UNHAPPY ENDING
Rockets’ season over as Warriors rally in Game 7 Despite gut-wrenching loss, team gave fans hope, reason to cheer after another tragedy
It’s been a nail-biting ride for Rockets fans.
From the thrills of a leaguebest season to the agonies of a fierce and erratic matchup against the powerful and favored Golden State Warriors. The devastation of Chris Paul’s hamstring injury and the uncertainty over whether he would play. Monday’s Game 7 of the Western Conference finals at Toyota Center was a bid for glory.
Just like the Astros’ restorative World Series victory in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey’s devastation, Houston needed it — willed it — a week after the deadliest high school shooting in Texas wracked many with grief. Then, as now, the Astros went seven games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, while the Rockets battled the Warriors to the end.
The emotional roller-coaster of a season ended with a stinging 101-92 defeat, with the Rockets falling short of a fifth trip to the NBA Finals, a painful loss after a season of hope buoyed by high-scoring success.
It was a crushing moment for a city that had rallied behind its strongest basketball team in years.
“We’re devastated,” said Suzanne Alvarado, the 41-yearold owner of a tax service, as
she streamed out in a glum crowd. “I’m crushed. We were so close.”
Sad. Upset. Disappointed. Some fans couldn’t even talk about it, rushing out visibly emotional. A few were critical.
“A great first half,” said Kendall Coleman, 38. “Predictable second half.”
Steve May tried to put a positive spin on it.
“This is the best team in the league that we’re up against,” the 52-year-old businessman said. “It was a good effort … we’ll get another one eventually.”
Throughout the night, fans who had waited so long for this relished much of the game, all the while with a pit of gnawing anxiety. They used phrases like “cautiously optimistic.” As the Warriors pulled ahead in the third and fourth quarters, they cursed in frustration. Their nerves were shot, but they didn’t give up.
“After the season the Rockets have had,” said Margaret Dillingham, “anything other than a win would be devastating.”
Clutch City spirit was feverish inside the stadium. Chris Reid, a 25-year-old DJ, pumped his fists emphatically on a concession stand counter as he watched the screen.
“The crowd’s crazy tonight,” he said. “I’m scared as hell.”
For Jared Ashmore, a 38-yearold in commercial real estate, it reminded him of the 1995 playoffs, triggering a sense of nostalgia.
“It feels like we’re back in junior high,” he said. “I’m nervous. We’re playing the champs.”
For many fans, the mere fact that the Rockets had reached this point at all after so many years on the outs was enough.
“This game is a milestone,” said Todd Baker, 52, who works in sales and was here with his wife, Liz. “They earned this game. They deserve to be here.”
Like much of the city of Houston, he and others lamented that Paul was out.
“He’s our four-star general,” said Nelton Benard, a 32-yearold U.S. Marine Corps recruiter. “We need him.”
Benard said the series was a struggle for emotional sanity as he veered from exhilaration to despair.
“It was blowout after blowout,’ he said. “We were missing layups, and just too many turnovers. But the good thing is we had the firepower to hang with these guys.”
Coming after the horrors of the Santa Fe shooting, he and many of those at Monday’s game said all that it promised was even more important.
Like the New Orleans Saints after Hurricane Katrina, the Red Sox after the Boston Marathon bombing, the New York Yankees after 9/11 and the Astros after Harvey, the Rockets’ toe-to-toe showing with the Warriors mattered a lot to a city in grief.
“Last year with Hurricane Harvey and the Astros coming through for us, and the recent bad events in Santa Fe, this helps lift Houston up again,” Benard said. “It gives us something to cheer for when we have a lot of things to be sad about.”
The team donated $100,000 from its watch party to the Santa Fe Strong Memorial Fund, and players have worn the school’s green and gold patches on their jerseys.
“It’s pretty awesome to see Houston sports teams rally around the city after tragedy,” wrote one fan on Twitter. “The Astros after Harvey and the Rockets after Santa Fe. #HoustonStrong.”
John Paul Seitel, who wore a blue jacket with stars to honor Memorial Day, said the Rockets’ strong showing in the series puts Houston on the map again.
“It’s funny how something uplifting happens after something tragic,” he said. “It’s a great way to come together as a city.”
The series, with its close victories and blowout losses, was as difficult to endure for the fans as the players.
“Every game was like, ‘I just can’t watch it,’ ” fan Wesam Hindi, 22, said. “You’re like, ‘Dear God, let this be over with,’ and at the same time you just want more and more. So many nerves.”