May 12, 2022 • 44 mins
Hosted by 7-time champion Robert Horry and Jabari Davis, NBA Finals File dives deep into the greatest Finals series in NBA history, breaking down the best moments, storylines and matchups, using rare archival audio from the NBA, and the personal touch that only "Big Shot Bob" can give.
In this episode of NBA Finals File, we examine the 1994 Finals, Knicks vs Rockets. Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing, two to the greatest centers in NBA history go head-to-head for 7 epic games. Rob breaks down each game from a firsthand perspective, including playing through a broken bone, how the team reacted to watching the OJ chase at halftime of Game 5, and why he never touched the trophy after winning the title.
NBA Finals File is available on the iHeart app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. NBA Finals File is a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
All right, welcome back to part two of the NBA
Finals here on NBA Finals File. Rob. Good to be
back with you, as it's great to be I'm so
excited to get into this second half. No without a doubt,
and you're like, we we we don't have to bury
the lead here. Game five is the O J. Chase game.
Let's go ahead and jump right into it. Yes, this
is the O J. Chase. Man, my mom's still mad
(00:24):
that she didn't get a sense to see this game on.
That is wild. That is wild. Okay, well we'll we'll,
we'll get to that. So again, this game ultimately played
out similarly to previous games, where the two teams seemed
to be filling each other out at this you know,
during the first quarter, only to have significant swings over
the last three quarters. And it really did feel like
the last team that would make a run was probably
you know, they're probably gonna be the victors. All Right,
(00:45):
we'll get into a bit more of the action here
in a moment, But it goes without saying the rest
of the outside world, or at least the world outside
of the garden, we were all a little bit preoccupied
with this thing. You may have heard of it. It was.
It was this infamous o J thing, this white bronco
chase press rolling the NBA Finals. They have the monitors
right there. I look back and I see this car.
(01:07):
Jade is gone and you see it. I read it,
says o J. So I go on the huddle and
I'm like, oh, J's on the run. Everybody's like, oh,
Jay's on the run. It's like run. This is the
middle of the finals. The game became very secondary, and uh,
it was the strangest sports event of all time since
we're you know, since we were back in prior to
(01:28):
a lot of the technology of convenience that we're all
spoiled by now. So I'm wondering, did any of you
guys know what was taking place outside of it or
were you just so singularly focused on what was right
there on the court, you know, you couldn't be bothered.
I think you said it best due to you know
that there weren't any smartphones at the time, so there's
no one behind the bench saying, oh I just got
this tweet or this this is social media posts where
(01:50):
O J is, you know, strinking down the four or
five or whatever thru It was in his white Bronco.
But at halftime is when we found out. We were
walking in because this is old school, we had the VCR,
two VCRs and the TV sitting on top and we
had to record the games like that in order to
assess them break them down the following day. And as
(02:12):
we walked in, it was like, is that OJ's Bronco?
And everybody, for some reason knew Old J had a
white Bronco. I don't know why, but this streaking down
there and it's like four or five of us watching
the TV and the Rudy comes in. Since I get focused,
you know, we're down, Let's play his game, you know.
So he comes in and cuts the TV off and
(02:32):
we forgot about after that. After the game. Yeah, I
want to be completely honest with you, like I was
one of you know again, I'm a fan watching the game.
I'm im a teenager at the time watching it and
I'm sitting there yelling at the TV because I've always
been in this person. I'm yelling, why did they have
a split screen? What is this? Who cares about this chase?
Because I wanted to see that. I wanted to see
the finals. So yeah, it's just funny. It's it's one
(02:54):
of those like time capsule moments where you know, the
two major things are taking place at the same time.
I'm and I'm sure that happens all the time, but
you know this, these are pretty noteworthy things. It was
a big note where because you think about throughout that game,
even the announcers were talking about it. Instead of focusing
on basketball, we was focused on the white bronco chasing
the things that were going on with O J. But
(03:16):
the players, we didn't care about it because we were
trying to win a chip. And on that note, back
to the game, because this this game also felt like
another one of those games where if anyone other than
Hakim was able to get it going at least offensively,
that you guys might have been heading back to Houston
with with a three to lead instead of you know,
coming from behind. Your Rockets wound up only having three
(03:36):
players reached double figures compared to six guys reaching it,
you know, for a little bit more of a balanced
attack from the Knicks. So after a back and forth game,
your Rockets got back into it with a strong run
in the third and actually had a sevent lead with
just over four minutes to play in the game. The
King was absolutely rolling in the second half. It kind
of felt like it. I don't know if he made
(03:56):
every single turnaround jumper impossible, but it felt like he did.
Alijah Wan on my lap said, goodness, he had almost
had one of those about two minutes ago. This time
he made sure with the right hand somehow or other,
took it off his left ear and turned it over
and through the room. Unbelievable athletic play, Bijah. He had
(04:20):
at least five or six contested turnaround follow ray jumpers
over the course of the half. And it really didn't
matter what the knicks were throwing at him, whether it
was you and or Mason. They were right there in
his jersey and he was just knocking him down. He said,
back to gardening. Alijah Wan at a keevable a head.
Wan has good five entrance on Anthony Bason has played
(04:41):
in a very physical fashion and was not a good job.
Had a time out has been called this third quarter
pat Riley has had Charles Smith, but Alijah line and
now Mason as base forces him to take this off
the wrong foot. But Elijah and starting a warm up. Yeah,
Jeane was fantastic in that game other than eight turnovers
he had, but he cared us in that third, you know,
(05:07):
thirteen and we bowled it back. And like I said earlier,
sometimes you depend on your big dog so much that
you you know, it takes away from your game. And
Elijahan was that type of guy that could care you.
And when he's making sides like that, you give him
the ball and get out of the way and just
really quickly on on a large one. Some of those
were some of the longest tools that you can possibly
(05:28):
you know, like shoot, uh. You know, he was a
pretty he was a pretty excellent player, you know, in
his own right right he's like as it was, so Rob,
I gotta ask you in this when you were out
there battling, but you were two fourteen in the game,
what what what? What was out there? What? What? What?
What were what were you seeing out there? Two or fourteen?
Two pot six from three? But either the thinking about it,
(05:49):
my body was still had recovered from that fall. Um.
I to be honest with you, I probably should have
been out there, but I was. I had to take
a lot of drugs to get out there and play
because I know we needed us. I talked about it earlier,
how it's the finals. You do whatever you can to
get on the court of Starks. Make sure I had
(06:11):
on the field that is called by Ari filed hard
fer order recalled packing. Game four, there was already found
hard by Mason. It was called a flagrant file and
already heard his lower pack and his rest and out
charl Skarts have something to say to Robert are being
(06:32):
called a flake brand. If you look at my movements
in the game, it wasn't as quick. They won't this
sharp compared to the next game. So it was it
was a disappointing outcome for me. And in fact I
was two from fourteen. I you know that's saying you
give it old college try, and I gave it old
college try. But it was a poor performance from the shooting.
(06:55):
But again, I'm gonna keep it real with you, especially
knowing that you were dealing with a hairline fracture. I'm
gonna give you a pass. I don't care. I'm giving
you a pass. You're getting it on this one. And
and you're right, you were out there, you were out
there competing. Thank you. I did, I did had I
did have nine rebounds, six assists, in seven points. I
almost had a triple do Hey there you go exactly exactly.
(07:16):
It's all about perspective. So the Nicks end up winning
this one. They go you know, they go up three too.
They take rockets and clothing les game messaying tona of
the last eleven of shots Bank running only one fields
over the last half, the next fighting long rockets. Hey
be four. This one has had a fact to Houston.
(07:38):
But the next up three games took two and we're
heading to game six back in Houston. What is the thought?
You're down three two? Now? I thought it. We can't
let them out Muscless. We gotta come out with some energy.
