atlfan25
06-13-2005, 03:02 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA061205.6S.BKNspurs.horry.305b73791.html
Meet the real 'Big Shot Bob'
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
Separating myth from Spurs forward Robert Horry's reality:
He is not as old as you think he is. It only seems like he has been in every NBA Finals since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired.
"When you win, you're on TV a lot," Horry says, "so it just seems like you've been around a long time."
He does, too, work out in the offseason.
"You come and watch one of my workouts, and you'll know I work out pretty hard."
He isn't afraid to take the biggest shot in the biggest of games because he doesn't care about the consequence. "You've got to have an 'I don't care' attitude. If you make it, you make it. If you miss, you miss."
He does not wait for the playoffs to begin before he really starts to play.
"I hope everybody will just kick that to the curb about me only showing up for the playoffs."
This is no myth: By the time the NBA Finals end, Horry could be the all-time leader in NBA Finals 3-pointers made, moving past a retired Chicago Bulls star named Michael Jordan. With at least three games remaining in the Spurs' Finals matchup with the Detroit Pistons, Horry trails Jordan by only three 3-pointers.
Already this playoff season, Horry has moved into second place on the list of all-time playoff 3-pointers made, trailing only the Indiana Pacers' recently retired Reggie Miller.
If he plays in three more games in the Finals, he will move into second place on the list of playoff games played.
Perhaps more remarkable than any of these pending milestones: Not once in his 13 seasons has he failed to advance at least as far as the second round of the playoffs. Six times he has gone to the NBA Finals, including this one. He has yet to witness the presentation of the Lawrence O'Brien Trophy from anywhere but the victory stand.
"That's unbelievable," said Pistons power forward Antonio McDyess, a close friend who is trying to prevent Horry from making it 6 for 6 in The Finals. "He said when you come into the NBA, you always look to be an All-Star, look to be all-NBA, (an) all-defensive player. But a ring is a lot more promising to him."
Here is one more truth about Horry that astonishes: He never wanted to be anything more than what he is, a role player and a great teammate.
"I'm happy just doing my role and helping the team out and doing what they need me to do," said Horry, 34. "I'm not going to be one of these type of players to put a team on my back. I just like playing basketball and having fun with the guys."
But Horry occasionally has put more than one championship team on his back and carried it through dire circumstance. The occasion usually arises in the final moments of a playoff game that is hanging in the balance.
Not for nothing is Horry called "Big Shot Bob."
It is his cavalier approach to the most tension-packed shots that makes Horry such a great clutch shooter.
"A lot of guys feel like if they miss, it's the end of the world," Horry said. "I know when I go home my kids are going to still be happy to see me, my parents are going to be happy to see me. You start off playing this game for fun, and then it kind of changes a lot of people and becomes more businesslike. I keep it fun. You have to enjoy it."
Horry forever will remain a villain in Sacramento for his most memorable of 3-point daggers, the game-winner in Game 4 of the Lakers' 2002 Western Conference finals matchup against the Kings. Trailing 99-97 with seconds remaining, the Lakers missed a shot and Sacramento's Vlade Divac swatted the rebound hard, away from the basket. It went straight to Horry, who caught it in perfect rhythm and nailed a 3-pointer that tied that series at two games apiece.
The Lakers eventually won the Western Conference title in a memorable Game 7 in Sacramento, but without Horry's heroics there might have been no Game 7.
Divac called it a lucky shot, and nobody denied the fortuitous nature of Divac's volley to Horry.
But was it luck, or fate?
"He is always in the right place at the right time," Spurs guard Brent Barry said. "Had he grown up around the Round Table, he would have pulled the sword out of the stone."
That Horry was in the right place to nail a key 3-pointer in Game 2 of the Spurs' Western Conference finals victory over the Phoenix Suns was a matter of design. He was one of the options coach Gregg Popovich specified during a timeout with 2:56 remaining and the Spurs trailing 102-100. Leaving the timeout huddle, Horry whispered in the ear of Manu Ginobili to look for him, because he knew he could get open.
Now Horry, always content to play whatever role the situation demands, focuses more on defending Detroit's big men in a series in which the Pistons rarely leave the Spurs' perimeter shooters. His goal is simple: to become the first player in NBA history to truly win a championship with three different teams.
John Salley was on the Pistons, Bulls and Lakers teams that won titles, but Horry said Salley's "garbage time" status with Chicago and the Lakers disqualifies him.
"In my eyes, I would be (the first)," Horry said. "John Salley won three, but he doesn't count. When he went to the Bulls, he didn't play. When he was with us with the Lakers, he didn't play. He's like me: very lucky."
