(Maybe, maybe no. But no need to be all SEPARATIST about it. Anyway still) Yes Lew Lloyd, as was said a few times in this thread, was a FINISHER. And CONSISTENT. The kind of player you didnt have to run plays for, but he was gonna dump in buckets. And I like how some of the highlights are specifically against some of the greats of the game Its does say "Sweet Lew" in the video right at 2:38.
That's what he said. I screwed up my user name obviously, meant to make it Lew but wrote Lou for some reason. Sweet Lew for two!
That team Sweet Lew remembers so well, in my humble opinion, remains the deepest Rockets team in franchise history, especially if all the players who started that season are included. In other words, if you include starting point John Lucas, who played 65 games. Olajuwon Sampson Lloyd Lucas McCray Wiggins Reid Petersen Leavell That was basically your rotation, with 6 players averaging double figures, and two of those 6, Hakeem and Ralph, also averaging double figures in rebounds. Just an insanely deep, young team, with a limitless future, at least that's what not only the fans of the Rockets thought, but every sports writer and talking head covering the NBA. We wouldn't have guessed in a million years where that team was headed, and what a long journey Olajuwon would have to take to get that first championship, the first major sports championship in Houston's history.
Rodney McCray was really good but imagine if we had drafted Clyde instead of him in '83. We would've tanked the season anyway to get Hakeem the next year I'm sure. Imagine that big 3 of Sampson, Hakeem and Glide. Wow.
Along with Sweet Lew, Mitchell Wiggins, losing John Lucas before the playoffs was key to the Rockets losing to the Celtics. I believe if John was on the team the Rockets would have beaten the Celtics in 86. Thanks for the Video TinMan, brought back good times watching most the games back in the day on my brothers huge Satellite receiver(HSE).
Sweet Lew LLoyd.....Ahhhh! Could finish with the best ...and by finish I don't mean just with the flush. Lloyd would sometimes use the glass, but more often utilize that great touch...Swiiish. He could run the court with anyone and had a midrange game....Helluva player. Yeah, that Rockets squad with the Cocaine Cowboys ....was by far our best IMO.... better than our title teams.....a truly great NBA team while it lasted.
I think most long time fans agree that was the most talented team in Rockets history. I, like many, thought that 86 team was going to be a dynasty with multiple rings in our future. It was a long unexpected journey to the championships, and it all turned out OK in the end, but part of me will never let go of what might have been. And Sweet Lou and Gene Peterson's dipsy doodle for two will never be forgotten.
Makes me wish the NBA had a father-son rule. In Australian rules football, clubs can give up their first draft pick before the draft to pick up a player whose father played more than 100 games for the club. It's pretty awesome seeing kids of past greats pulling on the same uniform as their dads. Anyway.. thanks for the vid, great to see the past legends in action.
One of my personal favorite (but obviously unofficial) triple doubles to watch for in the box scores was when Sampson, Olajuwon, and McCray each had 10-plus rebounds in the same game -- something they seemed to be able to pull off once in a while.
tinman pulls are so great. tinman is so freaking awesome. However, as much as these '86 threads are so real...they are so depressing as well. Lewis Lloyd should be in discussions right now as best 6th man ever. Best team that never was a title winner. But we destroyed the defending champ Lakers four games in a row!!! I will never forget Pat Riley's quote after game 4...."We didn't know he was this good [Akeem], we are going to have to make adjustments." And the adjustment he made was getting Kupchak to start a fight with Akeem to get him ejected in game 5. Good call Riley. That kinda worked.
That video is 90% dunking and Lou was a great finisher but I remember him more for the Rainbow. His shot consistently had the highest arc of anybody ever. Mmmm drugs are bad OK, but the Cocaine Rockets, Cocaine Dallas Cowboys and Lawrence Taylor kicked a lot of ass.
One of the greatest offensive players to have played and one of the worst defensive players to have played... Man I can remember sitting court side hearing LL saying.. "HELP HELP" as his man keeps going by him..
Have to disagree with you on that one... The Rainbow Man had the highest arching shot... The original Purvis http://youtu.be/lBpnHZFnlHM <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/lBpnHZFnlHM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
T-Man is correct on Purvis, who had amazing range too. Lewis Lloyd had what is largely gone from the NBA now: dominant mid-range game. I understand statistically why it's gone, but I used to love these Lloyd, Alex English, and even Ricky Pierce type of guys. My greatest sadness was watching Lloyd kind of wilt against the Celtics in the finals, and then the devastating exit from the league. I had never heard these rumors about Riley being involved in that. Link?
HPD seemed to have returned the favor, I remember Worthy and other Lakers getting busted for prostitution. I think this happened to some Mets too. Maybe some payback for 86. Strip clubs and arrested pro athletes welcome to Houston (late 80's/early 90's)
Man Ricky Pierce could light it up.... I remember watching him play at Rice. He could pack the building and would put on a show and then on the south side there was Machine Gun Kelly at TSU... Dang those dues could light it up.... The last of the mid-range players is RIP and he's either retired or retiring this year. T_Man
