back, that was a complete team that had heart. The talent level wasn't as good as the Lakers, but the Pistons were the better team. Each player knew their role and did that role as best they knew how.
I think talent and smarts can still out do "heart". remember playing against guys way bigger than you? they weren't into it but they still could win even though you were more determined. I think BB IQ is bigger than any thing in a team sport.
Only fools and no contract players will play with heart. If I was TMAC, the minute I singed the contract, I would be happy to be on the injury list through these years. I am going to be paid anyway, why waste my heart on stupid basketball? It is a business. It is a job. I would not do anything more than I was paid.
OP's reality is wins. If wins are most important to you, become a Celtics fan. My reality is being "happy with the process despite the outcome." I want to enjoy watching the Rockets, period. Other teams win more games, but I focus on the Rockets' process, and that enables me to continue to be a Rockets fan even when they do not have the top won-loss record.
Heart is when you put 100% effort into something regardless of the consequences. In basketball, you have heart when you dive for the ball even though you might get hurt. When the passion of the game supersedes you’re own physical well being. Heart is running up the floor when you feel you can’t run anymore. While other are turned to cowards because they are tired, a person with heart keeps moving. Heart is getting so focused in the game that the adrenaline helps you forget about your injuries. Heart is being told that you can’t do something, but you find something deep inside that allows you to do it anyway.
Why the request for a thesis on 'heart?' It's not complicated. You can't win a championship WITHOUT heart. Heart = effort w/ a goal to win. Some guys try to bump their stats. Some guys don't try at all. And some try to help their team in the best way they can -> heart. There is no guarantee of results due to effort, but you cannot have results w/out it.
echu888 is just bothered by the semantics here. If people weren't using a body part to assess the situation, he'd probably be okay with it. It's actually VERY simple if you don't try to MAKE it difficult: "Playing with heart" simply means doing your best and giving everything you've got more often than not. Grady has done so in less than half the games he's played this year. When the average fan can easily see a player give up defensively and allow an opponent to waltz in for an easy layup, there's a problem. The sad thing about the current Rockets situation is that last year's streak showed that this team is full of players who play with heart. If our leader decides the team is more important than he is and starts to PLAY like a leader, we'll win 70%-80% of our games. Until he does that, we'll win 50%-60% and end up playing with no home court advantage in the first round. Simple as that.
Now now. T-Mac's performance in the last playoffs, that was heart. T-Mac's Orlando days was pure heart because his teammates were horriffic. Adelman's Kings team was all heart. I define Heart as how badly you're willing to defy probability and luck.
WTF? I completely disagree. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IMk5sMHj58I&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IMk5sMHj58I&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> I think heart definitely has an affect on the outcome of a game but if you lose it anyway its worthless. I'd take a team full of heartless POS that win over a team full of hustling Ryan Bowen's that completely suck. But, i guess i'm the only one who cares about results. I seriously hope this doesn't turn into another dumbass Mcgrady thread. I think we have enough of those.
But the problem with that is, while pure talent will usually get you wins over the scrubs of the league, you are not going to be able to beat teams slightly below, at, or above your level without heart. 50-60 wins is nice, but they're worthless when you get trounced in an early round of the playoffs by an inferior but motivated team.
See i think this is the thing echu888 was getting at. People tend to be revisionists and call something heart when it's not. Tracy Mcgrady has NEVER played with heart (maybe for small stretches in the playoffs), he NEVER gives a full effort, he NEVER hustles for loose balls, he NEVER seems to play with a high energy level yet when he plays well and we win no one talks about it. The ONLY difference between Tracy when he played well and when he hasn't this season is that his jumpers were falling and he appears to be considerably more athletic (basically he can get by his man, regularly). He hasn't played with heart a single game this season.
If the Rockets didn't play with heart, the Magic would have steamrolled them in the Finals... Hell, every 60 win team they beat would have taken them out earlier. That's why people make such a big deal about it here. We've gone from the team nobody ever expected to do anything to becoming the overhyped, talented team like those Magic were.
A latest example to compare would be Bob Sura. This guy had bad knees bad back and all and the guy still gave it his all on the floor.
Winning is good, period. Losing is bad, period. If Jordan never loses to the bad boys and goes on to win a championship then it is better than if he lost. Moral victories are great as coaching tools, but i'm the rare fan that doesn't care for them. That's all i'm saying. ...and atleast that was in the freakin' conference finals.
