I am curious. What did everybody say after Rockets got swept one year after their championship season? Like what's happening to Spurs now? I did not visit basketball websites until 97. ------------------
I think Fran Blinebury said it best, the day after in the chronicle: two words - "GET BARKLEY" And the rest is history... ------------------ --if time spent on this board = # of posts, I would have a lot of them. Obviously, there is no correlation...
the game four that we lost in overtime. we came back from 20something down in the fourth, it was an amazing comeback and then we lost in overtime. i remember, because i have it on tape, the rockets were down by 9 with 1:45 to go in the game, and horry goes nuts and hits a bunch of threes. cassel hits a three with 5 seconds left to send it into OT. anyway, it was such an amazing comeback, that i had nothing but respect for them even though they got swept. and i also remember lisa malosky interviewing George Karl's little brat kid who sat in his goofy sonics jersey at the end of the bench handing out towels. and she asked him in game 3 to predict the rest of the series. and he goes "sweep" i wanted to punch him in the face, he was such a spoiled brat. and also that was the year everyone was injured, horry, cassel, drexler, they all missed time and they werent 100% in that series. thats why we got swept, not to make excuses. ok thats it. ------------------ Paranoid, trying to stuff the void.
All I know is that the Rockets NEVER quit! They have a lot of heart unlike the Spurs. ------------------
My main memory from that series is Game 2. The Rockets played Great, but Seattle won due to the best ever 3 point shooting performance in NBA history (20 of 26 from behind the Arc I think). They hit like 15 3's in a row at one point or something. But everyone is right: The Rockets never quit, unlike the '01 Gutless Spurs. It was embarassing to be swept after winning 2 straight titles and miss out on a chance to finally meet Jordan's Bulls in the Finals, but the Rockets just didn't match up well with Seattle at all. Payton killed the Rockets and Nate McMillan was the ultimate rocket killer. ------------------ Get Cato out of there...
Thanks, guys. I am glad to know Rockets did not quit. Now I can fire at Spurs at will. ------------------
Even though Barkley was fun to have here in Houston I do hate the fact that the young guys in that team were traded away, they deserved another chance, but at that time if you guys recall correctly the rox management had the "lets win NOW" attitude that they just gave up on a few yrs ago when it all looked out of reach..... anyways, we did get sweept that yr. but as some of the previous posters have stated the rox were really hurting that yr. we pretty much limped into the playoffs... Elli's hand (or wrist) was broken , Cassell was pretty much out w/an ankle injury, Drexler had back problems , Horry if am not mistaken had a problem controling his penis and the sonics were about the only team in the NBA at that time that could minimize the damage Hakeem would usually do to opposing D's.... it was kinda clear from the beginning (to me) that we did not have a good chance , not w/all those injuries ... I truly believe that if we would have been healthy we would have gone through the sonics .. that is how good and that is how much heart that team had I am sure they would have gone to the finals that yr. ------------------ When will I reach 1000 posts ?
Don't forget the Rockets were really banged up as well. ------------------ Brought to you by the letter M.
I hated to see the kids go, but after getting swept, we needed a change. Barkly got us back to the conference finals, only to be beaten by a buzzer beater. We really were (holding fingers 1mm apart) this close. ------------------ "Chucky who? I thought we were talking about basketball?" Charles Barkley
I said F!!K Seattle!!! I always hated Seattle! Then I really enjoyed MJ bending them over in the Finals. I like Milwaukee but I still HATE Karl!!! Chuckster is the man but he cost us too much.... He did get us back to the Conf Finals but we were spent after that... I want Sam and Horry back... We NEVER QUIT. We doesnt include Cato... ------------------ Go Rockets!!! SS
I had almost forgotten the sweep.. why did you have to bring it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ------------------ Shane "Save Our Rockets" "Life without basketball in Houston........without an arena that is what it will be"
the rockets were about to win that game 4 in OT also until Horry fouled out. amazing comeback from 20 down in the fourth. the best part was the Glove doubling down on Hakeem and leaving Cassell wide open for the tying 3 with 5 secs left! One of the most r****ded defensive moves ever. ------------------
I had said, "Figures! We never could get past Seattle!" Which we never could; they had our number. I credit George Karl and his amazing zone defense. I had a very different reaction than W3C5: I hated and still hate Seattle but have a lot or respect for George Karl. The bigger lament was when they included Cassell in the package for Barkley. Horry, Bryant and Brown, I said fine. When they said Cassell too, I told my brother we should nix the deal. He told me, "Just you watch." Well, I watched and watched and we never did make it back to the Finals. Bad trade. ------------------ RealGM Gafford Art Artisan Cakes
