Kenny couldn't defend anyone. Derek Harper abused him on both sides of the court. Harper averaged 16ppg against him and, thanks to the hand-check, held Kenny to under 40% shooting for the entire series. Thank God for Cassell being there to finish out the games. Kenny redeemed himself against the Magic the next year though.
and if you read the entire thread yourself, look at the post before it. and yes it's relevant. he wanted to go back in time, i got to give him the mood of the era, the music too. also in 1994 people parked across the street on edloe and walked to the summit and there was an old guy in the stands screaming "Cold Beer!" And Gallery Furniture will save you money.
I still watch those whenever I go home. The guy that stood out to me most from that team (aside from Hakeem of course) was Robert Horry. He was the ultimate team player, great team defender/shot blocker, stretched the defense with his shooting and had a Shawn Marion (in his prime) like athleticism
you forget that Kenny destroyed Stockton in the WCF. Kenny wasn't defined by one playoff series. Portland http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199404290HOU.html 15 points Phoenix http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199405150PHO.html 21 points UTAH http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199405230HOU.html 27 points http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199405290UTA.html 25 points for 95 against Utah http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199504290UTA.html 32 points (led the Rockets)
Oh this is one for you, we all know who the best player on the Rockets was in 94. The 2nd best? I say: http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1994_1198772 NBA PLAYOFFS '94/SPECIAL PREVIEW SECTION/TO THE MAX/If the Rockets are to reach NBA Finals a talented but troubled man will take them/ Behind the Mad Max image, lurks Vernon Maxwell, father, unsung star FRAN BLINEBURY Staff THU 04/28/1994 HOUSTON CHRONICLE, Section Special, Page 1, 2 STAR Edition Sometimes they don't even see the player behind it. In this, his sixth season in the NBA, Maxwell has truly blossomed. He has gone from being a one-dimensional, indiscriminate, mad bomber who would just as likely shoot you out of a game as into one, to becoming an all-around threat and consistent clutch performer. Truth is, the Rockets' hopes for success in the playoffs may rest as much on the shoulders of Maxwell as on those of MVP candidate Hakeem Olajuwon. Nov. 27 at Los Angeles: Maxwell makes a free throw with 8.6 seconds left that finishes off an 82-80 win over the Clippers. Dec. 5 at Cleveland: Maxwell hits a 3-point basket with 31.9 seconds remaining to cap a rally that brought the Rockets from seven points down in the last three minutes for a 99-98 win over the Cavaliers. Dec. 9 vs. Miami: Maxwell tosses in a twisting, turnaround 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime and the Rockets beat the Heat 115-109. Dec. 21 at San Antonio: Maxwell nails a 3-pointer with 26.7 seconds remaining to tie the game, then strokes in a 20-foot jumper at the buzzer to knock off the Spurs 90-88. Jan. 25 vs. Cleveland: Maxwell drills a trey with 29.7 seconds to go and the Rockets trailing by two points in a 96-93 victory over the Cavs. March 13 at Dallas: Maxwell connects on a 3-point shot with 29.7 seconds remaining that bumps the Rockets' lead from four to seven points in a 100-93 win. April 17 at Portland: Maxwell scores 27 points, deals eight assists, gets five rebounds, shoots 6-for-11 from 3-point range and converts a rare four-point play as the Rockets clinch the Midwest Division title with a 119-110 decision. Maxwell is a tenacious one-on-one defender, a ferocious competitor and he also happened to lead the Rockets in assists this season with an average of 5.1 per game. "The guy is tremendously underrated," says Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich. "He's right there with Hakeem as one of the main reasons we were able to have such a great season and it's like nobody outside of our team notices it." In four years in Houston, he has made the most of that chance, becoming an integral part of a legitimate championship contender. In the 1990 and '91 playoffs, the philosophy of the Los Angeles Lakers was to collapse their defense inside on Olajuwon and Otis Thorpe and let the Rockets' guards -- led by Maxwell -- shoot them out of the playoffs. Which they did. Now the ill-timed shots are coming less often, the key passes to set his teammates up for easy baskets are coming more often and nobody ever questioned his passion to win. "Max is a warrior," said Olajuwon. That was never more evident than last year's playoffs. Having suffered a broken left wrist in a game April 17 at Seattle, Maxwell missed the first four games of the opening-round playoff series against the LA Clippers. When the Clippers won Game 4 and sent the series back to Houston for the deciding game, Maxwell decided he had seen enough. He pleaded with Tomjanovich to ignore the cast on his wrist and put him back in the lineup and he connected on a big 3-pointer in the final minute that allowed the Rockets to escape with an 84-80 win. And Maxwell, playing in pain, was there every step of the way in the Rockets' stirring seven-game series with Seattle. "You have to really applaud that guy," Tomjanovich said. "In that Clipper series, he could have been a hero by not even playing. If we had lost that series and he didn't play, that's the way people would have looked at it. "It shows you something about a guy when he elects not to do that. The guy's got tremendous heart and character." When the sting of the loss to Seattle finally passed and Tomjanovich began to look at the video highlights of last season, he noticed something. "In just about every big play, every big basket that one of our guys made, you could see Vernon somewhere in the picture," Rudy T said. "He either made the pass that led to the basket or he made the pass that led to the pass. I have always thought of Vernon as a guy having the instincts of a playmaker and that confirmed it. I thought we've got to get the guy involved more." So Tomjanovich sat Maxwell