We gotta come out with it. We gotta be an
attack mode. Um, we have to get that mindset that
we had in game three. We had law home court avenge,
(08:01):
and now we got to go and attack mode and
don't be afraid to go to the paint um. And
if you look at the last game, like I said,
we were so into getting Dreamed the ball and letting
him carry us that we realized the reason we got
to the point where we are is by playing together
the team attack and being in that mode of being
(08:22):
in that mindset, not just let's just dream cares, because
if we're able to do that, it's gonna make it
easier for a lodging one. Fair enough, fair enough, So
let's go ahead and get into Game six. On this note,
John Lavelle starts, he was trying to send you guys home.
He was trying to send you guys home in a
major way. John starts, chepstroke down. N starts. A player
(08:46):
who has come up very big. We got the fourth
quarter the last pool games and checking up from three
part and honestly for it for a good stretch of
this game, looked like he was gonna be able to
do that, you know, and what honestly, what might have
been his best game of the series. He was phenomenal
for the Knicks and what you know was their clothes
(09:07):
out effort. You know how I mentioned shots you hit
during the course of the game can open up certain
moments for you, and that shot he hit open up
this moment for him in Game six where he went
five and nine from three, had twenty seven points, led
to Knixon scoring. And he was one of those, like
I said, fire crackers that could explode at any moment,
(09:29):
and he was able to knock down five from nine
from three, because like you said, he was definitely trying
to send us home. Starts starts all the way. Oh oh, Starks,
who want to want to pick up shots? So let's
go ahead. Next, we get to the second half action here,
because you guys had a ten point leaded at the half.
(09:50):
The Knicks were able to chip away at the lead
in the third, but the fourth quarter was really where
the action it was. In the second half. Starks actually
winds up scoring sixteen of his as you just to
his eventual twenty seven points, and he did it in
every type of way, whether it was on the break,
in you in transition, on the drive, as well as
from deep. Obviously, like I said, my man was trying
to send you guys home with a series loss. His
(10:12):
his three pointer with one fifteen left in the game
pulled the Knicks to within two for the first time
and what felt like two quarters, I next got a
five right now by five, I'm at a twenty to go,
and the fourth quarter starts start three, yes, come, starts
keeping the next alive. That's a three point rock and lead.
I'm at a fifteen harmatic. But then on the very
(10:33):
next time down, you find a team in the post
for a turnaround jumper over Oakley that went long, and
suddenly it looked like the Knicks were in business. With
just under forty five seconds to play, Aaron starts star
that is file fire the next over a lot of
(10:54):
so Alan Jawan, we'll call to the line. I definitely
need you to break down you saw in the next play,
because I honestly couldn't tell, like, do do you remember
the next play in this situation, because I couldn't tell
whether Starks was trying to live it to you or
if the ball just slips out of his hand like
on a shot at him. But somehow Starts floats the
ball into the king instead of ewing and you and
(11:16):
it is forced to foul him and send him to
the line. Do you remember that play? I remember that
play is one of those plays where I think Starks
just lost the ball because he's being harassed a lot.
He went to the whole and sometimes you know when
you play, you talked about it of camera, how guys
sweat a lot, and Patrick Ewen was a guy who
(11:36):
sweatd a lot. And sometimes the ball has sweat on it,
and if you see us a lot of times in
that series. I'm wiping my hands off on my shorts
because the ball and it gets sweed is hard to grip.
And on that moment you watch Starks, he goes to
the whole, he loses it because I don't think he
ever had control of it, and that's why Dream was
(11:56):
able to get it. And you know, I'm gonna say
it was us play and good defense. So to make
us look good, you know what, I'm gonna roll right
there with you because a cheam he ends up knocking
down the pair head pluck Frank Row, look up, shady shots.
How about the Knicks? They keep on fighting. They find
(12:18):
Mason for a baseline jumper. As we've mentioned another one
of the myriad of baseline jumpers that that their bigs
were hidden throughout the series. Opera formation that it cuts
the quick to two points. Rock it leave forty two
shot as alright? Uh, you know he knocks that down
right at the thirty second mark. You guys came up
(12:39):
short on the next possession, leaving the Knicks with one
last opportunity with the ball. With seven point six seconds left,
The Knicks ran a pick and roll with starts in ewing,
resulting in Hakeem closing out and coming up with what
was another fantastic, incredible your Finals block. It was a
game ceiling block on the John Starts attempt lives a
(13:00):
while with the big tim Summer in your rockets end
up taking this one four. In that situation, it shows
you how good defensively, how larger one was because he
was able to guard Starts and then recover to block
that shot. Most guys wouldn't have got to that shot,
(13:23):
but a king band who he is. It felt good
when I released it and Bami he got his fence
tips on it. And a great thing about that is
after you blocked the shot, if you look at us,
we weren't trying to get any time. We're just trying
to run off the court before the rest said no, no,
no more time, more time on the clock. But we
were just so happy to get that game game six
because we knew this is what you played throughout the season. Four.
(13:45):
You go out and you battle eighty two games to
secure home court advantage. Because we felt like if we
can take any series to game seven, if we get
home in our comfort zone, we were able to do
some damage. Don't want to one game away, one game
(14:08):
away from from all right, speaking of Game seven, let's
take a quick break, but when we come back Game
seven as well as story time with Robert Dory. You
cracked me up when you said, yeah off, Mike, you
were talking about people sweating. I almost leapt into the night.
(14:38):
Who Okay, alright, we're back here on NBA Finals Final.
But before we get into an epic Game seven, let's
go ahead and start this off with a brand new
feature here on the show, story Time with Big Shot. Yeah.
This is this is. This is a fun story because
everybody knows the biggest New York Nick fan is who
Spike Lee. So Spike Lee is one of those guys
(15:02):
is that you look up to because what he's able
to do in the movie industry. And for me, I'm
looking at Spike Lee and all I can think about
is do the right thing. You know, Malcolm X all
these great movies. And so people don't know that Spike
Lee is the hugest basketball fan, not just Nick s Man,
(15:23):
but the hugest basketball fan. So me being the cool
guy I am when he comes up to me and
talking to me, I try to keep it on the
rafts like yeah, you know, I'm just as big as you.
Doubt really I'm not right, But I'm telling myself this
and he breaks out all these basketball cars. Man, I'm like,
and you forget Spike Lee is a short dude. So
(15:43):
I'm like, alwa a sudden, I'm like, am I talking
to a little kid? And he's just talking about basketball,
He's talking about my college career, He's asking me to
sign stuff. And he was the coolest dude ever. Man.
So for me, when you we always talk about l
A and the and the stars and the people that
they have that come to their games. The Knicks are
(16:04):
right there too, and you know Spike Lee and maybe
talked to him and get to know him was incredible.
And this guy, you know, he's going on to another
place is I didn't realize who he was until after
he I met him in New York and had a
chance to talk to was junior John f k Jr.
(16:26):
He was at that game and I met him in
the back and just was like, Hey, how you doing?
And so it's just so weird with basketball does for you.
It allows you to meet so many different people and
think about it. Destiny Child used to sing our national
Anthem before they became Destiny Child because they right, Devin
Houston used to see them all the time and say, hey,
how you're doing. And those are things that the doors
(16:49):
of basketball does. He allows you to meet all these
people that you you admire and wish that you could
be like them, because who doesn't wish they could, you know,
direct like Spike Lee, who don't wish they could sing
like Beyonce? You know, who doesn't wish they could be
icon like all these people. So it was just a
great time at the time to play the Knicks in
(17:09):
the finals because it opened up so many doors and
allowed me to meet so many people. I'm gonna be
honest with you, Robbed, that story is cool. Thist can
be for a lot of reasons because like, for one,
I love the insight, I love the peak behind the curtain.
