Are The '95 Rockets the luckiest and most opportune Champions in NBA History?

[Audio One]

Honest question. This team of course worked their asses off, however, they hold the artifical label of being the ONLY 6th seed/lowest seed to win a title, and there's a reason for that. These Houston teams were the weakest of the title teams in the 90's, and Houston didn't come close before or afterwards to winning another title, matter of fact losing to inferior teams in the process at times.

[COLOR="Purple"]The Quarterfinals[/COLOR]: Face a Utah team w/o a starting center, and an injury to Stockton or Hornacek I believe. The rubber game sees David Benoit miss THREE STRAIGHT THREE POINTERS, having just made one of them would've ensured Utah victory, seeing as how Utah ran the clock down. As is often the case w/ the so-called "purest PG" ever, "top 30 player ever", "top-5 GOAT PG" Johnathan Stockton, puts up only 12 pts and 5 assists on 28%, and lets scrub bucktooth Kenny "The Jet" Smith torch him the entire series

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]The Semi-Finals[/COLOR]: Ah, here it is. Houston faces perennial choke-artists Barkley and KJ-- another team w/o a starting cetner, and get taken to the brink by a team w/o Danny Manning, an integral part of Phoenix's rotation, and equates to a bigger loss than in '93 when Ceballos sat out the '93 Finals. I'm fairly certain Houston doesn't beat Phoenix w/ Manning in the lineup. Game 5 sees Phoenix w/ firm control of the game, up 79-76 entering the 4th, and KJ is literally unstoppable, shooting 75%, and all but ensures Phoenix another WCF Finals appearance, and here comes Barkley, the most underrated/overlooked stat-padding choke artist of the modern era.

Barkley enters the game, coming off a sizzling hot 5 point banger, shooting a perfect 0-10 in a game 3 that sees Phoenix get blown out by 30+. He demands KJ "give him the ****ing ball", and this became, and becomes a common theme during the consecutive WCSF series against Houston. As you know it, Barkley clanks shots left and right, shooting 1-13 from the floor during the 2nd half and overtime, along with 6 turnovers for dessert, completely disrupting Phoenix's flow. With 17.2 seconds left, Phoenix up 2, Barkley clanks two free throws that would've eliminated the World Champions, and Wesley Person misses a wide open three-pointer that would've won the series. Barkley was not to keep himself in the best of shape, and as a result Barkley tears his meniscus in game 6, quarter 3. To help aleviate this problem and better rest and prepare for the series finale, Barkley and Majerle go out drinking the night before the game 7. The next day of course sees both Majerle and Barkley choke like dogs, particulary Barkley, w/ just 18 points on 44% shooting w/ 7 turnovers, and KJ, as brillant as he was this game, chokes as well by missing the go-ahead free-throw, a game that Phoenix loses by 1 point. Also, for some strange reason, Westphal elects to try to trap Smith in the halfcourt IN A TIE GAME, leaving Mario open for the series-winning three-pointer. The Suns for the 2nd straight year, blow a 2-game series lead by losing three straight games.

[COLOR="Black"]The WCF[/COLOR]

Face a great, oft-underrated supporting cast of the Spurs + Robinson. Only problem is, that the team is in disarray, mainly due to Rodman. He doesn't give full effort this go-around, not participating in the huddles, playing center field on Horry at times, chucking away from distance in game 2, and flat-out refusing to help in any way (be it double-team or even guarding) with containing Olajuwon. The opening game sees Elliot miss two free throws with 28.6 seconds in regulation, setting up Big Shot's game-winning three. Seeing as how this series is mere seconds away from going to a 7th game on SA's home floor, I believe San Antonio has a great shot to win this series had Rodman of course was a team player, and Elliot wraps up game 1. Many many folks point to Olajuwon's box score numbers and attribute this to the series, but it should be noted that Amar'e had just as good a series in '05, yet Phoenix was virtually swept. The problem w/ San Antonio this year was that they weren't a team by this point, mainly due to Dennis, and also due to the inept Bob Hill. He freely admitted to choosing to stick to single-coverage Olajuwon, and this actually wouldn't have been a bad decision, but like Phoenix, Hill didn't fully commit to this plan, which in turn set off the shooters for the Rockets, with Akeem being hot as well. The other problem was that you don't have your superstar carry the offense, and expect them to guard the opposing team's superstar, especially a match-up like his counterpart, w/ Drexler on the wing and shooters on deck.

[COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]The NBA Finals[/COLOR]

Not too much needs to be said about this final round. Orlando sees it's franchise's all-time leading scorer miss four straight free throws and loses his manhood on the brightest stage, all while letting Drexler spank him this game, and all series long. THE CHANCES OF A 70% foul shooter missing FOUR STRAIGHT FREEBIES IS LESS THAN 1%!!! Kenny Smith bails Houston out with a surprise home-run shot that sends the game into OT, and sees Orlando lose, completely crushing the young team's spirit, and a blow they don't recover from (think '13 Finals). As is the case w/ Shaquille's first three years in the league, he's ultimately Olajuwon's equal, and baby Shaq accordingly plays peak Akeem to a draw in the Finals, yet sees Houston's supporting cast have a series for the ages. I'm of the camp that believes Orlando wins the series, had their closer not blew that surefire win and give Houston homecourt.

So there you have it. The Miami Heat in '13 were bailed out by a lucky three-point shot, and Bryant gets miscredited for playing with Gasol, and for the Lakers supposedly "carrying Kobe in game 7" but Houston virtually faced this dilemna the entire '95 playoffs, ESPECIALLY the first two rounds! If LeBron's going to get heat for being bailed out, what about this ENTIRE POSTSEASON??? Getting bailed out by his supporting cast an entire Finals series? Relying on multiple choke jobs and artists? This is just as much an asterisk ring as any, and an even bigger asterisk title than the '94 one, as that team relied on MUCH less luck (outside of Jordan being suspended). So again, was there another title team that got as LUCKY as the '95 Houston team did?