down over the summer and talked to him about giving up some of his own offense in order to be more of a creator. "Rudy showed me things that I didn't even realize about myself," Maxwell says. "He showed me all of the things I could do. He put more faith and confidence in me than anybody since coach Swain and it's showing that he was right. I'm scoring less, but the team has had a great season. "It's a good feeling to know that the guys and Rudy have a lot of confidence in me and are counting on me in the playoffs. Rudy told me how much it meant to come back last year in the playoffs with the broken hand. I wasn't trying to be a hero. I just like to play and I like to win and I think that's what gets misinterpreted about me so much. "Yeah, there are times when I lose my temper, but it's usually because I'm into the game. Look at when David Robinson flipped out on the refs a couple of weeks ago in our game at The Summit. Everybody says, "Well, David is the All-American guy. He's the Admiral. He just lost control for a second.' "Hey, if I did that on NBC, they'd be saying I'm nuts and I'm a maniac. I think I should get recognized for the kind of season I've had. But people still have that image of me. You know, Mad Max." The phone rang during the first week of training camp when the Rockets were in Galveston. "Amber was always a healthy baby right from the start," Maxwell says. "The whole pregnancy was fine and she was supposed to be born in just a few more weeks. Then Shell called me at our hotel and she was worried. She said she couldn't feel the baby moving. She said, "That's not Amber, because Amber has always been moving.' "I told her to get to the doctor, but it was already too late. They said Amber sat on the cord and cut off her own oxygen supply. There wasn't anything you could do. Just like that, it's over." He still can't bring himself to visit the grave. He keeps thinking about what was supposed to be. He thinks while he's writing her name on the back of his basketball shoes. "Amber changed a part of me," says Vernon Maxwell. "Now I guess it's up to me to work on the rest."
Oh the good ole days of houston bball. Excuse me if my rememberance is not exact but im gonna try hard to remember. I remember houston was a balance team. Houston had shooters to compliment The Dream. Pretty much it was pass the ball in the post to Olajuwon and go one on one, if doubled or tripled teamed he would pass the ball out to the open man and shoot. If they werent open when The Dream passed it to them , they would move the ball around till they found the open man. It pretty much X's and O's plays but houston was so very effective on there offense, Olajuwon and the team were that good. There defense was just hustle and smart team D. Having Olajuwon in the middle was just ridiculous. He was so fast, he could move all over the court to help and vice versa with his teammates. They were very well coached by Rudy T. When they traded for Sir Charles I was hurt by the trade, they let go the core of the team to just be able to matchup well against seattle. Horry, Elie, Cassell all ended up winning at least a championship with other teams which gave me a little smile but wish it was with houston.
To add to this Carl Herrera skilled around the basket made a lot of hussle plays, basically a taller Chuck Hayes with offensive game. Earl Cureton a veteran player added at the end of the season who was a tweener 3/4 who played tough defense. On a funny note you can't forget the skills of Chris Jent, Larry Roninson and Richard Petruska. They cheered jumped up and down and snapped people with towels with the best of them. Also a midseason trade of Scotty Brooks for Eric Riley who never played a game as a Rocket. Scotty was a tough gritty player who was small but had a lot of heart. He could shoot and rarely made mistakes. He got sick during the season with the flu and Cassell took his minutes for what was thought to be a couple games but ended up taking his job.
Several people already mentioned that the offense was simple - dump it to Hakeem, and go from there. Part of the success though started with the fact that several of the guys were just great at feeding the post (Kenny, Horry, Elie, and later Drexler)... and you combine that with a center that had great hands, was quick to the ball, and could maintain his position with Ewing or Oakley practically trying to mount him. It was VERY difficult to keep him from getting the ball early in the shot clock, and there was only one team that could ever (illegally) keep him from getting the ball more often... Damn you, Seattle. The next part of it though is that whether in single coverage or if the double didn't arrive immediately (and with a lot of pressure), Hakeem would score more than 50% of the time... and often get fouled whether he scored or not. In many instances, even with a double-team, Hakeem still had so many moves that he could spin fading away from the double and drain the shot. On those instances where he missed the ball, the doubling defender was often out of position... so a Rocket would get an easy rebound and putback. Other times, because he was so absurdly quick and strong, Hakeem would split the double and make both (sometimes three) defenders look silly (think about the popcorn machine highlight everyone sees with vs. the Spurs that game). What to me was always so amazing about Hakeem was that his Championship success was finally realized once the cerebral part of the game came to him easier - once he could better recognize the quick double/triple teams and find the reliable 3 point shooters (whether he passed to them directly... or whether it traveled around the perimeter too quickly for opposing teams to catch up). I won't even talk about the defense here... but that offensive system was absolutely perfect for the players we had at the time.
Maxwell led the Rockets in assists in 94. http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/HOU/1994.html you know . this guy.
I appreciate the championships as much as any other fan but this was 16 years ago. Let's move on and hope our hometown team can make some noise this year with a healthy Yao and whoever comes via trade.