But it's also cool look as a common folk and
I'm I'm just being really as a commoner. It's cool
to see that other stars are also star struck. Like
(17:30):
you know, you're you're a star in your own right.
You're playing, You're they are there to see you, they
are there to see you compete, and you were and
and you're having that reaction, I won't lie to you.
You know, as as a fan of all types of entertainment,
I can appreciate that. It's it's it's so weird that
sometimes you have to keep your emotions on the wrap
because these people are people you admire so much. And
(17:50):
I forgot to mention that even Selena was a person
used to come in and sing the national I had
an on of meeting her and it you know, it's
it's it's just so many doors that NBA and coming
into the league open up. And when I say open
up the doors to meet different people that you sit
back and you admire and you appreciate the craft. I
think that's the bottom line, that each and every industry
(18:13):
appreciates the other's craft. Game recognized game. I can definitely
appreciate that. Okay, speaking of game, let's go ahead and
get to the game seven. As we mentioned, you know,
this was a fantastic series. Throughout the game seven was fantastic.
This is when Klutz City comes up clutch. We cannot
lose our focus on the big picture, and that's winning
the war. And it doesn't make sense to do all
(18:34):
this work and come this fire and not close it up.
There might be times when we get down, but I've
been done all year. Instead of pulling apart, we pulled
together and we're gonna get this thing done. Through my experience.
Anything good in life, you have to work real hard
for that, son of a third time, but my have
(18:54):
sixteen years the NBA Finals have gone a game or
seven off. Need to jump. Everybody stick together like we
did all yeah, baby, let's go ahead and play together. Baby. Now, Rob,
(19:17):
this is how you start a game off. This is
how you start a game. Robert Ory, Robert Keith Ory,
Robert Ory. After Chell, you about sell game, but we
(19:41):
gets off to the war offer Hakim dump off. You
absolutely posterize the legend and then look, I'm not taking
anything away from you because he was fantastic defensively throughout
this series, but you posterized them with a two hand
Jim to start off scoring for the Rockets in this game.
You know, it took a while to get my sea
legs back, so to say. After after that fall, um,
I was able to have my athleticism bow I was
(20:03):
able to jump again and to start the game off
with a dunk on Patrick Ewing was was great and
if you look at me after I dunked it, I
looked at the ref that really be gonna start this?
Now that was a file because I wanted my am
one with that one. Absolutely you the note that I
had here, I was gonna ask you, like, was it
just a matter of adrenaline? You know you're starting off
because that you know, the home crowd was absolutely rock
(20:23):
and they were already on their feets. They were ready
to go nuts. But I can definitely understand if your
body was feeling better, especially with that type of you know,
with that type of backup, why you might have had
an extra gear on that You're gonna have an extra gear.
Because the fans were behind us, they knew that the
city of Houston had that opportunity to win a championship.
(20:44):
There has there had not been a franchise in the
city of Houston to win a major sporting event for
a long long time, and for us to come out
and try to compete to win this championship was major
for the city. It was great. It was the gym
was passed um. Everybody was hype, and I think we
were focused more than anything, because if you watch us
(21:06):
in the huddles, we're focused. We were engaged. Nobody's talking.
We're all listening to U to T and that's to
the sign of the team that's ready to get there
and compete for a championship. You know, to that point,
it may be confirmation bias because obviously we know what
took place, But I did notice that you guys had
a look in your eyes like you did, and and
and maybe you know, maybe I was looking for a
little bit after, but you guys had to look in
(21:27):
your eye in this game in the huddles over the
course of the game, where it was just like, no,
we're not we're not losing this. And it obviously plays
out that way to suck up start after a back
(21:56):
and forth first half, once again, things start to heat
up in the third quarter as they found you want
an out of bounds, blob over open, get Shott shot up.
(22:22):
And again, you know, I already made this point, but
I'm going to reiterate it. Why didn't they utilize these
types of plays and in particular you attacking Oakley more
in this series. Yeah, this is actually one of our
favorite inbounds played. Um we running a lot where Vernon
throws over the top, but we also used it to
come off the pick and give Dream because Dreamer come
(22:43):
in and set to pick for me a deep die
for Dream to get, you know, under the basket. So
this was a play that I love. This was when
this is when I have a top five playlist throughout
my career. This is top five because it happened in
the finals and it was on Oakley and I had
a chance to speak to Oakley about this. At one point,
I was like, man, I said, I just want to
say I'm sorry, because you know, oak is using the
(23:04):
type of person if you do something like that, when
you yell and screaming your face, he usually shoves you.
But he didn't he knew what was at stage because
he could have got ejected or tech. But and also
me for Tawny, but the emotions are high in the
NBA Finals and that live out of bounds was for
me a combination of everything that I have been going
through from game one to Game six. Taking that hard foul,
(23:28):
because if you go back to game three where I'm
just driving and dunking on everybody, this is like a
combination of everything for me at that moment in Game
seven at home in front of our fans, to ignite
the crowd and make that gym rock I think my
favorite part of that is you acknowledging that you went
to apologize to Oakley to do it for talking to him.
(23:49):
It's really a testament to the gravitas that Charles Oakley
and some of those guys had you, especially with younger
players at that time. Yeah, that's that's just all about respect, man,
I understand. I just say, hey, look, I might not
have gone up and apologize a lot of people, but
Charles Oakley would have been one of them, so I
can respect that, all right. So you guys had a
nice burst from once again Rookie Santa Sell to the
(24:11):
tune of us a steel off and then bounds and
a bucket followed by two free throws on a clear
path that help your Rockets build a sixty nine sixty
two lead with ten minutes and change to go in
the game. Sho Chaws, o Ways, class pet Hall flight,
Sive Cassal offers such stay something sex st Sell by
(24:38):
the clear path for the Baskets against the two when
I'm against the Phoenix shots and game by the seven
to Rookie Santa Sell came up, Curry scoring to the
fourth quarter nine of his twenty two. We have a
fourth that's this scare game year. He has a upper
part lockets us try shot. Well, obviously, you know things
(25:04):
are far from over. With ten minutes left in the game,
I'm wondering in in your position, in your shoes, what
is the point where you start to come down looking
at it. Hey, you know we just need to get
good possessions and use up a majority of the clock
while defending on the other end. Is it at a
similar point with five minutes left, four minutes left? Or
are you never fully comfortable until the finals are Uh,
(25:24):
You're not even You're never comfortable. You you analyze the
clock situation and you're making sure you get good shots.
You're making sure you throw great passes, not good passes,
but great passes because you know, throughout this series we
were a little bit careless with the balls, having a
lot of turnovers, and this game we that's that was
our main focus, is that we secured a basketball. We
shouldn't have that many turnovers, and in this game we
(25:45):
only had nine tournos compared to us having nine turnovers
in the first half. So we were engaged and locked
in in that situation and I think a lot I
had to do with our guards. Our guards have been
outplayed throughout this whole series, and in this game, Kenny
stepped up and vernessed. They both had double digits in
the point production and they had pretty much only one
turnover between the two of them, and that was key.
(26:07):
And to that point, you know, Maxwell actually hits the
three off of a keen kickout with that puts you
guys up eight three seventy five with just under two
minutes left. And I can tell you this much, there
(26:36):
was definitely already some celebrating going on. It is the
Knicks called time out. Yes, you know it was some
celebrating going on. I think when you watch Max, I've
never seen Max jumped out high after making that three
going into the time out, but had to feel good.
But we were in the home and we said, hey,
you know, stay focused. It's not over because they got
guys that can knock down shots, so we gotta stay focusing.
(26:58):
And it's it's it's so in it resting that you
know coaches are able to do that and get bring
players back to reality, because a lot of times coaches
are not able to do that, but veteran teams understand, okay,
get our emotions and check and stay and stay in
line with what we need to do. And that's because
the game is not over. We still need to go
out knocked down shots and do what we need to do.
