Last night at 11:00 the game 7 against the Sonic in 1993 was on ESPN Classic. Man the Rockets were fun to watch back then, even though they lost.
I just got to watch the OT. 2 bad calls back to back from the Ref at around 2 min marks when the game was tied! Sad! With Hakeem, OT, Horry, Mad Max, we played strong defense and protected the board well. 1 sad note: Hakeem attempted a game tying 3 pt at the end?! ... I would have had no one but 3 pt shooters out there!!!
That was a great rivalry. The Sonics back in the day had such incredible depth, they just swarmed Hakeem in waves. *cough*illegal defense*cough* A young man-child in Shawn Kemp, before the 20 kids and 50 extra pounds. And lights-out shooters like Pierce and Shrempf. I know we lost to them in 1993 and 1996, but I think we could have beaten them in 1997 even if we hadn't traded for Barkley. Injuries in 96 killed the Rox - that team was the walking wounded by the time the playoffs rolled around. Give me a healthy Drexler, Cassell, and Horry and I think we would have seen a different series.
Last night ESPN had the Sonics Rockets Game 7 1992 Western conference finals on.....Man what a heartbreaking game to watch again.....Kenny could have won game at end of regulation and Hakeem missed crucial free throw in OT....then mad max missed shot at end of OT to seal it up for the sonics, actually hakeem had a desperation 3 with .8 seconds left....we get em next year at least
ESPN had game 7 of the 1993 western conference semifinals game on last night mrdave. no biggy. Someone made the comment that Barkleys number should be retired in Houston for beating the sonics, well thats all good but Otis Thorpe did more for the rockets that barkley ever did and i dont see his number in the rafters. I think OT did just as much for the Rockets as Clyde did, he was an all-star power forward that had the mailman, chuckster, and kemp keeping him out of the all-star games. When Kemp wasn't in the nba yet and Barkley was in the east he was an all-star, for one year at least.
Rox was a one-super-star team during those years. Even when Barkeley came along, he was pretty old and past his prime. Drexler too. That's why Sonics can double team Rox and defended well. If using today's zone rule, I am afraid, Rox can't defeat them either. By the way, Rox might be able to get a championship down the road b/z of SF and YM, but we need to draft well in the salary-cap era. Otherwise, we have to pay dearly for supporting cast. Popovich is really a genius in drafting Parker and Ginobilli. It shows that you can still get a gem in late first round or second round.
