I just got Shaq's book, Shaq Talks Back last night and managed to pull out the following where Shaq talks about getting beat by the Rockets in the 1995 NBA Finals. : ------------------------- We were the last team to knock Jordan out of the playoffs. Then, with the best player out of the picture, we beat Indiana in seven games to go to the finals. We felt it was over. We're gonna win a championship... There were times I thought I was bigger than Disney. But as the saying goes; the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Leading up to the finals, guys were partying, talking to the media every day, joking around. We had lackadaisical practices. Some guys were flying girls in, eating whatever they wanted, hanging out. I could sort of see the championship slipping away. It was hard to keep that hunger when you have that kind of time off. Let me tell you: Whenever a young team has that many days off, trouble is around the corner. We were mentally so relaxed we didn't think the Houston Rockets had anyone to match up with us. They were the sixth-seeded team in the Western Conference, hadn't even won 50 games during the regular season, and had to get out of some serious scrapes just to make it to the finals. They had some old, great players. They got Hakeem Olajuwon, and that's about it. Their other players? I'm thinking, Robert Horry. I played against that chump in college. He ain't gonna do nothing. Kenny Smith is a bum. Mario Elie? I don't even know who he is. Sam Cassell got a lot of herky-jerky moves, but I wasn't worried. Otis Thorpe? I'm gonna bust his ass, too. We got this thing, right? It just shows how being young and too confident can lead to your downfall. It's late in Game 1 of the finals, and we're in front of our home crowd, leading and feeling good about ourselves. But Hakeem is busting out with moves I didn't know he had. I'm neutralizing him, playing him as tough as I can. At the end of the game, we had a 3-point lead. All Nick Anderson had to do is hit one out of four free throws to clinch a win for us. He misses all four. Then Kenny Smith, well, he didn't turn out to be such a bum. He fooled Penny with a pump fake and dropped in a 3-pointer, sending the game into overtime. In many ways, that was the series. Mentally, after those free throws and Kenny's 3-pointer, we were shell-shocked. In Game 1, the shot just drained us so bad that Houston pulled it out in overtime. In Game 2, Horry didn't turn out to be a chump, and pulled some threes out of his ear, dropped in these serious prayers from all over the court. Now we're going back to Houston down 0-2. These old dudes are showing us heart we didn't know they had, taking it to us youngsters. They're calling Houston "Clutch City". Game 3, Clyde Drexler took over and out come the damn brooms. A couple guys on my team start arguing. Nick didn't want to shoot free throws anymore; he just wanted to shoot threes. Nobody's going to the hole; the ball isn't coming inside. It's over. Game 4, Houston's whole team is having fun; they're loose now. They just destroyed us and won their second title in a row. Rudy Tomjanovich, Houston's coach, took the microphone at the end of the game and said, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion." Brooms are smacking our charter bus on the way out of the arena and I'm sitting there, pissed off. Our coach, Brian Hill, is telling us to remember this feeling when we return to the finals. Some of the assistant coaches are talking about how we're a young team, it's OK, we gave our best. Everybody thought Penny and Shaq and the Magic would have a lot more chances to win a title, that Orlando could be a dynasty in the making. But it wasn't OK. It turned out, that was our one shot. And we let it get away. I took Brian's words to heart and always remembered that depressing feeling. As I'm riding through that mob in Houston, I vowed to myself that if I ever got back to the finals, I would win the championship. No use coming that close and leaving with nothing. Now, if Nick made one free throw, maybe we win Game 2 and it's a better series. I don't know if we would have won because we really got caught up in just being there, and didn't concentrate enough on winning. That was partly my fault. One of the reasons we lost is because I respected Hakeem too much. Wasn't 'bowing him, wasn't fouling him, wasn't talking my usual smack. I was just being nice, respecting my elder. Whenever I hit him, I'd ask him, "You OK, Hakeem?" Hakeem never said anything. He just took the pounding and came back at you. He'd go into a herky-jerky move. You'd be over here, he'd be over there, shooting a fade-away jumper. When he had that Dream Shake going, it was lights out, buddy. To this day, I regret that in my first finals, I didn't treat my opponent as an equal. It was the first lesson I learned in Orlando. ------------------ My company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, then agreed to merge with another company, which also declared for Chapter 11 bankruptcy... should I be worried? [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited May 02, 2001).]