(27:19):
And to you know, to that point, you're exactly right,
because the Knicks still had a chance to get back
in it, you know, as Derek Harper's two free throws
pulled in within eight three seventy eight, with just under
just over a minute to go, Maxwell then splits a
pair to you know, to go back up six. But
unfortunately for the Knicks, and you know what, the Knicks fans,
you know that are listening, they knew what was coming up.
(27:40):
Starts ends up missing his last three, you know, three
point attempts. Starts John starts two for seven teams totally
(28:15):
hub for his foot pole and the Wicks are about
two of seven teams from downtown. Starts for ten from three.
And that's exactly where we tried to get the game
winner and the NBA Championship winner in Game six, the
one that was bought by a La Juan here. He
(28:37):
had to give a little double champion the air to
get our business. Obviously, his shot because not. They're even
the ones where he had good looks and got up
in the air nicely, couldn't WoT thought for it one
of those just six said nights for John Stott. John
starts having another good look in this league, falls about
five ft short as nobody appeared to hit his arm,
(29:00):
and then it's just put on the lavable and people
are probably wondering what they doing. You guys go ahead
and put this away for your first ring. Are the
World Championship my j NA part? Honestly, Rob, you could
you could pretty much say that defens is what started
and into this series because you guys actually held the
(29:21):
Knick scoreless from the floor over the last five twenty
from the game. Yeah, one of the biggest keys was
John Starks. He was zero for eleven from three to
for eight team as a whole, and he was so
hot compared to last game. He was blistering hot who
knocked down five threes in the last game. So to
keep him in check was huge for us. He only
had eight points even though Dad Harper was still playing
(29:43):
at his high level he had twenty three day game,
but we were able to keep their basically their second
leading score out of the points situation. And I'm gonna
say this, and you know what, here's a link to
Knicks fans. I'm not gonna lie to you. I actually
always felt for Starts in this situation because he's right
throughout a majority. I know you didn't and I understand
why you didn't, but he's great for a majority of
(30:04):
the series. Honestly, games two through six, he's phenomenal. It's
really just the bookends. It's Game one where he's something
like two for eight team. One of the games two
free ten one against three for a team. But it's it.
I know you said you didn't, but after the fact,
is there any part of you that you look back
and you're like, day man, Sorry, it had to be,
you know, I'm not. I'm not at all because because
(30:25):
they the Guards have been out playing our guards throughout
this series. Uh, Derek Harbor was a beast defensively and offensively.
And this is the first time in a while that
Kenny Smith actually had a good game where he had
was four for seven from three and stay on the
four because we know Sam Casselle was his sub and
Sam was ending most of the games in the in
the fourth quarter, but Kenny you know him and Mario Eliot,
(30:50):
even though Mario did Ellie didn't play that much in
this game. I think those two were the most excited
to win this game than anyone because they are New Yorkers. Honestly,
gratulations on your first title. Just wrapping up that conversation,
what does it feel like you win your first one?
You win in alongside the team, what does it feel
like afterwards? You know, it was a weird feeling because
(31:14):
being a guy who loved dream growing up and watching
him losing the finals to the Celtics, and watch that
incredible shot that Ralph Simpson made against the Lakers to
get them to that point, and to know that he
battled so many times at this point in his career
to get there and came up short. Um, if you
(31:34):
think about this season for him was one of the
most incredible seasons ever. He wins m v P, he
wins Defensive Player of the Year, he wins all these awards.
Now he's finals, Finals, m v P, Now he's has
his ring. It was to me, I was just happy
for him because the way did it that was so special.
(31:57):
The old city said that more and we had companies
something together, you're spending you wanted us for so long,
you finally got it. I'm proud to be a part
of the team that got it for you. And when
I said team, I needed in the true sense of
the word. You know, even though I didn't notice what's
(32:19):
gonna happen, but in my mind, I was like, Okay,
this is my second year in league. It's easy to
get to the finals. It's easy when I'm gonna let him,
you know, oldest A la Jawan, you know Vernon Ken.
I'm let all these guys handled the trophy because if
you go back, I never even touched the trophy during
that time. I never had a chance to grab it.
(32:39):
I never had a chance to hold it because I
felt like I didn't earn that right yet, even though
I was there playing the game and helped win it,
I felt like these guys broken back. Yeah. I just
felt like these guys had put in that time, so
I was gonna let them get their time with Larry
before I got my time. You've been here, You've been
humble your whole life. You know what you don't need
(33:01):
to be and you definitely don't need to be here.
I can appreciate that and honestly, it's it really is
a testament to the respect that you had, you know,
for the history of the game, and I truly respect that.
But on the flip side of that, nine, I had
the trophy whole time. Let anybody else hold it because
I had to make up for lost time. You really
didn't touch the thing the whole time. M hm. I
(33:23):
would have had to grab it because I was naive enough.
I didn't really know that would grabbing me for interviews.
I was if you look at the picture of us
on the stage, I'm not even on the stage. I'm
offside doing interviews. Shut out. An epic series comes with
it in But now for the fun part. Robert Ory
(33:45):
gives out his awards after the break. Unbelievable, it's unbewereable,
iling right right, all right, we're back here on NBA
(34:11):
Finals file. Let's go ahead and close this thing out
before we get to the awards. Are there any any
other tidbits or anecdotes that you have for us regarding
this series? You know, when there's always a little bit
of game and ship that goes on between teams, and
this one was kind of funny because when the Knicks
came to us. We had home court events, so they
came to us first, so we gave them tickets, their
(34:34):
their their players tickets. They were good tickets, right, So
they were nosebleedes. So when we went to New York,
the tickets they gave us was nosebleeds. So we're like, oh,
you're gonna do this. So coming back they thought they
were going to get good tickets, we put them in
the nosebleeds and only gave them like three or four
extra tickets because it's like, oh, you want to try
(34:54):
this trick with us, we got something, and a lot
of teams won't do that. They're like, oh, we're gonna
be the bigger and better a team. No, no, no, no,
this is the finals. We're gonna treat you like you
treat us, but a little bit worse. That's cold blooded. Though.
I'm not talking about your reaction. I'm talking about them.
They put your family members and and and loved ones up,
you know, put your rubbing shoulders with the angels, pretty
much cleaning the raptors up there with the banners. All
(35:18):
jokes aside, you know, I even love that aspect of it,
that even that part of the pettiness that you know,
of competitiveness at times, you know it stinks for your
family members and whatnot, know, but yeah, you know what
you got. You guys got them back, all right, Rob,
you know what time it is? Are you ready for
your awards? Yes? I am ready for my wars. I'm
excited to do these awards. And you know, Asterix, I
(35:40):
would not give myself any awards. No, maybe, all right,
I won't say. You know, I'm always gonna come over
the top. If you don't, I'm gonna do it either way.
I'll find him, all right. So let are we starting
off with m VP. Who's the m v P. I
think it's obvious on this one. This one is obviously
a larger one. The way he had to carry us
um carry the rockets, playing over forty six minutes a game.
(36:01):
Think about it. That's forty eight minutes in an NBA game,
and he paid forty six minutes. He added like forty
six minutes. I might be wrong, stabbed people out there. Okay,
I'm gonna say, oh, forty plus minutes a game to
cover those stats. But I give him the m v
P because he he took a beating during that series.
He got beaated by Oakland, he got beat it by Ewing,
he got beatd by Smith, he got beat up a Mason.
