Where does Game 2 Rank in Rocket Playoff Road History?

Went with the kiss of death. The context (Game 7) and the followup (led to a championship) are important. Not to mention the creation of the term, Clutch City, in that series, without which this BBS doesn't exist.

 

fun..but we ended up losing the series.

 

you're all good....

except Clutch City was created the prevous year...1994..also vs. the Suns.

 

I was there!!!! It rocked!!!

 

Sorry, but this poll is kinda messed up; we can't actually rank them like this because when paired like this, most everyone will vote for what the winner has to be, the Kiss of Death. It really can't get much better than that right there. That was Clutch City!

 

Yikes! Was the kiss 95? Was that the same year Danny Ainge threw the ball at one of the Rockets players like a baby? Butt kicking incorporated was 94, I wanna say. I've got to go back and watch my Finals tapes, my memory isn't what it once was...

 

all of that was 95..butt kicking, inc...ainge throwing at elie's head.

94 was houston blowing the two games at home...then the papers wrote Choke City...then they went to Phoenix and won 2 there, writing Choke City on their shoes. Game 3 was the game that MadMax went nuts in the 2nd half. culminated in a game 7 where we won in the Summit with Barkley fouling out by pushing Hakeem down as he went up for a dunk.

 

Oh yea.... thanks for the refresher course. Except it wasn't "Choke City", it was "2 Ws", and it was Kenny who wrote it on his shoes. The heels, I remember seeing it and thinking he was overconfident. We blew huge leads in games 1 and 2, in the 4th Q, to lose those games. And then Phx had a huge lead in game 3 or 4, to push us to the brink of elimination, and they blew that. Man, Max going off in those playoffs was so cool. I remember him hitting basically the clincher in Game 7 versus the Knicks, and then falling backwards onto the court in celebration. His career went rapidly downhill from there.

 

Definitely...I remember I was at my cousin's Jersey Village graduation for the game , but I was listening on the radio. And when that shot went in the whole arena erupted...I suspect a lot of fathers were listening to the game too.

 

Mario's kiss of death. All that others here have already said.

Dramatic comeback. Dramatic series. On the way to our first title (I have no idea if it'd be as great if that was the end of it).

 

he is still having them... only in a different uniform



...as a side bet - can anyone figure out which of these 3 is actually Will smith ?

 

The KOD was a game winning, series clinching shot that propelled us to our second consecutive Finals (after a minor detour so that Dream could school Robinson) and as such got my vote.

 

Heh. I'm a J.V. graduate myself. Oh, yeah...topic?

Sampson's shot was a LARGE helping of luck (no dis to Ralph, but he could take that shot again 500 times and miss it every time). Plus, there was still more series to play, even if he missed.

Ditto Sam-I-Am's stroke in Game 3. True, it's rare to see a rookie make a legendary shot, but, again, there were still 4 games to play, so the entire season wasn't REALLY riding on that one shot.

The Dream tip was amazing, to be sure, but was actually the second-best clutch play of that game. Without Kenny Smith's 7th three-pointer (an NBA Finals record) with 1.6 seconds left in regulation, Hakeem doesn't even get to TRY to tip it in.

McGrady's shot was cold-blooded, and definitely one of the greatest in Rockets history, but it sill remains to be seen if it was all for nought.

I voted for the Kiss-Of-Death. So much was riding on that one shot...more than just the season. I honestly think if the Rockets lose that series, the entire face of the franchise changes. We're back to Choke City. Remember when the Oilers lost to the Bills (you know which game I'm talking about...to this day, every January 2nd, I have a pain in my chest)? The franchise never really recovered from that game. One loss, under the right circumstances and to the right team, can destroy an entire city's psyche.

Also, because of the man who shot it. Sampson was a first-round pick, expected to dominate. Ditto Hakeem. T-Mac is one of the league's best, and has been for years. Even Cassell was expected to at least be a good player. Elie was a nobody, seventh-rounder from American International College, cut before he even played a game in the NBA. He did summer league, CBA, WBL. He kept plugging away, earning his rep the hard way. For a guy like that to make it all the way to the NBA Playoffs, and make the shot he did, is just unbelievable.

The kiss to the Suns bench was a nice touch, too.

 

Wait, the Choke City label came from the Oilers, and the Clutch City came in 1994 with the first championships, when they were down 2-0 and came back to win.

The second year they went down 3-1 to Phoenix and came back again.

Was the kiss of death the first or second series, I can't remember anymore.

 

Actually, Kenny's 3 pointer was the second-best clutch play and Dream's tip was the 3rd-best of that game.

First place belongs to none other than Nick "the Brick" Anderson, who missed 4 consecutive free throws, setting Kenny up for the 3 pointer to tie.

1995 Finals Game 1 is one of my favorites, though it often goes unnoticed in the annals of NBA playoff history.

 

Ahh, memories....

The Choke City label was not applied because of the Oilers. The headline after THAT game read, simply, "We Choked". Possbily because we were all still choking on our bile, and couldn't utter more than two syllables.

'Choke City' made it's first appearance after the Rockets blew huge leads late in games 1 and 2 of the 94 Suns series. Houston rallied from 2-0 to win that series.

The Kiss-Of-Death shot was from the 95 season, when, indeed, the Rockets came back down 3-1 to win the series. See the link below for a brief recap:

http://www.nba.com/playoffs2003/greatest_elie.html

 

My favorite road game had to be game 5 against Utah - second championship run. Houston down 7 in the 4th qtr, and they pulled it out.

I think this one will be forgotten, because it's in the 1st round...but it gave me chills. This is why I realy now believe in this team, because it reminds me so much of that 1995 team. It's kinda weird in a way....a bit deja vu....but it's so similar.

Mid-season trades...A clutch performer (Hakeem - Tmac), a nice friendly likeable savy superstar side kick (Glyde - Yao), the gritty role players (Ellie/Horry/Kenny - Mutombo/Barry/Wesley/Sura), the guy pulled from near-retirement (Charles Jones - Clarence Weatherspoon), the guy from no where expected to fill a major hole and guard the team's best player (Chucky Brown - Bowen), and the cocky guard who was willing to take, and make the big shots (Sam - Mike James).

You even have the disgruntled ex-Rocket (Maxwell - Jackson).

Throw is an uncanny ability to win big games on the road, and make clutch plays, and I think you get Clutch City II.

It's almost like somebody was following a recipe.

 

That's right....KJ had put his hands around his neck after Houston lost the first two at home...man that sucked.