[CBS Sports] The Forgotten Finals

Not a big deal in my book, we were mercifully spared watching a big Knicks run.

 

Best Point Guard off the Rockets bench of all time, it's not even close

Sam Cassell

 

I knew they would talk about Starks for an extended amount of time.
Obviously made by New Yorkers.

Cassell > Starks
Maxwell > Starks

 

Interview with Ken Berger on 610 this morning about this piece-


http://houston.cbslocal.com/2014/06/03/the-forgotten-championship/

 

Come on dude, Starks role in game 6 & 7 was very important to how things worked out. As important as Maxwell was in the first three rounds, he was almost non-existent in the fibals, as was Kenny. I'm surprised nobody talks about OT. Olajuwon was the only guy who played like himself, but OT worked his ass off to keep Oakley, Smith & Mason out of it and he did. We do not win the finals without Dream, Sam's clutch play in game 3 but OT was key, even co-MVP of the finals in my book. Stats do not show this, but people who have seen it know whats up.

 

I love how Hakeem gets out of his benz and has to manually use his key to lock his doors.

 

Explain to the uninitiated why Kukoc over Cassell in 96 was a travesty.

 

Well done piece. Definitely a NY bent... but what can you do... they have to respect journalism and capitalism.

Even with the NY bent, it does a good job of encapsulating the feelings that are sports fandom. I'm a Rockets fan, and will be until I die. Even on the days, weeks or months I'd rather not care.

Also, as with pretty much every other piece of journalism I've seen covering Olajuwon over the last 20 years, once again he comes across as the most humble, gracious star player ever.

 

Could anyone help find the twitter picture above without the text please?

 

There really is no other poster like you, what a guy.

 

the documentary sucks. no mention of anything about the rockets run and john starks is talked about for way too long.

The 94 Rockets need a proper 30 for 30 documentary, not this New York made short.

 

Interesting piece but man.....so New York centric.

They have Starks, Ewing, and 3 different New York sportswriters speaking vs. just Olajuwon. They make it like its a sad piece with how they dwell on Game 6, and they don't give NEARLY enough credit to Dream getting that block on Starks.

Mostly what the focus on is Starks not making the right basketball play which is hindsight is 20/20 in a huge way. What I remember about that play was I was hoping ANYONE but Starks shoot the ball and when he got it off, I thought it was going in. Olajuwon blocked it, but it was just on his fingertips and although it obviously was enough, on television it wasn't obvious.

I also remember attending game 2 of that series. My friend and I were able to attend, but because tickets were so scarce, we had to scalp seats in different parts of the Summit. Nevertheless, we both were in the lower bowl. He was down lower than I but almost behind the basket. I was more centrally located and was only 6 seats away from John Thompson and Alonzo Mourning. I remember seeing Spike Lee, Magic, Richard Belzer, Bill Walton, Dr. J, Arsenio Hall, and other celebrities at the game. My buddy got the attention of Turbo and they did the "Surfer pose" at each other. Somewhere, I have the VHS tape of that game recorded and I can see him occasionally on that tape...that's how low down close to the court he was.

Good times...great memories.

 

Thanks J.R.!

Word on the New York documentary... Surprised they even included Hakeem's thoughts in it...

 

Dude Maxwell game 7.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ASxTyFlLYso" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


<PRE>
Basi
Starters MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Hakeem Olajuwon 46:00 10 25 .400 0 0 5 7 .714 0 10 10 7 1 3 2 5 25
Vernon Maxwell 40:00 6 11 .545 2 6 .333 7 8 .875 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 2 21
Robert Horry 35:00 4 8 .500 0 1 .000 0 0 0 5 5 3 3 1 0 5 8
Otis Thorpe 35:00 3 7 .429 0 0 0 2 .000 2 7 9 3 1 0 2 3 6
Kenny Smith 30:00 4 7 .571 1 2 .500 2 2 1.000 0 1 1 2 1 0 1 3 11
Reserves MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Carl Herrera 25:00 3 6 .500 0 0 0 0 1 4 5 0 0 0 2 3 6
Sam Cassell 18:00 4 6 .667 1 2 .500 4 4 1.000 0 1 1 2 2 0 2 1 13
Mario Elie 8:00 0 3 .000 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0
Earl Cureton 2:00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Chris Jent 1:00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team Totals 240 34 73 .466 4 11 .364 18 23 .783 3 30 33 22 8 5 9 23 90
</PRE>

 

Man...Vangelis and Randy Edelman...gotta love that unabashedly soaring early '90s movie music.

 

Is this going to be a 30 for 30...? It should at the very least be a 30 for 30 short...

 

This is a pretty sweet picture. OT ready for the rebound

 

the emotion in Ewing's face and voice as he talked about not getting the ball at the end of Game 6...that's a man who is not a peace w/ Starks' shot.