(36:23):
Think about that's of a thousand pounds of human beings
beating up on you each and every game compared to
you know, a lot of the teams. Zero arguments here
he um and and for the record, he he did
play forty three minutes a game. You know, Look, that's
just that's just as much. That's absolutely nuts over the
course of a series that, in particular to your point,
playing against those type you know, that type of poundage,
(36:45):
that type of you know, those types of folks that
are battling him, I think it's no question he's the
definitive m v P here. So you know that one
was obvious. Now this was a fun one because I
feel like that you could be several answers here. Who's
your best old player of this series? Um, I'm gonna
have to go with Sam Casell in this one. Um,
it came down to him and Anthony Mason. But I'm
(37:08):
gonna go with Sam Casell for the big shot hitting
Game three, just for his ability as a rookie to
step on the largest stage in basketball and perform. You know,
it might be a little biased that because of him,
and I are still cools this very day. So Sam
can Sell is is my vote? Listen, You're never you
heard me affectionately referred to him as Sam I am earlier.
(37:29):
It's because I was a Sam Cansell fan. Trust me,
I'm not mad at that. So I I respect that one.
I'll agree with you from the next side of things.
The one thing I'll say. You know, I'm not taking
anything away from Mace. You know, you rest in piece
and played fantastic you know in this series. But I
actually probably would have gone Derek Harper. I think he
was just I think he was that that impactful over
the course of this series. Well, I might have another
(37:50):
award for Dick Carper. So that's why I did. You
can't win two awards I got. But you know what,
I also I also want to give a shot at
the car however, um you know, we say name was Amigo.
He stepped up big in a couple of games. He
was scoring impactful pace because we only had you know,
we was we weren't as big as they were. But
when car Hero came the game, he gave us that
(38:11):
that Um he was able to rebound some nice hook shots.
So car Hero was like third on netlist. And I
guess we just gonna name everybody, because how how can
we forget Otis Thorpe? Ohdis Thorpe was money in this
series all throughout, like consistent all throughout the series. So
I just want to show him some love as well.
All right, moving on, what about the coaching matchup? Lots
(38:32):
of good adjustments. You know, I don't think anybody was
undressed in this situation. I think I think it was.
It was a really good matchup. It was. It was
a great matchup. Pat Riley the season Vett who had
won titles in l A and was trying to go
for another title with the Knicks, and you got Rudy T,
first time coach in the NBA finals. Um, you know,
Rudy T had been there a couple of years. I
(38:52):
was his first draft pick. And for him to be
able to adjust and and get us in the right mindset, um,
having us with the no fear attitude going home down
three two in this series and saying, hey, just play basketball.
Do we need to do cut down and turn off
and have us focused and not worry about you know,
(39:13):
going home a loser or going fishing, as a lot
of people like to say. So, I give my coaching
not to Rudy T. Rudy Tom Jonavans, the Hall of
Famer absolutely agree with you, two top fifteen coaches of
all time according to the NBA. Also, I you know,
according to me, you know, my opinion doesn't matter. So
I love I love the matchup. You know, I'm a
pat Riley guy. But Rudy T was was phenomenal throughout
(39:33):
this one. All right, this is the award, This is
my favorite one. Who's the big Who? Who in your
estimation gets the big shot? Bobo? See that? To me
goes to Derek Harper, even though they lost. I just
think what he did in this series defensively and offensively,
able to knock down big shots. Um, I don't know
(39:54):
what the average, but think about it. In the last game,
he still was able to come up big with twenty
three points. He led the Nixon scoring that last game.
So to me, he's my big shot because I can't
I'm not just looking at one game. I went by
one game and be verning in this last game, and
but I'm just looking at what happened throughout this series
(40:16):
with no Derek Harper, they get beat baby in like
five or six games. Now don't go seven. So Derek
Harper gets my big shot of war. That's a fantastic
point and something that I would not have I wouldn't
have even considered, even though I recognize, obviously already knowledge
how great Derek Harper was in the series. But if
he's not as great as he is, you're right that
this series does not go seven, that there are nowhere
near this. I'm you know, I might have you know,
(40:39):
of course, you know, much like with the you know,
with the you know, Best role Player Award, you know
that there are others that could have been considered. But
you know what, I'm gonna ride with you. I like
that selection. Woh thank you, because we forget this start
the other part. Guard was injured and didn't play guy
by the name of Doc Rivers Man. It's funny. I
had actually forgotten part of it as well. You're right,
(41:01):
exactly right, all right, before we before we wrap this up,
were there any special celebrations of any sort, you know,
as a team or you personally. I just think about
being a little kid and watching all these teams, professional teams,
party and celebrate and being on that fire truck going
(41:24):
around a downtown Houston and seeing all these fans hanging
out the windows, seeing all the streamers thrown out the windows.
They had this parking garage and you have thought it
was a million people on this parking garage and everybody
is just yelling and scream of blowing the horns. And
it was the most exciting feeling outside of having kids
(41:49):
or anything of you know, on on a on a
sports level, that you could ever get. Because even though
we wanted the following year, it wasn't as good as
this year because it's nothing like your first kiss, and
this was our first kiss. There was the city's first kiss.
And they came out and droves and it was it was.
It was something that you could only dream about. It
(42:11):
was something you thought would never happen, but you I'm
really glad it did. It was just one of those experiences.
It's hard to describe. Rob, I'm gonna be real with you.
It's not that like this is what it's all about,
But those moments, I can't imagine how incredible they feel.
In particular. Look, I've been the championship um, the parades,
I went in eighty seven. As a child, I went
(42:33):
in I went in this one oh one. You may
know about it, and then I also when it. I
also went to the Mega one in oh nine. And
the truth of the matter is the energy from the
crowd that like just the outpouring of love that you
guys are receiving in that moment. I know that has
to feel incredible. So, you know, kudo kudos to you.
You're exactly You're exactly right in terms of you know,
you never forget your first so I understand why this
(42:55):
one meant so much to you. You know, even though
I've been involved in six other ones, um that all
were different, but this one, for some reason was a
little bit different because in l A, they came out
in droves. They weren't hanging out the buildings though, and
send Antonio, they came out in droves, but they wasn't,
you know, throwing streamers. The fact that you could just
(43:15):
see the confetti, the streamers and people just excited throwing
stuff that made it a little bit different because these
are things that you never thought what happened, and to
see it live and and to feel like they all
that you gave them some type of pride in their
city was was so exciting for me and that and
(43:36):
that you absolutely did speaking of that pride. While this
series was absolutely fantastic to discuss here with you had
a great time doing and I thank you for this
conversation speaking of that energy. Next week, I won't say
which one it is, but we got another series coming
up that you played a very specific and particular role within.
(43:56):
Is that something like Acetown to Kelli, like Robert Ory,
something exactly like that. I like that a matter of fact,
you know what, you know what I'm just corning up.
I'm gonna I'm gonna steal that and use that as
one at one of the heads. Thanks for listening here
on Finals File. Once again for Robert Ory, I'm Jabar
Dais
All right, welcome back to part two of the NBA
Finals here on NBA Finals File. Rob. Good to be
back with you, as it's great to be I'm so
excited to get into this second half. No without a doubt,
and you're like, we we we don't have to bury
the lead here. Game five is the O J. Chase game.
Let's go ahead and jump right into it. Yes, this
is the O J. Chase. Man, my mom's still mad
(00:24):
that she didn't get a sense to see this game on.
That is wild. That is wild. Okay, well we'll we'll,
we'll get to that. So again, this game ultimately played
out similarly to previous games, where the two teams seemed
to be filling each other out at this you know,
during the first quarter, only to have significant swings over
the last three quarters. And it really did feel like
the last team that would make a run was probably
you know, they're probably gonna be the victors. All Right,
(00:45):
we'll get into a bit more of the action here
in a moment, But it goes without saying the rest
of the outside world, or at least the world outside
of the garden, we were all a little bit preoccupied
with this thing. You may have heard of it. It was.
It was this infamous o J thing, this white bronco
chase press rolling the NBA Finals. They have the monitors
right there. I look back and I see this car.
