29 Years Ago Today - The Kiss of Death - Where Were You?

I know where I was. In front of my TV!

 

I was watching the game after hours in my boss's office at MTV in Times Square. I yelled so loud that someone reported it to security and two guards came to investigate.

 

At home in my living room watching the game. I think my dad was in there too. We watched a lot of those weekend playoff games together during that run. We also went to Game 4 vs Utah at The Summit in the first round.

 

I was living in Iowa, going to U of I. I literally kept walking in and out of the living room because I sometimes couldn't bear to watch.

When Mario Elie blew the kiss of death, oh my goodness, I don't remember if I laughed or cried....or both.

 

I was at Hermann Park because my parents who never watched sports thought it was such a beautiful day we just had to go have a family barbeque.

Oddly enough what I remember most wasn't that shot, but the fact that Kevin Johnson kept on getting FTs leading up to that shot, and if you ever thought watching FTs on TV was bad, imagine listening to FT shots on the radio. And finally at the end he bricked a FT which led to a tie game before Elie made his shot.

 

In the downstairs living room with my dad and brother losing my young mind. Great times!

 

I love it so much that Elie had a moment like this that will be played in NBA highlights until the end of time. The shot and gesture is so iconic it's up there with all the classics -- Reggie Miller choke, Shawn Kemp dunk and point, Rudy's 'heart of a champion' etc.

 

At my parent’s house with Dad…the house I grew up in, home for the summer. If you say now that you didn’t think or say “NO!” When he shot it, and Dream was down low single covered you’re a liar. God that was such a great moment.

I’ve said this at least 3x before here…but I went to Game 4 in 1995 (also was there Game 7 in 1994 wearing a Vernon Maxwell jersey so I’m spoiled)…woke up the next morning to go to work and I was shaving in the bathroom and my dad walked in and that was the first I had seen him since the morning before. I’ll never forget this (he’s 87 now and still alive and going to Vegas tomorrow) he said, “I’m so happy they won, but I’m so disappointed that it’s over…because I don’t think I’ll ever see anything like that again.”

He’s 87 and he doesn’t really watch the NBA anymore. But that team…and those moments…were so special, I know he and I will never forget them.

Which makes me sad for my older kid…his best moment as Rockets fan (AND HE’S A MASSIVE ROCKETS FAN and he’s 24) was the “down 19” game vs the Clippers. His day is coming eventually, but by the time I was his age, I had personally been in the building for two championships.

 

You know it, check the signature

That was and still is one of my favorite sports memories of all time. I was a kid from a sports family and watched it over at a childhood friend's house with his family. We must have screamed so hard after that shot, it was a high that along with winning it all helped make me the Rockets lifer and overall basketball fan I am today. That '95 playoff run was the most fun I've had watching the NBA and is basically unmatched as an underdog story for a championship.

The NBA has released it as a full classic game if you want to watch it or enjoy basketball history:

 

Ugh. Quit aging us. 29 years ago? That was just a few minutes ago.

 

for at least a few years afterwards mario’s mom still lived around the block from the Goat Courts and whenever he came to visit summertime people would be yelling out blowing him the same exact kiss

 

The thing about those teams is we had so many different heroes we had Elie, Kenny, Cassell, Horry all hit big shots at crucial moments. That doesn't even count the greatness of Hakeem and Clyde. Those teams were so fun to watch and I am glad I was old enough to enjoy the ride as well as the recent Astros run.