What was the most memorable shot in Rocket's history???

I was just basing that on the final score. Rockets won by 3, so I assumed that we were tied when he hit the shot. I definitely could be wrong...

Edit: "It was Elie who nailed an all-or-nothing 3 -pointer from the left corner with 7 .1 seconds left that put the Rockets ahead 113-110."

codell's first post...

 

Does anyone remember that long shot that Drexler hit to win a game when he first got to Houston? I can't remember what team it was against but it was similar to Eddie's shot to beat the Jazz.

 

I believe "Holllly Mother" was down by 2.

The "Kiss of Death" led to round of fouling. Rudy made the correct decision to call for a foul, when up by 3, making two. Then the Suns had to foul us, making two, and then we just fouled the Suns back, making two...resulting in a 115-114 ending, as all we had to do was inbound the ball on the last play.

The ending score was different, but the game was indeed over on the 3pt spread due to the strategy of fouling the Suns. That's why I think all the talk about Rudy not calling the foul on Malone or Harpring, and verse saying he lied about it, is just complete lack of respect for the fact Rudy has a track record of calling for that foul with a 3pt spread. Yao and TMo just missed it.

 

What was the deal at the end of that game? Wasn't that the game KJ missed his last freethrow for a tie or win after making 21 straight?

 

heypee:

maybe he thought he said it.

 

I remember the scenario as foul by us, foul by them, foul by us, then their only chance was to steal the inbounds, no time to foul us. I remember we made both ours, since we scored 2 more points after the Kiss of Death, so we just repeated the foul-with-3pt-lead strategy. Since they scored 4 more, I don't think they missed their two trips to the line. They never would have been in the situation to tie on anything less that a 3, and we didn't give them a chance to shoot one.

That was indeed a big shot. But Kenny's shot to tie was supper clutch and just demoralized Orlando, to go with the missed FTs.

I know most memorable and most clutch or most difficult make for different perspectives...but purely on most memorable (the ones that you remember), it ranks like this for me:

1. Sampson...those shots just don't happen in big games more than a handful of times a decade. It was junk, though.

2. Kenny Smith...that was more a death blow than Elie's, imo. I simply could not believe we were going to overtime. Orlando really worried me, and that team just folded after that.

3. Elie...probably the highest I jumped out of all of them.

4. Eddie...the most Reggie Miller out of all the shots. Probably would win the most memorable contest had it been an elimination game opportunity like Sampson and Elie's. Still a huge shot, and it took a huge shot by Stockton to make us forget how excited we were all about it. Holllyyy Mother is right.

 

i believe kj missed a ft (after having made his first 21 or 22 of the series) when he was on the line at 110-109 (i think) and thus the game was tied when elie hit his shot instead of us trailing. i still remember thinking as soon as the pass left horry's hand that he was gonna throw it out of bounds but it didn't end up nearly as high as i thought and then elie calmly caught it and that was that.

also, at the end of that game, did ainge get off about a 60 foot shot about 10 feet away from the right baseline as time expired? that's how i remember it. at once thinking we had won the series b/c there was no way it was going in but also thinking "OH MY GOD IF THIS GOES IN THEY WIN." i wanna say it actually hit backboard but wasn't really that close. i don't know how he was able to get the shot (stole a long inbounds pass? we missed 2 ft's and that was the best they could do in limited time?) but i clearly remember it. now whether that happened in game 7 or not i can't be sure but i think it did.

 

I totally agree about the most memorable point hparty. I'm not sure Elie's shot would have been so amazing and memorable if he hadn't turned towards the Suns bench and kissed them off. It was a huge shot no doubt, but if he had missed it, we would have still gone to overtime.

Kenny Smith's shot saved Game 1 of the NBA Finals, and pretty much destroyed the fragile little minds of the Magic...

 

sampson's shot is probably the most memorable of all but since i was 4 at the time (and probably asleep) i have to give it to elie's "kiss of death". damn it's nice to have a shot with a name on it. makes it seems that much better.

maxwell's was the most symbolic b/c it made houston a champion. that wasn't about the rockets winning a championship, that was about houston winning one. and when that shot went up, everyone in their living room's or watching at a bar or where ever was holding their breath, wondering if someone was about to pinch them and wake them up from this dream back to the reality of houston sports, or if we could continue to dream on. and then it went in and houston had finally done it. amazing.

smith's was the most important (but still not my most memorable) b/c it does make us lose a game if it doesn't go in and very well could have turned the tide of that whole series and nick anderson's career. i really still can't believe he missed all 4. i mean if i was watching a movie and the big, bad mean team missed 4 straight free throws and then the little hoosiers team hit a 3 to tie and go on and win i'd throw a brick through the screen and say "oh come the **** on, like that would ever happen." and yet it did.