(01:07):
Jade is gone and you see it. I read it,
says o J. So I go on the huddle and
I'm like, oh, J's on the run. Everybody's like, oh,
Jay's on the run. It's like run. This is the
middle of the finals. The game became very secondary, and uh,
it was the strangest sports event of all time since
we're you know, since we were back in prior to
(01:28):
a lot of the technology of convenience that we're all
spoiled by now. So I'm wondering, did any of you
guys know what was taking place outside of it or
were you just so singularly focused on what was right
there on the court, you know, you couldn't be bothered.
I think you said it best due to you know
that there weren't any smartphones at the time, so there's
no one behind the bench saying, oh I just got
this tweet or this this is social media posts where
(01:50):
O J is, you know, strinking down the four or
five or whatever thru It was in his white Bronco.
But at halftime is when we found out. We were
walking in because this is old school, we had the VCR,
two VCRs and the TV sitting on top and we
had to record the games like that in order to
assess them break them down the following day. And as
(02:12):
we walked in, it was like, is that OJ's Bronco?
And everybody, for some reason knew Old J had a
white Bronco. I don't know why, but this streaking down
there and it's like four or five of us watching
the TV and the Rudy comes in. Since I get focused,
you know, we're down, Let's play his game, you know.
So he comes in and cuts the TV off and
(02:32):
we forgot about after that. After the game. Yeah, I
want to be completely honest with you, like I was
one of you know again, I'm a fan watching the game.
I'm im a teenager at the time watching it and
I'm sitting there yelling at the TV because I've always
been in this person. I'm yelling, why did they have
a split screen? What is this? Who cares about this chase?
Because I wanted to see that. I wanted to see
the finals. So yeah, it's just funny. It's it's one
(02:54):
of those like time capsule moments where you know, the
two major things are taking place at the same time.
I'm and I'm sure that happens all the time, but
you know this, these are pretty noteworthy things. It was
a big note where because you think about throughout that game,
even the announcers were talking about it. Instead of focusing
on basketball, we was focused on the white bronco chasing
the things that were going on with O J. But
(03:16):
the players, we didn't care about it because we were
trying to win a chip. And on that note, back
to the game, because this this game also felt like
another one of those games where if anyone other than
Hakim was able to get it going at least offensively,
that you guys might have been heading back to Houston
with with a three to lead instead of you know,
coming from behind. Your Rockets wound up only having three
(03:36):
players reached double figures compared to six guys reaching it,
you know, for a little bit more of a balanced
attack from the Knicks. So after a back and forth game,
your Rockets got back into it with a strong run
in the third and actually had a sevent lead with
just over four minutes to play in the game. The
King was absolutely rolling in the second half. It kind
of felt like it. I don't know if he made
(03:56):
every single turnaround jumper impossible, but it felt like he did.
Alijah Wan on my lap said, goodness, he had almost
had one of those about two minutes ago. This time
he made sure with the right hand somehow or other,
took it off his left ear and turned it over
and through the room. Unbelievable athletic play, Bijah. He had
(04:20):
at least five or six contested turnaround follow ray jumpers
over the course of the half. And it really didn't
matter what the knicks were throwing at him, whether it
was you and or Mason. They were right there in
his jersey and he was just knocking him down. He said,
back to gardening. Alijah Wan at a keevable a head.
Wan has good five entrance on Anthony Bason has played
(04:41):
in a very physical fashion and was not a good job.
Had a time out has been called this third quarter
pat Riley has had Charles Smith, but Alijah line and
now Mason as base forces him to take this off
the wrong foot. But Elijah and starting a warm up. Yeah,
Jeane was fantastic in that game other than eight turnovers
he had, but he cared us in that third, you know,
(05:07):
thirteen and we bowled it back. And like I said earlier,
sometimes you depend on your big dog so much that
you you know, it takes away from your game. And
Elijahan was that type of guy that could care you.
And when he's making sides like that, you give him
the ball and get out of the way and just
really quickly on on a large one. Some of those
were some of the longest tools that you can possibly
(05:28):
you know, like shoot, uh. You know, he was a
pretty he was a pretty excellent player, you know, in
his own right right he's like as it was, so Rob,
I gotta ask you in this when you were out
there battling, but you were two fourteen in the game,
what what what? What was out there? What? What? What?
What were what were you seeing out there? Two or fourteen?
Two pot six from three? But either the thinking about it,
(05:49):
my body was still had recovered from that fall. Um.
I to be honest with you, I probably should have
been out there, but I was. I had to take
a lot of drugs to get out there and play
because I know we needed us. I talked about it earlier,
how it's the finals. You do whatever you can to
get on the court of Starks. Make sure I had
(06:11):
on the field that is called by Ari filed hard
fer order recalled packing. Game four, there was already found
hard by Mason. It was called a flagrant file and
already heard his lower pack and his rest and out
charl Skarts have something to say to Robert are being
(06:32):
called a flake brand. If you look at my movements
in the game, it wasn't as quick. They won't this
sharp compared to the next game. So it was it
was a disappointing outcome for me. And in fact I
was two from fourteen. I you know that's saying you
give it old college try, and I gave it old
college try. But it was a poor performance from the shooting.
(06:55):
But again, I'm gonna keep it real with you, especially
knowing that you were dealing with a hairline fracture. I'm
gonna give you a pass. I don't care. I'm giving
you a pass. You're getting it on this one. And
and you're right, you were out there, you were out
there competing. Thank you. I did, I did had I
did have nine rebounds, six assists, in seven points. I
almost had a triple do Hey there you go exactly exactly.
(07:16):
It's all about perspective. So the Nicks end up winning
this one. They go you know, they go up three too.
They take rockets and clothing les game messaying tona of
the last eleven of shots Bank running only one fields
over the last half, the next fighting long rockets. Hey
be four. This one has had a fact to Houston.
(07:38):
But the next up three games took two and we're
heading to game six back in Houston. What is the thought?
You're down three two? Now? I thought it. We can't
let them out Muscless. We gotta come out with some energy.
We gotta come out with it. We gotta be an
attack mode. Um, we have to get that mindset that
we had in game three. We had law home court avenge,
(08:01):
and now we got to go and attack mode and
don't be afraid to go to the paint um. And
if you look at the last game, like I said,
we were so into getting Dreamed the ball and letting
him carry us that we realized the reason we got
to the point where we are is by playing together
the team attack and being in that mode of being
(08:22):
in that mindset, not just let's just dream cares, because
if we're able to do that, it's gonna make it
easier for a lodging one. Fair enough, fair enough, So
let's go ahead and get into Game six. On this note,
John Lavelle starts, he was trying to send you guys home.
He was trying to send you guys home in a
major way. John starts, chepstroke down. N starts. A player
(08:46):
who has come up very big. We got the fourth
quarter the last pool games and checking up from three
part and honestly for it for a good stretch of
this game, looked like he was gonna be able to
do that, you know, and what honestly, what might have
been his best game of the series. He was phenomenal
for the Knicks and what you know was their clothes
(09:07):
out effort. You know how I mentioned shots you hit
during the course of the game can open up certain
moments for you, and that shot he hit open up
this moment for him in Game six where he went
five and nine from three, had twenty seven points, led
to Knixon scoring. And he was one of those, like
I said, fire crackers that could explode at any moment,
(09:29):
and he was able to knock down five from nine
from three, because like you said, he was definitely trying
to send us home. Starts starts all the way. Oh oh, Starks,
who want to want to pick up shots? So let's
go ahead. Next, we get to the second half action here,
because you guys had a ten point leaded at the half.
