Led 3-1 by the Suns in the conference semifinals, the Rockets managed to provoke Game 7 in Arizona on May 20, 1995, in an attempt to become – at the time – the fifth team in history to come back from a 3-1.
The Hakeem Olajuwon – Clyde Drexler duo is huge, with 58 points scored as two, but Kevin Johnson (46 points, 10 assists) and Charles Barkley (18 points, 23 rebounds, 5 assists) are even more so. Except he’s a nominee mario elie who will make the difference in this decisive meeting.
There are about twenty seconds left to play. Phoenix players press, Robert Horry sees Mario Elie in the corner, who can play with Hakeem Olajuwon. But the sixth man of Houston decides to take the shot… and he takes it in 7 seconds from the end! It’s his only 3-point basket of the game and he puts his team at +3, which will finally give him the victory (115-114).
A shoot that completes the Suns, therefore, and it only remains for him to kiss two of his fingers and to send a kiss full of irony to the opposing bench. Rockets fans will baptize this shot “kiss of death”, understand it “kiss of death”.
” It was a real test of trust “, will react the hero of the evening, after the fact. ” I remembered what Rudy Tomjanovich always tells us: ‘If you are alone and in a good position, shoot!’. I’m a very good 3-point shooter if you give me time to arm. I had it and the corner is one of my favorite places on the pitch. As soon as the ball left my hands, I knew it would end up in it. Since then, my confidence has been in good shape. »
Houston will be crowned NBA champion a few weeks later, for the second consecutive year (and despite being seeded number 6: unheard of!). Meanwhile, Hakeem Olajuwon will have taught 1995 MVP David Robinson a lesson and Nick Anderson will have missed his free throws.
As for Phoenix, for the second time after Game 6 of the 1993 Finals against Chicago, it is a new all-terrain pressing in the last moments of the game that will get the better of their chances of victory. Cruel…
