I just got through reading the most disastrous Rockets moment and i feel depressed...so i thought i'd post a positive thread. what was the greatest single shot in Rockets' history? Many of you will say sampson's last second volleyball toss against the lakers in '86, but my favorite is vernon maxwell's three pointer against the knicks in game 7. that's when you really realized that the Rockets were on their way to their first title.
Sampson's shot gets my vote. Honorable mentions include Eddie Johnson's buzzer beater, and who can forget Mario Elie's kiss of death in game 7 against the Suns.
Kiss of Death! I was young (I think like 7 or 8), but you should have seen me running around the house doing the kiss of death after the shot went down.
on top of that, Vernon scored the last 7 points of game 7. Who is John Starks? Watch the replay, he pushes that John Starks character out of the way then he celebrates with Mario, Kenny etc
In terms of best moment because of it's importance, The Kiss of Death for me. But in terms of just awesomeness, Tracy McGrady's shot to beat the Spurs with the big comeback.
I'm too young to remember sampson's shot, so I'm going to have to go with the kiss of death. I just got done playing a soccer game and everyone on both teams was huddled around a radio that one of the parents brought. When Gene Peterson went wild we all cheered. From that day on I've been the biggest rockets fan.
1. Ralph Sampson - put us into the finals, getting by the almighty lakers 2. Mario Elie - completed one of the greatest comebacks in postseason history as well as a memorable game 7 3. Eddie Johnson - on the verge of falling behind 3-1, he ties the series with his clutch buzzer beater 4. Kenny Smith/Hakeem Olajuwon - kenny's three tied the game against orlando in game 1, then dream finished off the game with his tip in in ot. 5. Robert Horry - pick one
Sampon's shot is was turned me into a diehard Rocket fan. 1. It was against the hated Showtime Lakers ...and we were underdogs. 2. With like 1 second on the clock, it was so improbable. 3. Sampson looked like a contorted praying mantis to even put it up. 4. It bounced around on the rim for what seemed like an eternity. 5. Michael Cooper laying on the ground ...priceless. That one shot had it all. Not only is it arguably the greatest Rocket shot ever, it was one of the greatest game-winning NBA shots of all time.
TMac's 13 in 35 will go down in NBA history as a classic game but that was really 4 shots. I only wish that game was a playoff game cause then it would be a top-10 NBA game. Even as a regular season game, it will still always be remembered by real NBA fans.
lets not forget this: (June 12, 1994) At the end of Game 3 of the 1994 NBA Finals, the New York Knicks decided that Hakeem Olajuwon wasn't going to beat them. They didn't count on a rookie doing it. After trailing for most of the game, the Knicks took an 88-86 lead with 50 seconds remaining. Then Rockets first-year player Sam Cassell hit the biggest shot of his career when he received a pass from Olajuwon and nailed a three-pointer to give Houston an 89-88 lead with 32.6 seconds to go. Cassell then hit four straight free throws to give the Rockets a 93-89 win and a 2-1 lead in the series.
The Sampson shot was probably the biggest just because the lowly Rockets just knocked off the defending champion power house Lakers. But having said that for me its the Kiss of Death because without that there is no repeat championship and we lose that series to Phoenix. T-Macs 13 in 35 gets an honorable mention and is probably one of the most miraculous things I have ever seen in sports in my life. But it cannot be one of the biggest shots of all time solely due to the fact that it was not in the playoffs.