(09:50):
The Knicks were able to chip away at the lead
in the third, but the fourth quarter was really where
the action it was. In the second half. Starks actually
winds up scoring sixteen of his as you just to
his eventual twenty seven points, and he did it in
every type of way, whether it was on the break,
in you in transition, on the drive, as well as
from deep. Obviously, like I said, my man was trying
to send you guys home with a series loss. His
(10:12):
his three pointer with one fifteen left in the game
pulled the Knicks to within two for the first time
and what felt like two quarters, I next got a
five right now by five, I'm at a twenty to go,
and the fourth quarter starts start three, yes, come, starts
keeping the next alive. That's a three point rock and lead.
I'm at a fifteen harmatic. But then on the very
(10:33):
next time down, you find a team in the post
for a turnaround jumper over Oakley that went long, and
suddenly it looked like the Knicks were in business. With
just under forty five seconds to play, Aaron starts star
that is file fire the next over a lot of
(10:54):
so Alan Jawan, we'll call to the line. I definitely
need you to break down you saw in the next play,
because I honestly couldn't tell, like, do do you remember
the next play in this situation, because I couldn't tell
whether Starks was trying to live it to you or
if the ball just slips out of his hand like
on a shot at him. But somehow Starts floats the
ball into the king instead of ewing and you and
(11:16):
it is forced to foul him and send him to
the line. Do you remember that play? I remember that
play is one of those plays where I think Starks
just lost the ball because he's being harassed a lot.
He went to the whole and sometimes you know when
you play, you talked about it of camera, how guys
sweat a lot, and Patrick Ewen was a guy who
(11:36):
sweatd a lot. And sometimes the ball has sweat on it,
and if you see us a lot of times in
that series. I'm wiping my hands off on my shorts
because the ball and it gets sweed is hard to grip.
And on that moment you watch Starks, he goes to
the whole, he loses it because I don't think he
ever had control of it, and that's why Dream was
(11:56):
able to get it. And you know, I'm gonna say
it was us play and good defense. So to make
us look good, you know what, I'm gonna roll right
there with you because a cheam he ends up knocking
down the pair head pluck Frank Row, look up, shady shots.
How about the Knicks? They keep on fighting. They find
(12:18):
Mason for a baseline jumper. As we've mentioned another one
of the myriad of baseline jumpers that that their bigs
were hidden throughout the series. Opera formation that it cuts
the quick to two points. Rock it leave forty two
shot as alright? Uh, you know he knocks that down
right at the thirty second mark. You guys came up
(12:39):
short on the next possession, leaving the Knicks with one
last opportunity with the ball. With seven point six seconds left,
The Knicks ran a pick and roll with starts in ewing,
resulting in Hakeem closing out and coming up with what
was another fantastic, incredible your Finals block. It was a
game ceiling block on the John Starts attempt lives a
(13:00):
while with the big tim Summer in your rockets end
up taking this one four. In that situation, it shows
you how good defensively, how larger one was because he
was able to guard Starts and then recover to block
that shot. Most guys wouldn't have got to that shot,
(13:23):
but a king band who he is. It felt good
when I released it and Bami he got his fence
tips on it. And a great thing about that is
after you blocked the shot, if you look at us,
we weren't trying to get any time. We're just trying
to run off the court before the rest said no, no,
no more time, more time on the clock. But we
were just so happy to get that game game six
because we knew this is what you played throughout the season. Four.
(13:45):
You go out and you battle eighty two games to
secure home court advantage. Because we felt like if we
can take any series to game seven, if we get
home in our comfort zone, we were able to do
some damage. Don't want to one game away, one game
(14:08):
away from from all right, speaking of Game seven, let's
take a quick break, but when we come back Game
seven as well as story time with Robert Dory. You
cracked me up when you said, yeah off, Mike, you
were talking about people sweating. I almost leapt into the night.
(14:38):
Who Okay, alright, we're back here on NBA Finals Final.
But before we get into an epic Game seven, let's
go ahead and start this off with a brand new
feature here on the show, story Time with Big Shot. Yeah.
This is this is. This is a fun story because
everybody knows the biggest New York Nick fan is who
Spike Lee. So Spike Lee is one of those guys
(15:02):
is that you look up to because what he's able
to do in the movie industry. And for me, I'm
looking at Spike Lee and all I can think about
is do the right thing. You know, Malcolm X all
these great movies. And so people don't know that Spike
Lee is the hugest basketball fan, not just Nick s Man,
(15:23):
but the hugest basketball fan. So me being the cool
guy I am when he comes up to me and
talking to me, I try to keep it on the
rafts like yeah, you know, I'm just as big as you.
Doubt really I'm not right, But I'm telling myself this
and he breaks out all these basketball cars. Man, I'm like,
and you forget Spike Lee is a short dude. So
(15:43):
I'm like, alwa a sudden, I'm like, am I talking
to a little kid? And he's just talking about basketball,
He's talking about my college career, He's asking me to
sign stuff. And he was the coolest dude ever. Man.
So for me, when you we always talk about l
A and the and the stars and the people that
they have that come to their games. The Knicks are
(16:04):
right there too, and you know Spike Lee and maybe
talked to him and get to know him was incredible.
And this guy, you know, he's going on to another
place is I didn't realize who he was until after
he I met him in New York and had a
chance to talk to was junior John f k Jr.
(16:26):
He was at that game and I met him in
the back and just was like, Hey, how you doing?
And so it's just so weird with basketball does for you.
It allows you to meet so many different people and
think about it. Destiny Child used to sing our national
Anthem before they became Destiny Child because they right, Devin
Houston used to see them all the time and say, hey,
how you're doing. And those are things that the doors
(16:49):
of basketball does. He allows you to meet all these
people that you you admire and wish that you could
be like them, because who doesn't wish they could, you know,
direct like Spike Lee, who don't wish they could sing
like Beyonce? You know, who doesn't wish they could be
icon like all these people. So it was just a
great time at the time to play the Knicks in
(17:09):
the finals because it opened up so many doors and
allowed me to meet so many people. I'm gonna be
honest with you, Robbed, that story is cool. Thist can
be for a lot of reasons because like, for one,
I love the insight, I love the peak behind the curtain.
But it's also cool look as a common folk and
I'm I'm just being really as a commoner. It's cool
to see that other stars are also star struck. Like
(17:30):
you know, you're you're a star in your own right.
You're playing, You're they are there to see you, they
are there to see you compete, and you were and
and you're having that reaction, I won't lie to you.
You know, as as a fan of all types of entertainment,
I can appreciate that. It's it's it's so weird that
sometimes you have to keep your emotions on the wrap
because these people are people you admire so much. And
(17:50):
I forgot to mention that even Selena was a person
used to come in and sing the national I had
an on of meeting her and it you know, it's
it's it's just so many doors that NBA and coming
into the league open up. And when I say open
up the doors to meet different people that you sit
back and you admire and you appreciate the craft. I
think that's the bottom line, that each and every industry
(18:13):
appreciates the other's craft. Game recognized game. I can definitely
appreciate that. Okay, speaking of game, let's go ahead and
get to the game seven. As we mentioned, you know,
this was a fantastic series. Throughout the game seven was fantastic.
This is when Klutz City comes up clutch. We cannot
lose our focus on the big picture, and that's winning
the war. And it doesn't make sense to do all
(18:34):
this work and come this fire and not close it up.
There might be times when we get down, but I've
been done all year. Instead of pulling apart, we pulled
together and we're gonna get this thing done. Through my experience.
Anything good in life, you have to work real hard
for that, son of a third time, but my have
(18:54):
sixteen years the NBA Finals have gone a game or
seven off. Need to jump. Everybody stick together like we
did all yeah, baby, let's go ahead and play together. Baby. Now, Rob,
(19:17):
this is how you start a game off. This is
how you start a game. Robert Ory, Robert Keith Ory,
Robert Ory. After Chell, you about sell game, but we
(19:41):
gets off to the war offer Hakim dump off. You
absolutely posterize the legend and then look, I'm not taking
anything away from you because he was fantastic defensively throughout
this series, but you posterized them with a two hand
Jim to start off scoring for the Rockets in this game.
