Re: Texas Two Step: An Alternate NBA History (NBA2K20)
Ch. 21
The regular season was over and the Rockets were the best team in the West and, by a few games, the NBA. Scottie Pippen had won MVP, barely beating out Michael Jordan in one of the closest votes in NBA history, a vote that made an already psychotically competitive Jordan even more competitive. “Jordan was pissed,” said NBA columnist Sam Gray. “He was angry he had been denied an MVP he felt he deserved — Pippen had been suspended for a failed drug test, he hadn’t, and he was the better player. But neither of those things swung the vote for him.”
The MVP results had served as confirmation to Pippen that he was closer to Jordan’s talents than anyone thought — including himself. His confidence swelled heading into the playoffs. “That postseason, I felt like no one could beat me if I was on my game. I could only beat myself,” said Pippen.
The Rockets swagger radiated off them in Game 1 against the Warriors. They weren’t afraid of Golden State and certainly weren’t about to let the Warriors try to upset them. Golden State, for their part, knew they had a tough hill to climb, but they felt like they could stretch the Rockets defense with their long-range shooting. “They weren’t the greatest defenders of the three-ball,” said Chris Mullin. “If we could force them to defend the perimeter, it would unclog the paint and allow our guys to get inside and score easy buckets.”
The plan seemed sound … at least until tip-off. The Rockets didn’t allow the Warriors much breathing room and Pippen took extra-special pleasure in shutting down Mullin, who had an abysmal first quarter, missing every shot he took. “He was like a smoke monster, there one second and gone the next,” said Mullin. “He moved so fast, so fluidly, I was looking for him every time I touched the ball.”
Houston would go up 28-22 in the first and in the second, with Pippen manning point, they would blow that lead wide open, piling up 26 more points to take a 54-36 lead into halftime. “We robbed them, beat them up, and left them for dead,” said Gary Payton. “They were mad, man, those *uckers weren’t happy heading into halftime.”
While Pippen had been shutting down Mullin, Payton had done similarly to Tim Hardaway. The second half saw the Rockets run away with it, winning the game 113-89; Mullin was awful, going 5-12 for 10 points and no threes. Hardaway was slightly better, scoring 16 points on 6-12 from the field, but also with no triples. The Rockets allowed only one triple all game, late in the fourth.
Game 2 was a different story for Houston, however — the Rockets aggressive defense got them in foul trouble (primarily Scot Roth) and Mitch Richmond went off for 21 points in a 101-91 Victory where the Rockets never led. “We got down early and got frustrated,” said Coach Kern after the game. “We cost ourselves this contest … we lost our way.”
Game 3 was a tight win where Houston simply out-fought the Warriors. The game was close throughout and featured a terrible shooting night from Scottie Pippen (3-12) but a big night from Horace Grant, who stepped in with 22-7-4 and 4 blocks on top of that. Grant had become, once more, the third option for another team — but at least here he was a respected, beloved third option. “Horace’s play that game saved us,” said Kern. “We won’t win the series without that game … Golden State had momentum and we were not playing as well as we should have been. Horace stepped up when we needed it most.”
Grant had put together a fine season — 17-9-4 on the year with 56% shooting from the field and 77% from the line. He was capable, a reliable scorer and an ace defender. Was he recognized as such by his teammates, the coaches, and his front office? Absolutely. He got praise from them. But the rest of the NBA and the fans, as a whole, seemed to forget about the man. “It bothered me on some level,” admitted Grant. “I really wanted to be the second option, the guy others looked to when the best player on the team was having an off night. But Gary had become that second option, right before my eyes, and he had earned it … I couldn’t hate him for it. He was a great player.”
Grant’s heroics in Game 3 didn’t just deflate the Warriors, it caused them to fall apart. “We started arguing and bickering with each other in the locker room after that game,” recalled Mullin. “I wasn’t playing well, Tim wasn’t playing well … really, Mitch was carrying us. And Tim and I were very frustrated at ourselves.”
Game 4 saw Houston close out the Warriors 100-85 in a game that wasn’t close after the first quarter. The Warriors slinked off, quietly, but they had at least won a game — they had made the Rockets bleed, just a little.
The Dallas Mavericks would have liked to do that to their opponents.
Dallas got embarrassed in the first round by the Clippers, of all teams — the Mavericks simply had no answers for Bernard King, who came off the bench in the second half of Game 1 and dropped 27 points. The Clippers outscored the Mavericks 74-46 in the second half, taking a close game and blowing it open. Game 2 saw Dallas again drop a first half lead, this time in the fourth quarter as Bernard King came off the bench and finished the game off in the final frame — King had 31 points in 31 minutes. Game 3, back in LA, saw the Clippers jump out to a huge first half lead and Dallas couldn’t come back.
“Deflating doesn’t even begin to describe it,” said Derek Harper. “We knew we were the better team, we believed that, but the Clippers came in with no expectations and stunned us. Bernard King was showing the league that he was still capable as a starter, still worthy of being a top scorer, and we couldn’t slow him down enough.”
The first round out was sickening for Trent Lewis — and the Mavericks owner was done preaching stability when it led to this type of performance. A day after the game, Lewis fired head coach Richie Adubato (who took over for John MacLeod early in the 1989-90 season) and made it known to the press that changes would be coming to the team in the offseason. No player, no coach, no staff member, no one was safe. “I was going to fix that damned team if it cost every cent I had,” said Lewis. “I stayed the course and what did it get me? Disappointment and humiliation.”
As Dallas prepared for an offseason of change, Houston prepared for their next opponent — a familiar one for Rockets.
