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

Nothing to be sorry about codell, looks like you're right.

It only diminishes the shot mildly in my eyes though. There was still no reason to take a 3 in that situation. He misses that and Phoenix gets the last shot with little pressure. Elie could have still been a serious goat.

 

Tie between Mario's Kiss and Eddie vs. Utah.

I loved Eddie's shot, simply because I broke my couch as I jumped up and down in celebration. It was also the first season I watched outside the state of Texas, making it that much more interesting, personally.

However, I give slighter deference to Mario's shot, as he personifies 'humble and hungry.' Except, in one brief moment, he gave the finger to the Suns (and Sir Charles, the enemy at the time). Greatness!

 

Hakeem was wide open for a lay-in on the Elie 3 if you have the game on tape. Schayes leaves Hakeem to contest the shot and Elie STILL wants to drill the 3...cold-blooded!

I have to say Hakeem's shot over Schayes to tie game 5 as the most important, Sampson's as the most memorable. If he doesn't hit that, there is no kiss of death and the rockets would be considered a big ol fluke. Spurs probably have 3 titles to our 1 if we didn't win that series!

What could be cool is a poll about the most memorable PLAY in rockets history. I'd vote for the Hakeem block against Strickland in Game 2 of the 94 first round. Most amazing bball play I ever saw.

 

Good post codell. I enjoy your posts, they are sometime intuitive, sometime informative, sometime stimulating, and sometimes amusing. This one was informative and stimulating.

Like someone said earlier, if you were old enough to have been around to see it, there is no doubt which shot would win, Sampson's. He caught the ball with less than a second, spun and 'threw' it up from just inside the free throw line. It bounced and went in. We weren't supposed to beat the Lakers, no one was. The Celtics handed our head to us in the finals to prove it.

Good post, I'm senile and remember it like yesterday.

 

Actually, I believe it was CBS at the time.

 

Just wanted to hit this cause no one else did. That Drexler shot, I believe was against Denver (in Denver) if I'm thinking of the same one you are.

I voted for Sampson. clearly should be the winner here. But one I think deserves to be on the list (esp. ahead of Yao's first shot)...is Maxwell's shot (or pair of shots) against San Antonio in '93. Was it game #23 of the season? I remember it kept the streak alive to start the season... it was when the Rockets had to shoot 3 3's (Horry and Elie I think missed?) in one possession, with the last offensive rebound being tipped out by OT to Max. Then the Rockets got it back with about 3ish seconds left and Max nailed that fadeaway from 20 at the buzzer. It's memorable...cause I can picture OT falling under the goal as the ball went through the net, Cassell tripping and falling as he was running to congratulate Maxwell, and Rudy running with his arm in the air, hair flopping all over. Gotta love it

 

man, its good to see all these hardcore rocket fans.

my vote went to Ralph Sampson's unbelievable shot against LA.

I loved Vernon's 3 pointer from hakeem as well, that one got me yelling out of my seat.

How sweet it is!! Good ol glory days.

 

for clarification:


maxwell hit the shot when we were up 5. but that made it over, which is why it was so big.

i told y'all ainge got a shot off in game 7 and i even called that it was 60 feet. if that had gone in the kiss of death would've meant nothing.

drexler's shot was against denver, banked it in with calvin screaming "there it is" like 3 times before the shot, both bill and calvin screaming "ohhhhhhhhhh" when it went in and then calvin continuing to say "there it is" afterwards.

and on maxwell's 3 against SA, have no idea which game of the season it was, but i believe the sequence was maxwell bricked a 3, hakeem grabbed the rebound, pass to smith, he misses, thorpe grabs the rebound, pass to maxwell, he makes it. and then yeah we made them miss and maxwell barely got off his 20 footer at the buzzer. i may have reversed which rebound hakeem and thorpe got but they got the reb's and maxwell and smith did the missing.

my favorite buzzer shot ever had to be max against golden state. down by 2, horry inbounding. supposed to go to hakeem, but horry throws it way over his head. it would've gone out of bounds, but it clipped the corner of the backboard and was headed out on the other side. maxwell races over, catches it, plants one foot, jumps in the air going out of bounds, heaves it to the basket. it actually went so high and the camera shot was close enough that you couldn't see the ball for a while. and then it just came flying into the picture and swished through. and actually the clock didn't start the second maxwell caught it and thus there was 1.6 left after he made it which gave gsw a chance they shouldn't have had to tie it. but man that shot was awesome. did vernon ever miss a buzzer shot?

 

Eddie Johnson's game-winning 3 against the jazz, and Mario Elie's kiss of death 3 have to be the most memorable shots in Rockets history. The feeling I had when those 2 shots went in were amazing!! Ahhhh......Memories......

Raplh Sampson, wow.....what a waste of great talent. His shot beat LA, that gives that shot a vote.

 

I voted for Ralph Sampson' "shot heard round the world" as it was called back then because many at the time believed it would help usher in the Rockets as the next NBA dynasty and show the Lakers the door. So much for that, we couldnt even show the Celts the door that year. And the next season, we couldnt show anyone the door, either. But just because that shot beat the DAMNED Lakers, I voted for it as the greatest shot in NBA history and I am sure alot of "Laker-haters" would agree with me. It was like the Texans sticking it to the Cowboys or the Stro's no-hitting those damned Yanks. Just one of those terrific moments in sports history.

 

DOES ANYONE REMEMBER HORRY'S THREE POINTER AGAINST ORLANDO IN GAME THREE OF THE FINALS? I VOTED FOR MARIO ELIE'S SHOT, BUT HORRY'S 3 IN GAME THREE AND DREAM'S 3 IN GAME FOUR STAND OUT TO ME. ESPECIALLY BEING THAT I WATCH DOUBLE CLUTCH AT LEAST TWICE A WEEK.

 

TheFreak, you're wrong.

The Elie shot created a round of fouling, just like I explained. I am so positive about that. I was screaming at the TV demanding the Rockets to start fouling.

What I meant by those shots happen all the time in the playoffs is true too. Jason Kidd had one this year. Horry last year. Bibby had one last year. Reggie Miller had scores of them. Jordan...etc.

Not to take anything away from them at all, but the Sampson shot is a prayer shot. Not quite the same, imo. But it's just a poll.

 

Yeah, I think this was cleared up a couple of days ago.

 

so, who made the more useless post. me or you.

 

Me, of course.

 

THE MOST MEMORABLE SHOT.. From a Rocket has to go to Vernon Maxwell. Does anyone remember the game against Golden State. Rockets down by 1 due to Tim Hardaways floater over Hakeem... So the Rockets Try an alley oop to Hakeem.. that Bounces off the glass and MAXWELL catches it with one hand falling out of bounds tosses up a tunraround FADEAWAY that goes in.. It wasn't worth anything because it was in the regular season. But it was the most amazing memorable shot i've ever seen anyone make.

 

I don't know how big it is so it might not be memorable to most people, but the shot that came to mind for me was Mad Max's shot against the Warriors in a game on national TV just prior to Christmas in the early ninties.

The Rocks were down by 2 with a second to go, and they tried to ally-oop it to Horry underneath, but the bad pass deflected off the backboard and Mad Max grabbed the ball and jacked it up while falling out of bounds for the game winning shot.

Definitely not the most important shot, but it was very memorable for me.