Silver&Black Warrior
11-30-2011, 03:52 AM
Watched this game in it's full entirety for the first time. I am ashamed to say this as a Spurs fan but I just found it too painful and futile to watch previously. Didn't have TNT during the original broadcast so I was not able to watch it then either.
My first assessment of the game is how much of a problem Clyde Drexler was for us. He put Houston on his back and carried them to the win as Hakeem was in foul trouble for most of the time. You could really see how he propelled the Rockets for the stretch of the season that Hakeem was injured. His acquisition is 2nd only to the Rasheed Wallace trade in 2004 as far as greatest mid-season trades in NBA history.
The other glaring observation I had is how severely we were betrayed by Rodman. Up until today I have always been a Rodman sympathizer. But this completely changes everything. His refusal to join the huddle in the absolutely most crucial minutes without question cost us the game. In the last defensive possession he leaves Robert Horry wide open and he hits the shot that puts Houston over the top. This is was directly related to his not joining the huddle and not knowing the defensive scheme the Spurs were trying to execute.
The Spurs had a very long layoff prior to the series and it really showed. The execution was very sloppy. Lots of unforced turnovers and erratic play. The fact that Houston didn't have much turnaround time actually played to their advantage. What's really painful though is that despite our play we still had the chance to win the game if not for Rodman's betrayal. I will probably be accused of being homeristic and delusional, but I think that if we had won this game we would have won the series because it fueled the momentum that Houston had winning over higher seeded teams and gave them belief that they could win the series. Sometimes it's just those little things that will decide a series and I believe that is what happened.
Looking forward to dissecting the other games of the series and simply just reflecting on the nostalgia that I feel for this particular time period in Spurs and NBA History.
My first assessment of the game is how much of a problem Clyde Drexler was for us. He put Houston on his back and carried them to the win as Hakeem was in foul trouble for most of the time. You could really see how he propelled the Rockets for the stretch of the season that Hakeem was injured. His acquisition is 2nd only to the Rasheed Wallace trade in 2004 as far as greatest mid-season trades in NBA history.
The other glaring observation I had is how severely we were betrayed by Rodman. Up until today I have always been a Rodman sympathizer. But this completely changes everything. His refusal to join the huddle in the absolutely most crucial minutes without question cost us the game. In the last defensive possession he leaves Robert Horry wide open and he hits the shot that puts Houston over the top. This is was directly related to his not joining the huddle and not knowing the defensive scheme the Spurs were trying to execute.
The Spurs had a very long layoff prior to the series and it really showed. The execution was very sloppy. Lots of unforced turnovers and erratic play. The fact that Houston didn't have much turnaround time actually played to their advantage. What's really painful though is that despite our play we still had the chance to win the game if not for Rodman's betrayal. I will probably be accused of being homeristic and delusional, but I think that if we had won this game we would have won the series because it fueled the momentum that Houston had winning over higher seeded teams and gave them belief that they could win the series. Sometimes it's just those little things that will decide a series and I believe that is what happened.
Looking forward to dissecting the other games of the series and simply just reflecting on the nostalgia that I feel for this particular time period in Spurs and NBA History.