Rockets fans hope for Clutch City redux
NBA’s best team in regular season stirs memories
Fans started showing up at the Toyota Center five hours before tipoff on Sunday.
At first, it was just a few, decked head to toe in Rockets red and black. They took selfies in front of the downtown arena. They soaked in the pre-playoff quiet before the radio DJs and Rockets cheerleaders and mechanical bull all arrived. And they made predictions:
This Rockets team, so many said, was about excellent players. Not a hurricane. Not a flooded city.
“Harvey? As Texans, Houstonians, we got through that,” said Juan Molina, 31, in line with his wife for face painting outside the arena. “It’s time to move on.”
Sunday’s game tipped off the Rockets’ best chance for an NBA championship in more than two decades, since 7-foot center Hakeem Olajuwon led the team in back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995. The team finished this season with 65 wins and just 17 losses, the best record in the NBA, led by guard James Harden, the league’s likely MVP.
And the fans who came early Sunday were keenly aware.
William and Jennifer Schiesser drove down from Conroe, drawn by the 70-degree weather and plans to see downtown before the game. William, 32, predicted a four-game sweep of the Rockets first opponent, the Minnesota Timberwolves. An NBA championship would be nice, too, he said.
“It’d be good for Houston, like the Astros’ win,” said William, a moving company manager. But he didn’t think it had anything to do with Hurricane Harvey.
“They’ve been better than past years, for sure,” said Jennifer, 31. The two were so excited for the postseason they drove a half hour away — everything close by was sold out — for brand-new, matching blackand-red Harden T-shirts.
By 5 p.m., the quad in front of the Toyota Center was filling. Fans talked about Harden, about the team’s penchant for 3point shooting and about the defensive prowess suddenly on display this year.
“Harvey was last year!” said Downtown Safety Ambassador Pernell Lancaster, 38, as he watched the quad fill up with
fans in front of the arena. The team should win this year on its merits, he said. “If they don’t let the pressure get to them, and just take it like a regular basketball game, but keep the intensity up, our chances are pretty good.”
By tipoff, thousands had filtered through the Toyota Center gates. Maintenance men from Seabrook. Oil and gas engineers from France. A trombone player from Missouri City. A truck driver from Houston.
Lionel Christian, 31, was one of the last through the gates before tipoff. It was his first playoff game. But it was special to him for more than that. Christian was rescued by boat from his Memorial home during Harvey. The Astros’ Major League Baseball pennant win last year brought the city together, he said.
Now he hoped the Rockets could do the same.
“This city has definitely been through a lot,” he said. “This is an opportunity for Houston to come together.”