Rockets’ flight ends
We congratulate the Rockets for a fine season as we look for a better year next year.
It wasn’t a championship year, but the Houston Rockets gave their fans a thrilling ride this season, reaching the NBA’s Western Conference finals for the first time in 18 years before losing to the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.
In contrast to years past, when they failed to make it through the first round of the playoffs, the Rockets, led by James Harden and Dwight Howard, fought their way past the Dallas Mavericks, then the Los Angeles Clippers before finally succumbing to the Warriors, whose Steph Curry may be one of the greatest shooters to ever play the game.
Now the Warriors will play the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James for the championship, while the Rockets start their off-season pondering what they must do to bring the championship trophy back to Houston after a 20-year absence.
Few who lived in Houston then will forget the excitement in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons when Hakeem Olajuwon, joined in the second year by fellow former University of Houston teammate Clyde Drexler, led the Rockets to consecutive NBA championships.
“Never underestimate the heart of a champion,” then-coach Rudy Tomjanovich told a packed Summit (now Lakewood Church) in a memorable phrase that captured the essence of that never-say-die team.
Those Rockets not only gave us the thrill of victory, but showed us why we pay a lot of money to build stadiums for our sports team and buy tickets to their games.
In the disparate life of modernday America, they are one of the few things that can unite a city, both in joy and despair.
We congratulate the Rockets for a fine season, but hope that next year will be even better. Note to general manager Daryl Morey: We figure they’re one more consistent scorer away from championship form.
At the end of the day, being a sports fan is all about hope. We’ve got lots of it for next season.
We congratulate the Rockets for a fine season, but hope that next year will be even better.