every time this season i saw us giving up the highest opponents ft% in the league, i just had to think that was karma kicking our ass for those title runs. barkley missing two in game 5 in 95 to allow hakeem's shot that dandorotik was talking about to tie it up. kj missing the one i mentioned to make the kiss of death not have as much pressure. nick the brick. i mean damn, ft's missed galore in our biggest games.


i never even remembered we were basically gonna lose game 5 w/o barkley's missed ft's and hakeem's great shot until i was watching an espn classic show about our titles. i watched all those games, and thought i remembed it all, but i was shocked we were that close to being out. hakeem was always there for us. and just like dandorotik pointed out, he was there in maybe an even bigger moment, the starks block. chased down a guard off a pick and blocked it, who else could do that. damn he was amazing.

 

this makes me want to change my vote.

francis 4 prez is my Rockets' fan hero for the week.

thx for shaping our memories so memorably.

 

I can't believe Ralph's shot is a clear second. I guess most of the the people on this board weren't alive or aware when the Rocket's beat arguably one of the best teams ever. The mid 80's were so Lakers and Celtics dominated that it seemed as though there was conspiracy for their championship match up every year. Akeem willed the Rockets to that win and it was celebrated by not only Houstonians but also every other city in the country besides LA and Boston. Elie's shot was huge but I don't think it had the same impact on the city of Houston or the anti-LA/Boston crowd like Ralph's miracle shot. Ralph's was the shot heard round the world.

But I guess most people on this board (internet is primarily used by younger people; relatively speaking) would best remember Elie's shot. Either way both shots were great. I'm looking forward to the Yao, Francis, or whomever's shot that writes more Rockets hostory.

My 2 cents...

 

oh great, i get it on friday night so i only have one more day to be a rockets' fan hero, thanks a lot heyp.

 

I wouldn't go that far, there are plenty of us old farts who remember that shot.

That's the one I voted for, but I think there's a difference between a memorable shot and an important shot.

I would go for Maxwells Game 7 three as the most important. I'd tell you why but instead, just scroll up to francis 4 prez's paragraph. That one shot got the monkey off the citys back forever IMO. It made the most important game in Houston sports history...well, history.

My fellings were best summed up by what Gene Peterson said right after that shot.... "Ooooooh, mygoodnessmygoodnessmygoodness!"

 

ima_drummer2k,

Agreed on Max's shot as most important. I just considered what the original poster's poll stated "What was the most memorable shot in Rocket's history???" Ofcourse, the monkey was kicked real hard by Max but Ralph's put Houston on the map (IMHO) and pissed off all those NBA and NBC execs (it was NBC right?)

 

francis 4 prez,

Sampson' shot does have a name. It is Sampson' Shot Heard Around the World. I have heard it referred to this on numberous occasions. We were a young team, we weren't supposed to beat the Lakers. We finished a grueling Denver series and showed up exhausted in L.A. We got spanked in the first game. Yes, we then went on to win the next three and were then in control of the series, but we were getting no respect. Sampson's shot announced to the NBA, if not the world, that we were for real! And of course sending team of Magic, Kareem and Worthy, which was often referred to as "Showtime," on an early summer vacation, as we went to the finals, made it very memorable.

 

Actually they don't happen all the time. Unlike the lead-in says, the game was NOT tied when he took that shot. The Rockets were down 1 or 2. The amazing thing about that shot was that the Rockets DID NOT need a 3 there. It took HUGE balls to take that 3. Hakeem was posting up against single coverage. All they needed to do (and what I'm sure EVERYONE thought they would do, including Phoenix) was throw it into him and get the foul. Yet Elie decides to take that 3 WITHOUT running out the clock and with the team not needing a 3. If Elie misses that shot, he is most likely HATED in Houston for the rest of his life. Instead he's a hero.

Also, I could have sworn the Maxwell 3 against the Knicks came with the Rockets already up by like 2. That automatically eliminates it in my eyes.

RM95, then you could say the series 'probably' would have been over after NY won game 2 in Houston, since they had 3 games in a row in NY afterwards. I don't see it.

 

If I remember it right, we were up by 4 with the shotclock running down and the three put us up by 7. Had Maxwell missed it, ny could have scored the next time down and pulled within 2. It would have been anyones game at that point. Instead, we were up by 7 and ny went into panic mode and started fouling.

 

codell, I'm 100 percent positive that it wasn't tied.

drummer just make the Maxwell shot look even less memorable than it already did in my eyes.