Barkley is the sole reason we finally beat the Sonics. I'm glad we made that trade and we almost got to the finals if it wasn't for that horrible 3 pointer by Stockton. If we didn't make that deal we would have gotten eliminated by the Sonics once again. If that deal didn't go through and we still kept Horry and Cassell, do you think we'd have Francis? ------------------
That game 4 versus Seattle was one of the most amazing I had ever seen. Beautiful game -- fans were incredible -- but we came up a little short. My recollection is Cassell getting pounded on talk shows and in the paper for being "out-of-control." I will never get that situation; Kenny got benched and benched HARD in the middle of the season -- before Sammy got hurt -- and Rudy put Eldridge in the lineup and kept Cassell on the bench. Sammy was our once-and-future king, but then he became a roster pariah, some sort of flawed maniac, but nothing had changed. Sure he was wacked. Still is. But he's got game. Big time. Of course, my man Kenny Smith came back in a dazzling performance against LA in the regular season, burying four 3s in fourth quarter to pull off the win. Great game also. He was back on the court in time for Sonics series. And he wanted to stay here, even for a pay cut, after we lost. Keny was a good Rocket. A real good Rocket. But Blinebury had been lobbying for Barkley since February 1996 -- it is my opinion that the Rox used Blinebury a little to float the trade way before it went down. Or maybe he just called it early, and the Rockets got behind it. Still, that trade -- conceptually speaking -- made no sense to me then, and it makes no sense to me now, and the Cassell-dogging makes it extremely suspect to me .. as if we tarnished his rep. a little so the trade would become palatable. We traded youth and defense for an injury prone quote machine who liked to jack threes at a 16% clip. I have said it 1,000,000 times, but as much as I love Food World, he was the last thing that team needed, especially at the expense of their defense. Which by the way Robert Horry always plays, even when he is loafing on offense. He never slacked on defense, nor did Chucky Brown. We were outcoached by Seattle, it seemed to me -- and I love Rudy -- but Karl had Hakeem figured, better than anyone. Damn right they played a zone, and it worked. Kept Dream out of the low post and he could never recover in time to dish. Neutralize Hakeem, and the one-dimensional offense became very very vulnerable and easily frustrated. Karl knew it, and threw us off our game by shoving Hakeem out to the free throw line. I dont think it was personnel so much -- we could not adjust. And Seattle was burning out after that year anyway -- it was the last hurrah of the KempSonics. True, BarkleyRockets beat Seattle, but HorryCassellRockets would have beaten the Jazz. Can you picture Sammy Cassell letting Stockton eat our lunch Games 1 and 2 like Maloney did? No damn way. We missed those guys -- Vernon included, for all you die-hards out there -- when we got beat by the Jazz the next year. Chucky too. Chucky of course. CBFC ------------------ Join the Chucky Brown Fan Club [This message has been edited by CBrownFanClub (edited June 05, 2001).]
"the best part was the Glove doubling down on Hakeem and leaving Cassell wide open for the tying 3 with 5 secs left! One of the most r****ded defensive moves ever" -LOL. Yes, I remember that vividly. I was so pissed when the Rockets threw it into the post, knowing we needed a 3 to tie, then was shocked when Payton doubled and just left Cassell wide open. -That play just proves how zoned in Seattle was to stopping Hakeem. They literally were triple teaming him every time in the post the absolute second he caught the ball. I've never seen any team play that style of Defense just going ALL OUT to stop one player to that extent. ------------------ Get Cato out of there...
"Barkley is the sole reason we finally beat the Sonics. I'm glad we made that trade and we almost got to the finals if it wasn't for that horrible 3 pointer by Stockton. " -I'm not so sure about that. The Rockets MVP of the 97 series against Seattle was Matt Maloney. He was just draining 3's like crazy thanks to the crazy triple teams on Hakeem. Barkley played OK that series, nothing spectacular. "I have said it 1,000,000 times, but as much as I love Food World, he was the last thing that team needed, especially at the expense of their defense. Which by the way Robert Horry always plays, even when he is loafing on offense. " -Exactly. Horry was always a very underrated defender. He was made scapegoat for the Rockets many times, but you can see how much the team missed him. Also, by losing Horry and Cassell, the Rockets lost 2 of the most clutch playoff performers in recent NBA history. But I'll admit: I loved the trade at the time, though in hindsight, it was a bad move. It's not really Barkley's fault. It was just a silly idea to have 3 guys who's game relies on posting on the very same left block and trading away underrated role players like Horry and Cassell and even Mark Bryant. ------------------ Get Cato out of there...
Another problem with that trade was who we ended up with at point in '97: Matt Maloney. Who I think is still on the books. ------------------
