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| Moses Malone of the Houston Rockets of the 1980s goes in for a dunk Source: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-04-02 (May be subject to copyright) |
It was one of the announcers on the Canadian broadcast who said people would cheer for the Raptors until they either missed or were eliminated from the playoffs. Then they cheered for their other team in the playoffs.
That was so true. For me it was the Houston Rockets, a team I not only cheered for, but that won the NBA championship the year before NBA basketball returned to Toronto.
So why did I cheer for the Rockets? Like anything else, it is a simple story.
A family trip
It was in the late 1970s and we were visiting my aunt and uncle in Calgary. They were some of the first people I knew who had cable television. Since I was maybe five or six, I really had nothing to do while my parents visited with my relatives.
It was in the late 1970s and we were visiting my aunt and uncle in Calgary. They were some of the first people I knew who had cable television. Since I was maybe five or six, I really had nothing to do while my parents visited with my relatives.
They sent me to the basement, which I loved anyway, to watch TV.
Cable TV back then meant there were four other channels – ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS – in addition to the three on peasant vision. So it really did not take much to channel surf.
I was just getting into sports at the time and came upon this basketball game.
It was the Seattle Supersonics and the Houston Rockets.
Seattle was winning. They had Jack Sikma, Dennis Johnson, and this guy whose name made me laugh – John Johnson.
All I remember was that Houston had this beast named Moses Malone and he was single-handedly keeping the Rockets in the game. They were losing by a lot but Malone had brought them back.
Then my parents came downstairs, and we had to go home.
I never did find out who won that game.
I did know that I liked the Rockets.
Rocket radio
It was the winter of 1981 and we were driving back from Lethbridge one night. I was messing around with the car radio in our 1979 Oldsmobile Omega and I came across what sounded like a game. At first I thought it was hockey, but it turned out to be basketball – Houston Rocket basketball.
It was the winter of 1981 and we were driving back from Lethbridge one night. I was messing around with the car radio in our 1979 Oldsmobile Omega and I came across what sounded like a game. At first I thought it was hockey, but it turned out to be basketball – Houston Rocket basketball.
They were playing the heavily-favoured Los Angeles Lakers in a best-of-three first round series. The Rockets were the lowest seed, sixth back then, finishing the regular season with a record of 40-42. The Lakers were perennial contenders, and came in as the third seed. Back then the top two seeds had a first-round bye, so Los Angeles was the top seed in the first round.
However, in a best-of-three series anything can happen.
And it did.
I had happened upon Game 1 of that series. I was surprised to discover Houston was actually leading the team that had legends such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, as well as Norm Nixon, Jamaal Wilkes, and Michael Cooper.
Houston was led by Moses Malone, with a supporting cast consisting primarily of Robert Reid, Mike Dunleavy and Calvin Murphy.
We got home before the game ended, so I hurried into the house and turned on my parents’ radio in the kitchen. There was heavy static and I could barely hear anything. My dad wanted to go to bed, so I abandoned all hope.
Worse, the NBA was not what it is now in Canada, so there was nothing on the sports news.
I had to wait until school the next day, where I asked around and discovered, from one of the teachers, the Rockets had held on to win Game 1.
Channel 7 News did carry occasional basketball news, so I did find out the Lakers won Game 2, but the Rockets shocked the basketball world by winning Game 3, advancing to the second round, and eliminating the defending NBA champions.
The Rockets now faced the San Antonio Spurs, who were seeded second in the Western Conference, in a best-of-seven second round playoff series. The teams went back and forth for seven games. Again, we were coming home from somewhere, I want to say a mini-basketball game, when I tuned in to Rocket radio again. I think it was Game 6, because I recall the announcers talking about the Spurs facing elimination. They also talked a lot about George Gervin, who they called the “Ice Man”. He was the leader of the Spurs and their best player. The Rockets again would prevail and advance to the conference final.
Oddly, they were not the under dog. The Kansas City Kings had upset the Portland Trail Blazers in three games in the firs round then took out the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in the conference semi-finals in seven games.
So the Western Final was a battle of two under dogs, and two teams who both had records below the .500 mark. They both had 40 wins and 42 losses. It was the last time that has happened in NBA history to this point.
By then, I think mini-basketball season was over, so all my basketball news came from the nightly TV news.
The Rockets would win the Western Conference championship in five games over the Kings.
Houston would give the Boston Celtics, the top-seeded champions of the Eastern Conference all they could handle. They went toe to toe with them splitting the first four games, but Boston was just too good, winning the next two games to take the series 4-2 and win the NBA championship.
That playoff run cemented my love for the Rockets.
Parting thoughts
The Rockets would have their ups and downs, Drafting stars Ralph Sampson and Akeem Olajuwon, and making it back to the NBA Finals again in 1986 where they lost to the Celtics again. Eventually, in 1994, they finally won the NBA title, defeating the New York Knicks in seven games. Sadly, I could not see them win their first championship because that was the day of my grandmother’s funeral. I had to find out who won by reading the Edmonton Journal sports section the next day.
The Rockets would have their ups and downs, Drafting stars Ralph Sampson and Akeem Olajuwon, and making it back to the NBA Finals again in 1986 where they lost to the Celtics again. Eventually, in 1994, they finally won the NBA title, defeating the New York Knicks in seven games. Sadly, I could not see them win their first championship because that was the day of my grandmother’s funeral. I had to find out who won by reading the Edmonton Journal sports section the next day.
During that summer of 1994 after the Rockets won the championship, I entered a team in a three-on-three tournament. Naturally, I called my team the Rockets.
The Rockets would repeat in 1995, defeating a young Shaquille O'Neal and his Orlando Magic in the final. The Raptors joined the NBA a few months later.
I stuck with the Rockets through thick and thin, but once the NBA expanded into Canada with not one but two teams, all my basketball attention was taken by the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors.
I still do find myself turning my head when I hear about the Rockets, and I do pay a little more attention to them than every other team beyond the Raptors.
Love affairs die hard – even basketball ones.
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