[email protected]
Meet the real 'Big Shot Bob'
Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer
Separating myth from Spurs forward Robert Horry's reality:
He is not as old as you think he is. It only seems like he has been in every NBA Finals since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired.
"When you win, you're on TV a lot," Horry says, "so it just seems like you've been around a long time."
He does, too, work out in the offseason.
"You come and watch one of my workouts, and you'll know I work out pretty hard."
He isn't afraid to take the biggest shot in the biggest of games because he doesn't care about the consequence. "You've got to have an 'I don't care' attitude. If you make it, you make it. If you miss, you miss."
He does not wait for the playoffs to begin before he really starts to play.
"I hope everybody will just kick that to the curb about me only showing up for the playoffs."
This is no myth: By the time the NBA Finals end, Horry could be the all-time leader in NBA Finals 3-pointers made, moving past a retired Chicago Bulls star named Michael Jordan. With at least three games remaining in the Spurs' Finals matchup with the Detroit Pistons, Horry trails Jordan by only three 3-pointers.
Already this playoff season, Horry has moved into second place on the list of all-time playoff 3-pointers made, trailing only the Indiana Pacers' recently retired Reggie Miller.
If he plays in three more games in the Finals, he will move into second place on the list of playoff games played.
Perhaps more remarkable than any of these pending milestones: Not once in his 13 seasons has he failed to advance at least as far as the second round of the playoffs. Six times he has gone to the NBA Finals, including this one. He has yet to witness the presentation of the Lawrence O'Brien Trophy from anywhere but the victory stand.
"That's unbelievable," said Pistons power forward Antonio McDyess, a close friend who is trying to prevent Horry from making it 6 for 6 in The Finals. "He said when you come into the NBA, you always look to be an All-Star, look to be all-NBA, (an) all-defensive player. But a ring is a lot more promising to him."
Here is one more truth about Horry that astonishes: He never wanted to be anything more than what he is, a role player and a great teammate.
"I'm happy just doing my role and helping the team out and doing what they need me to do," said Horry, 34. "I'm not going to be one of these type of players to put a team on my back. I just like playing basketball and having fun with the guys."
But Horry occasionally has put more than one championship team on his back and carried it through dire circumstance. The occasion usually arises in the final moments of a playoff game that is hanging in the balance.
Not for nothing is Horry called "Big Shot Bob."
It is his cavalier approach to the most tension-packed shots that makes Horry such a great clutch shooter.
"A lot of guys feel like if they miss, it's the end of the world," Horry said. "I know when I go home my kids are going to still be happy to see me, my parents are going to be happy to see me. You start off playing this game for fun, and then it kind of changes a lot of people and becomes more businesslike. I keep it fun. You have to enjoy it."
Horry forever will remain a villain in Sacramento for his most memorable of 3-point daggers, the game-winner in Game 4 of the Lakers' 2002 Western Conference finals matchup against the Kings. Trailing 99-97 with seconds remaining, the Lakers missed a shot and Sacramento's Vlade Divac swatted the rebound hard, away from the basket. It went straight to Horry, who caught it in perfect rhythm and nailed a 3-pointer that tied that series at two games apiece.
The Lakers eventually won the Western Conference title in a memorable Game 7 in Sacramento, but without Horry's heroics there might have been no Game 7.
Divac called it a lucky shot, and nobody denied the fortuitous nature of Divac's volley to Horry.
But was it luck, or fate?
"He is always in the right place at the right time," Spurs guard Brent Barry said. "Had he grown up around the Round Table, he would have pulled the sword out of the stone."
That Horry was in the right place to nail a key 3-pointer in Game 2 of the Spurs' Western Conference finals victory over the Phoenix Suns was a matter of design. He was one of the options coach Gregg Popovich specified during a timeout with 2:56 remaining and the Spurs trailing 102-100. Leaving the timeout huddle, Horry whispered in the ear of Manu Ginobili to look for him, because he knew he could get open.
Now Horry, always content to play whatever role the situation demands, focuses more on defending Detroit's big men in a series in which the Pistons rarely leave the Spurs' perimeter shooters. His goal is simple: to become the first player in NBA history to truly win a championship with three different teams.
John Salley was on the Pistons, Bulls and Lakers teams that won titles, but Horry said Salley's "garbage time" status with Chicago and the Lakers disqualifies him.
"In my eyes, I would be (the first)," Horry said. "John Salley won three, but he doesn't count. When he went to the Bulls, he didn't play. When he was with us with the Lakers, he didn't play. He's like me: very lucky."
[email protected]