During the end of the 2nd quarter in the Kings/ Mavs game last nite, Danny Ainge made a comment about teams being down 3 to 1 in a 7 game series. He said that the Suns had the Rockets down 3 to 1 in the Clutch City run at the Championship. Ainge thought the Suns had the Rockets buried. He seemed to be making excuses for a 60 win team. We came back and won the series aaginst a 60 win team that should have beaten us. Ainge seemed to blame the series loss on an injury to charles Barkley. I watched all the playoff games that year, and recall Barkley having chronic back pain and spasms, but I do not recall a specific injury to Barkley during the series. I have never liked (hated)Ainge since he hit Mario Elie with the basketball in the head in that series. Does anyone recall Barkley being hurt???? Does anyone besides me hate Danny Ainge???
Yes, in my opinion Ainge was worse than Stockton as far as being a dirty player. I don't mind his commentary though, he says some pretty funny things from time to time. But when he starts talking about "not whining to the officials" or "keeping composure" I can't help but laugh. He's probably the worst qualified to comment on that.
He's right, Barkley was suffering from an ailment that plagued him much of his career called "4th quarter-phobia ". The Spurs are going through that right now.
Barkley sprained his knee in the 2nd 1/2 of Game 6 that series. He did have like 27pts in the 1st quarter of that game though. Still, the Suns had the chance to put the series away in Game 5 at home and simply choked. KJ had 46pts and Barkley had 20+pts and 20+rebs in Game 7 in Phoenix as well. Mr. Ainge ranks among the lowest forms of life we have in our ecosystem. 'Accidents' do happen, and it would not be unfortunate for an event of mortality to befall him
"How sweet is is"!!! I loved dusting Phoenix twice and the "Kiss of Death" will always be the most remembered shot in Rockets playoff history.
He didn't have to bring it up at all. I think Rocket's mention has been surprisingly plentiful during these playoffs, but I still put Ainge in the catagory with Hitler, the KKK and Judge Judy!
He also quit his coaching job to "spend more time with his family", but within a couple of weeks took the traveling TNT commentary job. Yes, that was a great idea. Also, I'm not one to condone disrespect, but I sure did like it when Horry punked Ainge with that towel in his face on national TV. Now Ainge has to jock Horry while he's helping the Lakers win titles. Mario showed so much restraint when he didn't go off on that punk Ainge.
refresh my memory. . . did ainge throw the ball at elie before or after the Kiss of Death? ah, I just got a tingle down my spine with that pleasant memory. I hope, one of these days, the Rockets will reunite the 94-95 squad for some ceremony or another. what a bunch of champs!
Yes, Ainge is a whiner, and on the basketball floor he is out of the same hated mold as John Stockton, but I actually like his TNT commentary. Anyway, even though I didn't hear what he said, let's keep in mind that it's not like we were a clearly better team. We were fortunate to come out of that series on top once we were down 3-1. True, Drexler was ill on Game 5, but we looked and played like dead meat that night, and one of their shooters (Person?) missed a wide open look that would have put us out of our misery. The jumpshot barely rimmed out as I recall. Game 7 was sweet (beating Ainge, Barkley, and Klowne, what more could you ask for), but what if KJ hadn't missed that last free throw after making all his other ones. The last several seconds would have gone down totally different.
First and foremost I am diehard Rockets fan . But I was a Magic fan also I hated Danny Ainge so much that I started to like the type of player he was. For the youngster he was as distasteful as Karl Malone is now for us. Anyway I like the fact that he was a pretty good baseball player in his day. He talk too much s#@# now like he ever play defense or something.
Why is it when I read the title "Danny Ainge comment about '95 Rockets" I knew that he would somehow bag the Rockets....? Ainge is a moron.
i think Danny Ainge is my father's least favorite person in the world!! bottom line: when you have a 3-1 lead, with two of the remaining games on your home court...and you lose the series....YOU CHOKED!!! Particularly when the year before you had the very same team down 2-0 and you choked that lead away as well!! Loser Suns!!! those were my favorite series both years.
Didn't Barkley have a knee injury in that series that required surgery at the end of the season? That obviously doesn't take away from the Rockets win, but he did have a series knee and back injury. Besides Danny Ainge has championship rings so he is a winner, but complaining about that injury to Barkley wasn't necessary at all! But before people start calling the Suns losers and chokers remember, we're using the SAME excuse for losing the Jazz series in the first round a few years ago when, here's the irony, Charles went down with an injury and the Rockets blew a 2-1 series lead. We also blew a HUGE 4th quarter lead at home to the same Jazz team the season before in Game 6 that would have forced a decisive Game 7. Pot, kettle, black. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it! I don't know why I said that last sentence, but it looked cool and made me look wise! lol
I disagree...no one gave us a shot in holy hell to beat the jazz that year. The Suns won over 50 games each of those seasons we beat them. And we NEVER blew a 3-1 lead with homecourt advantage. We did, however, have a football team lose a 32 point lead in a playoff game!