The Admiral and the Spurs were waiting.
Ch. 21
The regular season was over and the Rockets were the best team in the West and, by a few games, the NBA. Scottie Pippen had won MVP, barely beating out Michael Jordan in one of the closest votes in NBA history, a vote that made an already psychotically competitive Jordan even more competitive. “Jordan was pissed,” said NBA columnist Sam Gray. “He was angry he had been denied an MVP he felt he deserved — Pippen had been suspended for a failed drug test, he hadn’t, and he was the better player. But neither of those things swung the vote for him.”
The MVP results had served as confirmation to Pippen that he was closer to Jordan’s talents than anyone thought — including himself. His confidence swelled heading into the playoffs. “That postseason, I felt like no one could beat me if I was on my game. I could only beat myself,” said Pippen.
The Rockets swagger radiated off them in Game 1 against the Warriors. They weren’t afraid of Golden State and certainly weren’t about to let the Warriors try to upset them. Golden State, for their part, knew they had a tough hill to climb, but they felt like they could stretch the Rockets defense with their long-range shooting. “They weren’t the greatest defenders of the three-ball,” said Chris Mullin. “If we could force them to defend the perimeter, it would unclog the paint and allow our guys to get inside and score easy buckets.”
The plan seemed sound … at least until tip-off. The Rockets didn’t allow the Warriors much breathing room and Pippen took extra-special pleasure in shutting down Mullin, who had an abysmal first quarter, missing every shot he took. “He was like a smoke monster, there one second and gone the next,” said Mullin. “He moved so fast, so fluidly, I was looking for him every time I touched the ball.”
Houston would go up 28-22 in the first and in the second, with Pippen manning point, they would blow that lead wide open, piling up 26 more points to take a 54-36 lead into halftime. “We robbed them, beat them up, and left them for dead,” said Gary Payton. “They were mad, man, those *uckers weren’t happy heading into halftime.”
While Pippen had been shutting down Mullin, Payton had done similarly to Tim Hardaway. The second half saw the Rockets run away with it, winning the game 113-89; Mullin was awful, going 5-12 for 10 points and no threes. Hardaway was slightly better, scoring 16 points on 6-12 from the field, but also with no triples. The Rockets allowed only one triple all game, late in the fourth.
Game 2 was a different story for Houston, however — the Rockets aggressive defense got them in foul trouble (primarily Scot Roth) and Mitch Richmond went off for 21 points in a 101-91 Victory where the Rockets never led. “We got down early and got frustrated,” said Coach Kern after the game. “We cost ourselves this contest … we lost our way.”
Game 3 was a tight win where Houston simply out-fought the Warriors. The game was close throughout and featured a terrible shooting night from Scottie Pippen (3-12) but a big night from Horace Grant, who stepped in with 22-7-4 and 4 blocks on top of that. Grant had become, once more, the third option for another team — but at least here he was a respected, beloved third option. “Horace’s play that game saved us,” said Kern. “We won’t win the series without that game … Golden State had momentum and we were not playing as well as we should have been. Horace stepped up when we needed it most.”
Grant had put together a fine season — 17-9-4 on the year with 56% shooting from the field and 77% from the line. He was capable, a reliable scorer and an ace defender. Was he recognized as such by his teammates, the coaches, and his front office? Absolutely. He got praise from them. But the rest of the NBA and the fans, as a whole, seemed to forget about the man. “It bothered me on some level,” admitted Grant. “I really wanted to be the second option, the guy others looked to when the best player on the team was having an off night. But Gary had become that second option, right before my eyes, and he had earned it … I couldn’t hate him for it. He was a great player.”
Grant’s heroics in Game 3 didn’t just deflate the Warriors, it caused them to fall apart. “We started arguing and bickering with each other in the locker room after that game,” recalled Mullin. “I wasn’t playing well, Tim wasn’t playing well … really, Mitch was carrying us. And Tim and I were very frustrated at ourselves.”
Game 4 saw Houston close out the Warriors 100-85 in a game that wasn’t close after the first quarter. The Warriors slinked off, quietly, but they had at least won a game — they had made the Rockets bleed, just a little.
The Dallas Mavericks would have liked to do that to their opponents.
Dallas got embarrassed in the first round by the Clippers, of all teams — the Mavericks simply had no answers for Bernard King, who came off the bench in the second half of Game 1 and dropped 27 points. The Clippers outscored the Mavericks 74-46 in the second half, taking a close game and blowing it open. Game 2 saw Dallas again drop a first half lead, this time in the fourth quarter as Bernard King came off the bench and finished the game off in the final frame — King had 31 points in 31 minutes. Game 3, back in LA, saw the Clippers jump out to a huge first half lead and Dallas couldn’t come back.
“Deflating doesn’t even begin to describe it,” said Derek Harper. “We knew we were the better team, we believed that, but the Clippers came in with no expectations and stunned us. Bernard King was showing the league that he was still capable as a starter, still worthy of being a top scorer, and we couldn’t slow him down enough.”
The first round out was sickening for Trent Lewis — and the Mavericks owner was done preaching stability when it led to this type of performance. A day after the game, Lewis fired head coach Richie Adubato (who took over for John MacLeod early in the 1989-90 season) and made it known to the press that changes would be coming to the team in the offseason. No player, no coach, no staff member, no one was safe. “I was going to fix that damned team if it cost every cent I had,” said Lewis. “I stayed the course and what did it get me? Disappointment and humiliation.”
As Dallas prepared for an offseason of change, Houston prepared for their next opponent — a familiar one for Rockets.
The Admiral and the Spurs were waiting.
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