Can Boston replicate the 95 NBA Champions Houston Rockets?

[ChrisRichards]

Boston looks done to me. I think they'll be lucky to get out of the first round to be honest, but at the same time another part of me thinks they can beat all the odds and somehow win the NBA title if not at least reach the Finals which IMO will be a great achievement for them considering everyone is counting them out.


IIIRC, the Rockets in 95 were the 5th or 6th seed in the West, they beat a lot of quality teams in the west and even escaped a 1-3 series. They beat some very quality teams out there including Barkley's Suns, Malone and Stockton's Jazz and of course Robinson's Spurs, 2 of 3 teams that won 60 wins against Houston's 40+ record.


And of course you gusy know the rest as they beat the offensive juggernaut Orlando Magic with a prime Penny and a young Shaq.



This year has similarities, Cleveland and Lebron reminds me of Shaq in Orlando, unstoppable power that has not proven himself in the biggest stage. Dwight Howard and the Magic reminds me of David Robinson and the Spurs in 95. I know Garnett is no Olajuwon but overall this Celtics team are deeper than that 95 Houston team. And the Celtics are no stranger to playoff experience and defense. Two years ago they dominated the league. So do you think they can pull an upset?

[himat]

Boston looks done to me. I think they'll be lucky to get out of the first round to be honest, but at the same time another part of me thinks they can beat all the odds and somehow win the NBA title if not at least reach the Finals which IMO will be a great achievement for them considering everyone is counting them out.


IIIRC, the Rockets in 95 were the 5th or 6th seed in the West, they beat a lot of quality teams in the west and even escaped a 1-3 series. They beat some very quality teams out there including Barkley's Suns, Malone and Stockton's Jazz and of course Robinson's Spurs, 2 of 3 teams that won 60 wins against Houston's 40+ record.


And of course you gusy know the rest as they beat the offensive juggernaut Orlando Magic with a prime Penny and a young Shaq.



This year has similarities, Cleveland and Lebron reminds me of Shaq in Orlando, unstoppable power that has not proven himself in the biggest stage. Dwight Howard and the Magic reminds me of David Robinson and the Spurs in 95. I know Garnett is no Olajuwon but overall this Celtics team are deeper than that 95 Houston team. And the Celtics are no stranger to playoff experience and defense. Two years ago they dominated the league. So do you think they can pull an upset?

They could if they start resting up their players NOW. There is no way that team, with how aged they are, could make if as far as you say they could without some much needed rest.

They might as well give it their all because they will be diminished after this season.

[SomeCallMeTim]

1 inner-circle HOF player >>> 3 past-their-prime HOF players

Nope.

[ChrisRichards]

They could if they start resting up their players NOW. There is no way that team, with how aged they are, could make if as far as you say they could without some much needed rest.

They might as well give it their all because they will be diminished after this season.
Agree, but I think if they just put that effort for a couple mor egames they can probably pull it. KG, Pierce and Allen are a great mix of veterans. Pierce can still be a closer, KG is a great character guy that can pump up his teammates and Allen is a class act that can start hitting his shots in the right time. I think the best thing about these Celtics is that they have youth. Y'know Perkins, Big Baby and Rondo and all. Nate's a decent back up, so is Marquis Daniels.

[himat]

Agree, but I think if they just put that effort for a couple mor egames they can probably pull it. KG, Pierce and Allen are a great mix of veterans. Pierce can still be a closer, KG is a great character guy that can pump up his teammates and Allen is a class act that can start hitting his shots in the right time. I think the best thing about these Celtics is that they have youth. Y'know Perkins, Big Baby and Rondo and all. Nate's a decent back up, so is Marquis Daniels.

Yeah, but consistency matters a lot too. I'm not saying they can't get to the Finals, but all of their poor play in recent months will more than likely, haunt them down the road.

A very iffy team. I could see them getting swept in the first round or winning a game 7 in the Conference Finals. Time will tell.

[Cane]

The Celtics arguably barely made it to their first championship since a lot of their series went pretty deep. On the other hand they also remained competitive despite injuries.

Ultimately its hard to deny that kind of talent and experience but it'll come down to health which I think has already sailed away. They should be able to make it past the first round but after that I'm not so sure.

[KSeal]

If the 95 Rockets won the title, than no.

[RsxPiimp]

Is it still possible?

[HarlemHeat37]

Definitely, if KG keeps playing like this..

They will need Paul Pierce to show up more often though..

