1987 western semifinal. NBA TV hardwood classics. Coming at 9:00 P.M tonight. If interested, watch it!!!
You think you couldn't appreciate Olajuwon more- until you watch this game again. Spin moves out of the double team, no less than 3 Sonics trying to provoke him into fighting, making shots while being hacked on almost every single shot- just terrific. And, man, he didn't take crap. Amazing performance.
damn i need nba tv.....but if i got it during the semester my grades would all go to hell....i have enough trouble working around the natinoally televised games.
I decided to suffer through that all over again. Funny to see Dream. He looked so skinny it was down right unhealthy. The thing that hurt the most were two consecutive botched calls late in OT that even Steve "Snapper" Jones and Magic acknowledged. Funny to see a 24 yr old Payton sitting it out in crunch time when just 4 yrs later he was probably the best player in the entire WCF. I had completely forgotten that that '93 team didn't have Schrempf. They traded McKey for him the next year. The thing that stood out the most was just how easy it was to get Hakeem the ball in the post. Legalizing the zone defense has really set the league back. If teams weren't allowed to double team Yao off the ball, you would see that guy right underneath the hoop laying it in. He would easily average 25ppg, even with the personality flaws.
Oh those missed free throws in OT and second OT. You could tell Raph Sampson was well into his detereorating knees induced decline, the man was a non factor in period 4, OT and second OT. Compare this game to the finals against the Celtics tjr previous year, especially the game where he scored almost 50 points. What a great player, way underappreciated, felled by injury before his time. I forgot Cedric Maxwell was an important part of out team. Always great to see Robert Reid. On my list of top 12 or 15 Rockets of all time, (15 if I have an injured reserve)
I didn't watch the game and I can't recall when the big decline started, but you can't compare two games of Ralph's and say "see, there's the decline beginning" simply because that's what defined Ralph's entire career and pissed fans off. The guy would be Wilt one game and the next game be... well... Greg Ostertag. You never knew which Ralph would show up. I remember one game he played I think against Chicago where he had something like 2 pts 2 rebs. Annoying!!!
I would love to see that triple-over time game where dream scored 50 some points against the sonics back in the 80's. The Rockets lost, but I didn't have cable back then and had to listen to the game on radio. Always wished I could have seen that game.
I can't remember what year it was, early 90's I think. But the Rockets and the Sonics played a hell of a series. The road team won each game until the last one, where Seattle ended up barely winning at home. I think Hakeem had a 3 point shot at the buzzer of the final game to either win it or tie it but it missed.
