with mad max, i had more of a hate-and-love relationship (no homo). i hated his contested jumpers, the pull-up 3s and his bone-headed plays (ejections, technical fouls) costing the team at times but i loved the tenacity and aggression that he played with. it picked up everybody else's intensity. my favorite memory of his is probably that 30 point 4th quarter (had 51 overall) against the Cavs in early '91 when Dream was out with that broken eye socket. he really stepped up in that stretch taking over the scoring load. i also remember his huge second half against the suns in game 3 under all sorts of pressure. he abused kj and majerle; two very sound defenders. can't forget the clutch three he hit against the clippers in game 5 and the series-clinching three pointer in the finals. overall, i definitely appreciate his contributions and what he brought to the team. we could use some of his tenacity right now. also, something he doesn't get credit for his athleticism, mainly raw speed and quickness. if you've seen the bulls/rockets match ups, you'll see him take mj off the dribble and even cross him over with a simply change in pace or direction.
My favorite MadMax moment was when he hit that turn around three pointer, near the buzzer vs Golden State. I remember the next day at school, that's the only shot we did. I remember coming out of my sofa when that shot happened.
Did you try to hit that at school to include passing it off the backboard, too. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0idEHGQFlP4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0idEHGQFlP4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
And here is another game winner two weeks later....in the first title year. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ty-WW3bW55g?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ty-WW3bW55g?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Given that I was only 6 in 1995, I love hearing the stories and seeing the videos of all the great Rockets of the championship years. I vaguely remember watching these teams back then, but I feel as though it makes me appreciate both the great players and the supporting cast even more. Hopefully more great memories are on the way!
It was too much work. We just took the basketball with us, and ran to the baseline, and just did a long distance fadeaway.
I attended one of those games, against Seattle. The Rockets were down 2 points, they had the final possession. They gave the ball to Maxwell to be the creator/closer. He drove into the lane putting up an off-balance layup that missed badly, costing the Rockets the game.... The locals were a little upset about that one. They were tired of losing to the Sonics. They wanted that old clutch Maxwell magic. I think that was the beginning of the end. He was gone a week later lol.