[pauls931]

I hate the 95 rockets, heart of a champion, bleck...

[poop]

Boston can win because they have the best most complete team other than maybe LA.

the Rockets won because they had more heart than the rest of the NBA combined and was the most clutch team in history. when it came down to crunch time they had like 6-7 guys who could ALL be ruthless in the clutch. never seen anything like it.

[poop]

I hate the 95 rockets, heart of a champion, bleck...

i hated them too, at the time. they embarassed us just like they did you. its only looking back on that team years later that i really appreciated just how unique and deadly they were

[barbacoataco]

Boston can play really good defense when they are clicking, and with KG and Rajon both playing well they are in a good position.

[sook]

as someone already said, the rockets surrounded hakeem with the most clutch shooters in NBA history that yr

[Tmac&Luther]

I hate the 95 rockets, heart of a champion, bleck...

:sleep

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Don't get pissed, because your team and that career choker Barkley couldn't close them out after being spotted a 3-1 series lead.

That 95 team was special....to this day, I still haven't seen a team that defied as many odds and played with as much heart and character as they did. I don't think we'll ever see another team overcome as much adversity and be able to do things they did that season.


"It's hard for me to put into words how I feel about this team," said Tomjanovich, his deep voice charged with emotion following the Rockets' four-game sweep of the Magic. "The character, the guts -- no team in the history of the league did what this team did."

Indeed, no team had ever stopped four 50-win teams en route to the title, as Houston did in overcoming the Utah Jazz (60-22), Phoenix Suns (59-23), San Antonio Spurs (62-20) and Orlando (57-25). No team ever beat the clubs with the four best regular-season records in the league in order to win the championship. No team ever won as many as nine road games in one year's playoffs, and no team ever won seven road games in a row. Houston did it all.


http://www.nba.com/history/finals/19941995.html

[Capt Bringdown]

I think Orlando will not live up to the hype and Boston will advance to the finals. Certainly Boston has peaked at the right time, hat's off to them.

I still can't see anyone beating the Lake show.

[duhoh]

ORL needs to put their mark on the series from tip-off.

Of course, if Sheed plays D12 like the former Pistons squad did, it'll be very, very tough for ORL to advance.

[milkshakeballa]

YOur out of your mind if you think SHeed is going to reincarnate his fucking piston days LOL

boston has no shot to beat LAL short of a kobe or pau injury

[mogrovejo]

YOur out of your mind if you think SHeed is going to reincarnate his fucking piston days LOL

boston has no shot to beat LAL short of a kobe or pau injury

Like in 2008? It's almost amusing how quickly Lakers fans fall into a false sense of superiority.

Boston and Orlando are 4 wins away of a championship.

[pauls931]

i hated them too, at the time. they embarassed us just like they did you. its only looking back on that team years later that i really appreciated just how unique and deadly they were

The way that team could play the inside out game almost made it unfair. One of the best centers of all time with a ton a shooters all with killer instinct. Ouch. I wonder how often that crosses charles' mind when he's sitting next to kenny.

[djohn2oo8]

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Damn, all you could really wonder about is what would have been if the Rockets had taken Jordan AND Hakeem

[Lawrence_Taylor]

yes. celdicks are peaking right now.

[duhoh]

YOur out of your mind if you think SHeed is going to reincarnate his fucking piston days LOL

boston has no shot to beat LAL short of a kobe or pau injury

someone didn't read my post right.

D12 has always struggled against sheed and yao. that's what i was referring to.

carry on.

[JoeTait75]

Boston is on a good run.

The '95 Rockets had the greatest playoff run in NBA history as far as I'm concerned.

Big difference.

[djohn2oo8]

What, is Kobe planning on retiring like MJ did?

So what, every title won before and after Jordan is tainted? Great logic :lol

[XFactor]

I wouldn't call it replication. Celtics had the 4th seed so at least they had some home court advantage in the playoffs. The Rockets were 6th seed and had no home court throughout the playoffs.

[JoeTait75]

Utah, Phoenix, San Antonio and Orlando were 33-8, 32-9, 33-8 and 39-2 at home respectively during the 1994-95 season.

Houston went 9-3 in their buildings during the postseason including:

- Deciding Game 5 victory

- Deciding Game 7 victory

- Game 5 victory with the series tied 2-2

- Twice won the first two games of the series on the road

- 3 road wins in elimination games

It had to have been maddening to play that Rockets team. You just couldn't make them go away. You couldn't put them away.