i was in 7th grade and when they won i screamed at the top of my lungs.....this was houstons first championship in any sport.....my whole neighborhood went wild people were outfront of their homes yelling and driving their cars around honking....i am glad i was here because it will never happen again.....you only win a first championship once
To me, '94 was big, yes, but it was nothing compared to the run in '95. In '94, we had, what, the 2nd best record in the league? We had home court in the finals. It was not a thing of beauty, it was 'scrappy'. New Yawk proclaimed Houston to be a ' hell-hole'. It was 'ugly-ball' in the national spotlight, and the entire league was about to change because of it. It certainly was not what you could call 'great basketball'. It was not a sense of euphoria, but more a sense of 'Finally!' for the whole city, as we had never held a major sports championship in this town until that day. So yes, it was great, for sure, but it was probably one of the least entertaining series ever. Compare that to '95, when we sliced through every possible juggernaut the league had to offer, were pushed to the brink so many times, and escaped every one of them. It was an absolute THRILL RIDE from first to last. It's very true that the playoffs are all about momentum - about who is playing best at that period in time - and the Rockets in '95 experienced that mythical 'perfect convergence' of getting hot at exactly the right time, the players building greater and greater spirit and confidence, as well as the entire team and city swelling with championship heart. We knocked down one unbeatable giant after another, getting better and better along the way, so that, by the time of Game 1 of the finals against the Magic and the unbeatable Shaq, and we overcame one last insurmountable obstacle with one last unbelievable miracle (as well as some divinely-missed free throws), we won that first game and had finally climbed over the top of the plateau. By that time, it was over - Orlando never challenged us again. With that playoff run, we had reached the pinnacle of basketball perfection, and this is why I still say to this day that no team, NO TEAM, not even a Bulls team with Jordan, could have beaten us that year. It was the ultimate playoff run - I seriously do not think anything can ever top it. Sure, we want more rings, but another ring in Houston would just be 'another ring in Houston'. So to answer the op's question: I have no idea where I was or what I was doing when we won in '94. Pretty sure I was just at home watching on tv. But not only do I know exactly where I was and what I was doing when the final buzzer sounded in '95, I remember all of that about every one of those heart-attack games all through the playoffs, from Hakeem making DR look like a total fool, to Mario's KoD, to Clyde getting tossed in Utah by that jackass old ref who hated him, Kenny's side-step clutch 3, to those four consecutive clanging free throws by 'Nick the Brick' in Orlando, to Clyde's bounce off the rim and put-back by Olajuwon... and everything else... Even now, twelve years after it happened, it still burns just as brightly for me, still tastes just as sweet.
I was at the game. I had a virus but there was no way I was missing that game. When Max hit the 3 with about a minute and a half left, I started crying; tears of joy and some relief that we (the Rox and also the city of Houston) had finally won a major championsip. I sat across from the NBC booth which extended into the stands in lower level behind the goal. I remember seeing Dr. J looking around the Summit, kind of reflecting on the moment and seeing Peter Vecsey with a disgruntled look on his face. That was classic and made it even better.
When we beat SA(in 6) in the WCF,I was sitting in the Summit and literally came to tears,because it was at that point that I KNEW we were going to win it again.
The 1st Championship was special. The 93/94 season was the first season we watched professional basketball of any form on TV or paid attention to on the newspaper. So who better to cheer for than your home town team, we thought and immediately we were taken in by the Rockets and the way they played. Game after game we cheered for the grace and finess that was Olajuwon, the full court football passes from OT, the alien form that was Cassell, highlight reel dunks from Horry, and the many times when we were down in the closing seconds of a game, Maxwell will drain those last second desperation 3 to win us the games. Following their trips all the way to the finals was unbelievable. I mean, the first time we watched pro ball and we were able to get a glimpse of the Rockets going for the Holy Grail? How exciting was that? At the height of the games 6/7 against the Knicks, I remembered I was in and out of the house, shooting Free Throws. That's right, shooting free throws. I am not a superstitious person by nature, but I think I was at the time. Someone once told me to jinx someone you would shoot free throws and imagining the face of the guy you don't like as the backboard. You take the shots, the more you make, the more it works (weird isn't it)? So I gave that a go, and after seeing his performance on the first few games, I frequently see John Starks's face on that backboard. Imagine the times I'd like to erase that smirk off his face every time I make a free throw.... So after the block Olajuwon had on Starks in Game 6 and Starks went 2 for 17 (or was it 2 of 19?) in Game 7, my family was puzzled that the first thing out of my mouth wasn't "Rockets won!" but was "It worked! it worked!"
One question - If you saw Peter Vecsey in person, why is he still alive with good use of all of his limbs? You let us all down by missing a golden opportunity.
In a sleepy bar in Guatemala with my future wife, a couple of guys from Houston, and a few from New York. Cheering madly against the Knicks and the Rangers.
I was a junior in HS and I was watching it at home with my gf at the time. When the game was over I was in disbelief that it finally happened.....I had all those flashes of those heartbreaking losses in the playoffs, specifically that series vs the Sonics in 7 games and staying up to watch games when they played on west coast and having to keep the volume down so my parents wouldn't make me go to bed when I was a kid All my years as a fan kind of just rushed and I remember Hakeem just sitting on scorers table taking it all in.....
I wanted to, but resorted to screaming at him from across the aisle, "Welcome to Hellhole! How's it feeling about now?!!"
At the Summit. John Thompson and Zo had the seats directly behind me - they were there to support Patrick. Thompson was funny, and very profane. Zo was a perfect gentleman. When we won I jumped up and down so much I fell over the row in front of me. The thing I remember most in the moments after the win is Hakeem leaning against the scorers table, with a serene expression on his face, taking mental pictures of the bedlam going on all around him. What a great experience.
I was down on Richmond partying my ass off. I think I was 17, and it was my first great moment in my partying career. I saw so many sets of boobies, and I will never ever forget how great they were. It was awesome, all night long, just jam-packed up and down Richmond...people honking their horns, drinking beer, running up and down the streets, hugging people you didn't know, hugging the girls showing their boobies....yeah, it was a great night.
I grew up in DFW, though I was born in Houston. It was misery having to put up with all of those Dallas fans laughing at the Houston sport's failures (though were conspicously quiet during Basketball season). So, I was watching with my family at home. I had just graduated high school. I wish I could've have gone back to school one more day. I had earned it. The feeling for me was relief. Finally a team proved that a championship could be won in Houston, even if such moments are few and far between!
I was in Saudi Arabia up watching the game on AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Network) early in the morning. It was one of my first ROckets games to ever see on tv.
