In the playoffs, I would have to say the Stockton shot without a doubt. Though I do remember a regular season game where Arvydas Sabonis made a hook shot 2 seconds after the buzzer sounded to beat the Rockets in double OT. That still pisses me off.
Watching the team play last season, it was very painful to watch. Exceptional talent wasted on extreme stupidity, the dumbest basketball I have ever seen including high school, jr. high, and little dribblers.
My worst Rocket moment was on December 8, 1999 when my favorite basketball player of all-time ruptured his quadriceps tendon and then announced how it made him cry. The following day I felt sad and didn't say much because the basketball player that I enjoyed the most fell to such a devastating injury in his last year in the NBA. However, Barkley said he was coming to play one more game. When I heard that, I was happy. Barkley came back! That day was the 19th of April in 2000. It was a no ordinary day for me! That day I had one of my favorite breakfast, Oh's cereal, I went to school with my basketball and played ball. I scored 12 points (in a game up to 22) while playing a 2 on 2 after school at the school's ball court. When I got home I turned on to TBS, watching another game because the Houston Rockets were not playing on national televison and I had no way to watch that game between the Vancouver Grizzles and the Rockets. Every now and then TBS gave updated news about Barkley's progress. Then the moment came. Barkley, who only was 70% recovered after his devastating injury, grabbed an offensive rebound and put it in for two. It was great. I have Barkley's rebound/shot downloaded to my computer and it's on my website: http://geocities.com/dion404/DionJ.html. I still to this day imitate the announcers when Barkley made that play. It goes like this: "Moochie Norris goes to the basket, lays it up, misses." "Charles! Charles!" (Decibels levels rise and crowd shouts) "With the rebound and he is fouled." "Larry, Charles Barkley gets a bucket in his final game." I have that and many other clips of a recap of Charles' last game. I also have audio clips from that game. I stayed up late that night to watch SportsCenter to watch Charles' play over and over again.
Charles barkley's career ending injury... Hes been my favorite player since i became a fan and the reason i'm a rockets fan today and watching him land in such an akward manner and watching him cringe in pain made me cry my eyes out. THats the worst thing in the world for a fan watching their favorite player helpless and not knowing if he'll ever play again.
when brent price tore his ACL. when brent price broke his leg. when brent price broke his arm. when jordan came back and won 3 titles wiping away the legitimacy of the 2 rockets titles in virtually all of the media's eyes. those three years won real long, bad rockets moment. "They won when jordan wasnt playing asterisk asterisk" that tears me up inside..
Ah yes, the 99-81 thrashing that started the 15 game losing streak. It was Steve's first missed game of the season. The first of many. What fun!
Guess what? I justed tuned in to NBA TV to see what was on and saw the JAzz and Rockets playing. I tuned in just in time to see Stockton's shot. Wow, I sure am lucky! Darn Stockton... On a side note, the Pacers and Bulls are playing from 98, in case you want to see Rik Smits play.(one of the guys Yao is compared to.)
I'm amazed at two things: The amount of responses to this thread and the fact that just about every one of you agrees with me on the Stockton hail. My heart dropped because I knew that that was Barkley's true shot at the title. Watching the three big fellas work over Phil Jackson would have been a dream for me. I don't think he would've known what to say.
The pasty gangster shot without a doubt. I watched it in person and watched it again on TV last night. It was no less painful last night than it was in real time. The Jazz cheated, but the Rox shouldve never been in that position. They couldve pushed it to OT...or won the game easily. I hate John Stockton. I hate the Jazz.
Like everyone mine was the Stockton shot. It was the end of my jr. yr. in HS and I was up in north Texas on a baseball recruiting visit. We had finished talking and me, my father, and the coach wen't to his place to catch the end of the game. We came in at the start of the 4th and we had a nice lead so I was relaxed and confident. But by the end, I was really tense. When Stckton got that ball, and damn I remember it like it was yesterday, my heat sank and when he hit the shot I was "upset" to say the least. I was so mad I had to just leave the coache's house before I started breaking stuff. The coach must have thought I was a complete a-hole. Needless to say I didn't go to that school.
I'll mention one no one else has: 1983 when the Rockets passed on drafting Drexler when they had the chance. It's not that Rodney McCray didn't treat us well. But it was sad to see us pass up on the home town hero. (Of course 12 other teams passed on him too before Portland drafted him.)
For sure the worst moment has to be game 6 of the 97 western confrence final against the Jazz. Not just because of how it ended (Malone setting a moving pick) but because of hoe the series was played. After going down 2 games we come back and take 2. I will never forget EJ's game winner. Also it hurts because that was the last time we were serious contenders. And it's also the reason why I can never ever like the Jazz or anything associated with them. Thank you Jordan for beating the Jazz back to back. That was the only time I ever rooted for the Bulls.
The Stockton shot for sure. I was at Fat Tuesday's in Cancun on my senior trip when it happened. There were a bunch of Houston fans watching the game there, all recent high school grads. I bet Fat Tuesday's sold a record amount of alcohol that night, what a freaking nightmare that was.
the stockton shot. gosh. damn that stockton. and when we lost to the lakers? i think it was in the first round, when we had the rookie backcourt and dream,sir charles,and pippen. that sucked
Stockton, 3,in,speechless,anger,more anger,send hatemail to john, anger,sadness, more anger, acceptence.
Here are two older ones that nobody has mentioned: Game 6 of the 1977 Eastern Conference semi-finals against Philadelphia. John Lucas appears to hit a game-winning shot, but the basket was overturned on a controversial charging call, giving the 76ers the win and a spot in the NBA finals. Rockets coach Tom Nissalke refused to leave the floor after the game, and I believe got on the PA and told the crowd it was the worst call he had ever seen. It's been 25 years, and I still can't stand the Sixers because of this game. The Ralph Sampson deal. After their playoff run in 1986, the Rockets looked like the NBA's team of the future. (H)akeem and Ralph caused huge matchup problems with their size and athleticism. But less than 2 years after the '86 Finals, Ralph and Steve Harris were shipped to Golden State for Sleepy Floyd (?!) and Joe Barry Carroll (??!!). It was sad because it ended any hope of a Rockets dynasty and because it showed that Sampson had slipped so far in such a short time that he was only worth "Sloppy" Floyd and "Barely Cares" Carroll. It also left me with the horrible image of Floyd and Carroll in Rockets uniform. Just a bad day all around.
Here's one not mentioned yet: Drexler's ejection in Phoenix. I've never been madder watching a sporting event than I was when he was ejected from that game. It's not the same thing as when your team just gets beat (Game 7, vs. Sonics, 1993). It's not even the same as when the other team cheats to win (Game 6, Jazz, 1997). When a referee goes out there and intentionally tries to cripple your team through blatant, biased officiating, it's unbelivably frustrating. The sense of injustice just made me so ****ing angry. I still hate Jake O'Donnell's guts and would gladly mash the accelerator and run him over if I were to see him on the street.
How about EVERY shot Mobley takes when he's covered so well he can't see the sun much less get a good look at the basket...