LOL! grummett you are THE MAN! You type slow, but the mind is sharp. ------------------ My company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, then agreed to merge with another company, which also declared for Chapter 11 bankruptcy... should I be worried? [This message has been edited by Dr of Dunk (edited May 02, 2001).]
Maybe OT was sitting in the stands? ------------------ Anesthesia, Mona Lisa I've got a little gun here comes oblivion I never loved you, how did you find me? The cops will never prove complicity, now Annaaaaa Allllll goooood childreeeen go to Heaveeeeen
Great read, but: "Now, if Nick made one free throw, maybe we win Game 2..." That was game one. ------------------ WIN NOW! The Protrolls.com message boards! Hey, I've got posts now! Feel free to join in the trolling fun! Protrolls.com!
I did not read it that way as in he suddenly though it was game 2. I think he meant that if Nick made one free throw Game 1 was won, and then maybe we win Game 2... as in being up 2-0 not down 0-2. But reading this brought a tear to my eye. Never underestimate the heart of a champion! ------------------ Join the CC.net NBA Sim ------------------------- Rosters & Stats - Stat requests & Stats - Trade Discussions - Official Trades - Draftinfo
Thanks a lot, DoD. Now, should I go to get this book too? What did Shaq say about Hakeem and other centers? ------------------
KD, I probably won't get to finish reading it until next week or this weekend. From briefly skimming through it, he didn't talk much more about Hakeem unless I missed it. ------------------ My company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, then agreed to merge with another company, which also declared for Chapter 11 bankruptcy... should I be worried?
Other than the Rockets that 95 Orlando team is my favorite team of all time. ------------------ President of the Steve Francis, Jamal Crawford,Larry Hughes, and Charles Woodson fan club.
Thanks again, DoD. It came to me that Shaw has in one way a similar path as Hakeem: got to finals early in the career, lost, went back again some years later to got it the 2nd time. In Hakeem's book, he said he knew Shaq would get his ring, and more than one. ------------------
Shaq's pretty tite. I picked up the Hakeem book the other day from the BIG Schaumberg library over here in NW Chi-town and read it last night. Cool book, it gave me a whole new view of dream's younger days in Africa....he had a TV and a fridge!!! Damn! I thought he just ran around in a field all day (partly true, but he was playing soccer) ------------------ Note: It was my cowhead. I started the cowhead craze, and my cowhead inspired Mooch to step up and bring us a victory. Thank you for your time.
Dream was very proud of Nigeria until politics turned it bad. He kept saying how people did things in his home country and the international city: Lagos. I believe it is true: Nigeria wasn't so bad 20 years ago. ------------------
Mutombo talked about how Hakeem's photo in a US embassy in Africa inspired him. Hakeem mentioned in his book that he loved ice cream in US. I saw him eating ice cream in a video. He looked funny. ------------------
They let him publish that without an editor or something? ------------------ RealGM Gafford Art Artisan Cakes
Nick Anderson missed 4 free throws , thats why you lost? You were to mentally unstable to fight back in the next three games? Basically Shaq is saying "I went to soft on Hakeem becase I respected him too much". You got your asses handed to you by a team that basically limped into the Playoffs. ------------------ Lisa : Dad did you know The Chinese use the same word for Crisis as they do for Opportunity? Homer: Yes! Crisis-tunity!
I can't believe when Shaq was sizing up our team before the finals that he didn't even think of Clyde Drexler. We had two main players on our team that year, Dream and Gyde, and he was deciding if Kenny Smith would be a threat well before he even considered Dream. I wonder if all these screw-ups in the book are a result of low-intelligence, or just bad memory. ------------------ Give me ambiguity or give me something else. Sign up for season 2 of the CC.net NBA Sim League! http://bbs.clutchcity.net/ubb/Forum12/HTML/000328.html
Interestingly enough I think he wrote it without a ghost-writer from what I've heard. In the acknowledgments, he thanks Mike Wise of The New York Times who "helped pull a lot of these stories out of [him] last summer and made me talk about some things that [he's] been wanting to talk about for a long time." He didn't say what he pulled it out of, but there you go... ------------------ My company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, then agreed to merge with another company, which also declared for Chapter 11 bankruptcy... should I be worried?
Apparently in Shaq's mind, Clyde was never on the team - the trade for OT never occurred. ------------------ ..as a man danced so the drums were beaten for him. Current Rocket's Salary & Contract Info
Just wanted to bring the old post back so we can feel good about our legacy. Can we get back here or not....