[Budadiiii]

2013 Heat

2011 Mavs

[BasedTom]

2013 Heat

2011 Mavs

1. team was stacked, won 27 games in a row and had the best record in the league
2. dirk was a god in the playoffs. in the words of Damian Lillard, Lebron played like a *****. Probably the biggest choke job of all time since the 18-1 Patriots. Probably worse, since 2011 Bran was a one man shit-show.

[stephanieg]

Houston made the '81 finals with a 40-42 record and won 2 games off the 60+ win Celts. They got that voodoo.

[Real14]

2013 Heat

2011 Mavs

I would take out 2011 Mavs and add 06, 12 heat as well.

[Nowitness]

Damn right what you said about Barkley though.

[Kargo]

2013 Heat

2011 Mavs

Yup,beating Kobe/Gasol/Bynum with Phil Jackson..Durant/Westbrook/Harden/Ibaka....Lebron/Wade/Bosh with a combined score of 12 wins,3 loses was pure luck.

Easily the most impressive title run since Lakers' early 00'.

[SexSymbol]

no,
look up 12-13 Heat

[K Xerxes]

Contender for worst post ever. A wall of text that could have been summarised into: 'Rockets won because they were better than the teams they faced over a 7 game series'. You can blame injuries, choke artists or the tooth fairy, but the same could be done for virtually every championship ever won by a team that isn't universally considered the best at the beginning of the playoffs. They were the best when it counted, that's all.

Ultimately Hakeem did this:

1st round (3-2 vs Jazz): 35-9-4 on 57%
2nd round (4-3 vs Suns): 30-9-4 on 50%
WCF (4-2 vs Spurs): 35-13-5-4 on 56% vs MVP David Robinson
Finals (4-0 vs Magic): 33-12-6 on 48%

Rockets defeated 60, 59, 62 and 57 teams on route to the championship. Arguably the GOAT individual playoff run.

How Akeem's ass taste son?

Only wish you could give me back the minute or so I wasted reading that diatribe.

[Harison]

Contender for worst post ever. A wall of text that could have been summarised into: 'Rockets won because they were better than the teams they faced over a 7 game series'. You can blame injuries, choke artists or the tooth fairy, but the same could be done for virtually every championship ever won by a team that isn't universally considered the best at the beginning of the playoffs. They were the best when it counted, that's all.

Ultimately Hakeem did this:

1st round (3-2 vs Jazz): 35-9-4 on 57%
2nd round (4-3 vs Suns): 30-9-4 on 50%
WCF (4-2 vs Spurs): 35-13-5-4 on 56% vs MVP David Robinson
Finals (4-0 vs Magic): 33-12-6 on 48%

Rockets defeated 60, 59, 62 and 57 teams on route to the championship. Arguably the GOAT individual playoff run.

How Akeem's ass taste son?

Only wish you could give me back the minute or so I wasted reading that diatribe.

[necya]

sometimes, it starts like that. A insignificant stupid post on a forum, and a morning, coffee is not hot enough and they kill their entire family

they just defeated the 4 best teams of the season

[Audio One]

2013 Heat

2011 Mavs

While I do agree with the '11 Mavericks mention (somehow moved Nowitzki up 20 spots in the rankings) ultimately though, both teams would've at least made it to the Finals, while Akeem was honestly lucky to even make it to the WCF, let alone the 2nd round

[navy]

Contender for worst post ever. A wall of text that could have been summarised into: 'Rockets won because they were better than the teams they faced over a 7 game series'. You can blame injuries, choke artists or the tooth fairy, but the same could be done for virtually every championship ever won by a team that isn't universally considered the best at the beginning of the playoffs. They were the best when it counted, that's all.

Ultimately Hakeem did this:

1st round (3-2 vs Jazz): 35-9-4 on 57%
2nd round (4-3 vs Suns): 30-9-4 on 50%
WCF (4-2 vs Spurs): 35-13-5-4 on 56% vs MVP David Robinson
Finals (4-0 vs Magic): 33-12-6 on 48%

Rockets defeated 60, 59, 62 and 57 teams on route to the championship. Arguably the GOAT individual playoff run.

How Akeem's ass taste son?

Only wish you could give me back the minute or so I wasted reading that diatribe.

[Audio One]

Contender for worst post ever. A wall of text that could have been summarised into: 'Rockets won because they were better than the teams they faced over a 7 game series'. You can blame injuries, choke artists or the tooth fairy, but the same could be done for virtually every championship ever won by a team that isn't universally considered the best at the beginning of the playoffs. They were the best when it counted, that's all.

Ultimately Hakeem did this:

1st round (3-2 vs Jazz): 35-9-4 on 57%
2nd round (4-3 vs Suns): 30-9-4 on 50%
WCF (4-2 vs Spurs): 35-13-5-4 on 56% vs MVP David Robinson
Finals (4-0 vs Magic): 33-12-6 on 48%

Rockets defeated 60, 59, 62 and 57 teams on route to the championship. Arguably the GOAT individual playoff run.

How Akeem's ass taste son?

Only wish you could give me back the minute or so I wasted reading that diatribe.

Any championship team that caught THAT many breaks as Houston did that year, yeah I'd love to read about it. And no, Houston didn't beat any great teams that year, as none of those teams came close to winning a title before or afterwards. Using win totals to justify how good a team is/was is horrible logic, going by that the '98 Sonics and '08 Warriors were better teams than the '95 Rockets...

[Audio One]

Damn right what you said about Barkley though.

Even then, he's still better than Nowitzki, don't worry