Let’s ponder the historical status of the Houston Rockets. I assume –
look out, Rockets!- that Houston, by the time you read this, will be world
champions. When a team twice wins in a league as tough as the NBA, fans must
consider where this odd group fits in the pantheon of all-time great teams.
Look at the components, piece by piece. Hakeem Olajuwon was the first
pick of the ’84 draft. An excellent player his entire career, over the last two
years Olajuwon’s game has completely matured. He now displays a stunning
combination of low post skills never before seen from the center position. The
average center is a huge fellow who can score at close range and take up space.
The great centers – Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt, Walton – combine magnificent all-round
skills with intangible qualities like courage and will to win. Bill Russell, a
center who must be included in any such list, defined and vividly displayed the
total devastation possible in the hands of a gifted athlete determined to play
defense.
Tedious and a waste of a finite amount of breaths, I hate the ancient sports
arguments over who was better than whom. Olajuwon does things these other
legends only dreamed about. His footwork is so quick… well, ask MVP David
Robinson. His array of creative moves is dazzling. On defense, Olajuwon’s
superb. He’d give up nothing to Russell. He’s as good as anyone who’s ever
played the position. Sam Cassell/Kenny Smith: These guys are one. One
night, Smith will set a record for three-point shots and Cassell will be 0 for
the game. The next night, uncannily but with unerring certainty, Smith will be
dreadful and Cassell will score 30. Cassell’s shots always seem to be the ones
that stick the dagger in the other team’s back. Cassell, I’m convinced, feels
no pressure. He’s like John Starks, but a lot better. When Cassell/Smith are
hot – and one always seems to be – it appears they’ll never miss, a confounding
experience if you’re rooting against them.
Robert Horry has been discovered. He rebounds, plays underrated
defense, and routinely hits monster three-point shots. In college, he was a
center. With Houston, he plays anywhere. He runs the floor and, at 6’10”,
presents serious, frequently unsolvable match-up problems for any team they
play. Not long ago, they almost traded him to Detroit. It’s called a great
trade never made.
It’s hard not to like Clyde Drexler. He’s a classy guy without a world
championship ring. Sentiment aside, rarely has a mid-season trade borne such
sweet fruit. At 34, he’s no longer able to dominate an entire game. With
Houston, he doesn’t have to. He picks his spots. Each basket seems to come at a
crucial time.
Rudy T: Like Phil Jackson before him, Rudy T. has come from nowhere to
prove he can flat-out coach. His inside-out European system is risky and
sometimes looks bad but he stuck with it and held the Rockets together through
a nightmare season of injury, discord, and bad luck. Anyone who thinks all a
coach has to do is roll the ball out on the floor and tell the guys to play,
need only look at 25 other coaches, all sitting at home.
The decade past has seen a number of NBA truisms shattered. The Pistons and
Bulls showed you don’t have to have a great or even a good center to win a
title. Chicago proved you can win without a point guard. Houston has disproved
the oldest myth of all: You can win without rebounding and you can win relying
on the outside shot. Houston revolutionized the concept of the three-point shot. Last year, Houston
showed the league an offense predicated on taking open threes whenever
available. The axiom was lost in the grisly finals where New York mugged and
hammered the Rockets, until they were forced to alley-fight. With this year’s
rule changes brought on by that ghastly affair, Houston showcased the
impossible conundrum of guarding The Dream and the three-point line with only
five players.
Last year, Houston came out of nowhere to win an NBA title. This year,
seeded sixth with a humdrum 47-35 record, they staggered into the playoffs on
the heels of a three-game losing streak. Nobody being honest (even those people
sitting on the Rocket bench), thought they were going anywhere. I don’t
believe the Rockets will ever be accorded the proper amount of public respect
they deserve. If they could play those great teams of the past, after they won
their share, we’d still shake our heads and wonder how. It’s because they’re an
odd team who win in an odd way. They seem lucky, but after two championships,
it’s clear they’re not. They’re versatile, able to beat the Knicks in a knife
fight or outrun Orlando. They’re tough and resilient. They seem chaotic, but
they’re not. What they are, from a city traditionally the home of losers and
slugs, is two-time world champions. They’ve made Houston, Texas, home to heat,
humidity, and mosquitoes, a barren, broiling, and desolate land of Astros,
Cougars, and Oilers. This landscape of also-rans is now the basketball capital
of the world. If the Astrodome is the Eighth Wonder of the World, then this is
surely the Ninth. n
Comments? I’m at: coach36@aol.com
This article appears in June 16 • 1995 and June 16 • 1995 (Cover).