My 4 finalists in no perticular order: Francis over Jahidi White, you know the one. Barkley's last shot and rebound of his career. Francis passes the ball to himself off the backboard for the easy 2 in front of the hostile Vancouver fans showing them waht they missed. Barkley beating up Shaq. ------------------
As for individual performances, I'd include Cato's crucial 4th q block of Shaq in the game of the year. Discounting individual performances, to me the best play of the year was the Seattle game-winner called from the bench and executed perfectly. That one's for Flash. I have that on tape still. You can see the defense one-by-one try to deal with 4 different threats, before they had to give up a wide-open shot to Walt in the weak-side corner. It might look mundane, cause we swung the ball around the horn, but look at the defense. You could tell they chose that shot as the least of their worries.
Barkley for sure. It sums up the season. A goodbye to a guy with a lot of heart. Drexler, Barkley, Dream -- and then it will be a whole new era. Would have been nice if they could have left togther. It hurts to say goodby to one a year. ------------------ Stay Cool...
HP- actually, I read some interviews in a recap from that Seattle game (maybe in the Chronicle?) that Rudy wanted the shot to be taken at the last moment possible, straight to the rack. In a way, Wiz sort of disobeyed. But what choice did he have? Check the tape again, it's so beautiful it makes me chuckle. I saw it live. Wiz is so wide open he actually hesitates for a split second (maybe even darts a look to the bench) before draining the three. Certainly not a broken play, but not exactly what Rudy was looking for. In an interview he said something about how the same thing happened that clinched them a playoff series. It truly was beautiful. Who would have thought that the Rockets would be picking apart the Sonics with perfectly executed playmaking in the final play of the game. Not to mention how wonderfully they defended the inbounds to seal the victory. ------------------
Yep, I saw an interview of with the Wiz a few days after that shot and basicaly everybody just kept rotating a man away and were two concerned with Cuttino and Steve and Walt was so wide open he had no choice to take the shot. ------------------
yesh Nolen...that makes sense. I remember Shandon took one step daringly, and mobes staring at Barry for a 2 count but couldn't ignore how wide open Walt was. Also, Cato has a man pinned under the hole as the alley oop threat as soon as Francis was doubled. Mobes could have taken his man and still had Walt to pass back too. Maybe that would have been better...let Mobley attack baseline with Cato under the hole and Walt still available in the corner. Walt needed the ball though. I was glad Mobes gave up the ball to allow Walt the final drive or shot being that wide open. Calvin did yell "Not Yet, Not Yet, Oh yeah!!"
Is this supposed to be good plays of the year? or bad ones? The killer for the seaon had to be when Dream and Barkley were injured. It would have been an interesting year to watch Franchise, Shandon and Mobley running with Dream and Barkley posting down low. I believe the Rockets really could have been spoilers in the west, possibly knocking off LA in the process ------------------ I had amnesia once or twice. [This message has been edited by BobFinn* (edited April 25, 2000).]