You know, it took a while to get my sea
legs back, so to say. After after that fall, um,
I was able to have my athleticism bow I was
(20:03):
able to jump again and to start the game off
with a dunk on Patrick Ewing was was great and
if you look at me after I dunked it, I
looked at the ref that really be gonna start this?
Now that was a file because I wanted my am
one with that one. Absolutely you the note that I
had here, I was gonna ask you, like, was it
just a matter of adrenaline? You know you're starting off
because that you know, the home crowd was absolutely rock
(20:23):
and they were already on their feets. They were ready
to go nuts. But I can definitely understand if your
body was feeling better, especially with that type of you know,
with that type of backup, why you might have had
an extra gear on that You're gonna have an extra gear.
Because the fans were behind us, they knew that the
city of Houston had that opportunity to win a championship.
(20:44):
There has there had not been a franchise in the
city of Houston to win a major sporting event for
a long long time, and for us to come out
and try to compete to win this championship was major
for the city. It was great. It was the gym
was passed um. Everybody was hype, and I think we
were focused more than anything, because if you watch us
(21:06):
in the huddles, we're focused. We were engaged. Nobody's talking.
We're all listening to U to T and that's to
the sign of the team that's ready to get there
and compete for a championship. You know, to that point,
it may be confirmation bias because obviously we know what
took place, But I did notice that you guys had
a look in your eyes like you did, and and
and maybe you know, maybe I was looking for a
little bit after, but you guys had to look in
(21:27):
your eye in this game in the huddles over the
course of the game, where it was just like, no,
we're not we're not losing this. And it obviously plays
out that way to suck up start after a back
(21:56):
and forth first half, once again, things start to heat
up in the third quarter as they found you want
an out of bounds, blob over open, get Shott shot up.
(22:22):
And again, you know, I already made this point, but
I'm going to reiterate it. Why didn't they utilize these
types of plays and in particular you attacking Oakley more
in this series. Yeah, this is actually one of our
favorite inbounds played. Um we running a lot where Vernon
throws over the top, but we also used it to
come off the pick and give Dream because Dreamer come
(22:43):
in and set to pick for me a deep die
for Dream to get, you know, under the basket. So
this was a play that I love. This was when
this is when I have a top five playlist throughout
my career. This is top five because it happened in
the finals and it was on Oakley and I had
a chance to speak to Oakley about this. At one point,
I was like, man, I said, I just want to
say I'm sorry, because you know, oak is using the
(23:04):
type of person if you do something like that, when
you yell and screaming your face, he usually shoves you.
But he didn't he knew what was at stage because
he could have got ejected or tech. But and also
me for Tawny, but the emotions are high in the
NBA Finals and that live out of bounds was for
me a combination of everything that I have been going
through from game one to Game six. Taking that hard foul,
(23:28):
because if you go back to game three where I'm
just driving and dunking on everybody, this is like a
combination of everything for me at that moment in Game
seven at home in front of our fans, to ignite
the crowd and make that gym rock I think my
favorite part of that is you acknowledging that you went
to apologize to Oakley to do it for talking to him.
(23:49):
It's really a testament to the gravitas that Charles Oakley
and some of those guys had you, especially with younger
players at that time. Yeah, that's that's just all about respect, man,
I understand. I just say, hey, look, I might not
have gone up and apologize a lot of people, but
Charles Oakley would have been one of them, so I
can respect that, all right. So you guys had a
nice burst from once again Rookie Santa Sell to the
(24:11):
tune of us a steel off and then bounds and
a bucket followed by two free throws on a clear
path that help your Rockets build a sixty nine sixty
two lead with ten minutes and change to go in
the game. Sho Chaws, o Ways, class pet Hall flight,
Sive Cassal offers such stay something sex st Sell by
(24:38):
the clear path for the Baskets against the two when
I'm against the Phoenix shots and game by the seven
to Rookie Santa Sell came up, Curry scoring to the
fourth quarter nine of his twenty two. We have a
fourth that's this scare game year. He has a upper
part lockets us try shot. Well, obviously, you know things
(25:04):
are far from over. With ten minutes left in the game,
I'm wondering in in your position, in your shoes, what
is the point where you start to come down looking
at it. Hey, you know we just need to get
good possessions and use up a majority of the clock
while defending on the other end. Is it at a
similar point with five minutes left, four minutes left? Or
are you never fully comfortable until the finals are Uh,
(25:24):
You're not even You're never comfortable. You you analyze the
clock situation and you're making sure you get good shots.
You're making sure you throw great passes, not good passes,
but great passes because you know, throughout this series we
were a little bit careless with the balls, having a
lot of turnovers, and this game we that's that was
our main focus, is that we secured a basketball. We
shouldn't have that many turnovers, and in this game we
(25:45):
only had nine tournos compared to us having nine turnovers
in the first half. So we were engaged and locked
in in that situation and I think a lot I
had to do with our guards. Our guards have been
outplayed throughout this whole series, and in this game, Kenny
stepped up and vernessed. They both had double digits in
the point production and they had pretty much only one
turnover between the two of them, and that was key.
(26:07):
And to that point, you know, Maxwell actually hits the
three off of a keen kickout with that puts you
guys up eight three seventy five with just under two
minutes left. And I can tell you this much, there
(26:36):
was definitely already some celebrating going on. It is the
Knicks called time out. Yes, you know it was some
celebrating going on. I think when you watch Max, I've
never seen Max jumped out high after making that three
going into the time out, but had to feel good.
But we were in the home and we said, hey,
you know, stay focused. It's not over because they got
guys that can knock down shots, so we gotta stay focusing.
(26:58):
And it's it's it's so in it resting that you
know coaches are able to do that and get bring
players back to reality, because a lot of times coaches
are not able to do that, but veteran teams understand, okay,
get our emotions and check and stay and stay in
line with what we need to do. And that's because
the game is not over. We still need to go
out knocked down shots and do what we need to do.
(27:19):
And to you know, to that point, you're exactly right,
because the Knicks still had a chance to get back
in it, you know, as Derek Harper's two free throws
pulled in within eight three seventy eight, with just under
just over a minute to go, Maxwell then splits a
pair to you know, to go back up six. But
unfortunately for the Knicks, and you know what, the Knicks fans,
you know that are listening, they knew what was coming up.
(27:40):
Starts ends up missing his last three, you know, three
point attempts. Starts John starts two for seven teams totally
(28:15):
hub for his foot pole and the Wicks are about
two of seven teams from downtown. Starts for ten from three.
And that's exactly where we tried to get the game
winner and the NBA Championship winner in Game six, the
one that was bought by a La Juan here. He
(28:37):
had to give a little double champion the air to
get our business. Obviously, his shot because not. They're even
the ones where he had good looks and got up
in the air nicely, couldn't WoT thought for it one
of those just six said nights for John Stott. John
starts having another good look in this league, falls about
five ft short as nobody appeared to hit his arm,
(29:00):
and then it's just put on the lavable and people
are probably wondering what they doing. You guys go ahead
and put this away for your first ring. Are the
World Championship my j NA part? Honestly, Rob, you could
you could pretty much say that defens is what started
and into this series because you guys actually held the
(29:21):
Knick scoreless from the floor over the last five twenty
from the game. Yeah, one of the biggest keys was
John Starks. He was zero for eleven from three to
for eight team as a whole, and he was so
hot compared to last game. He was blistering hot who
knocked down five threes in the last game. So to
keep him in check was huge for us. He only
had eight points even though Dad Harper was still playing
(29:43):
at his high level he had twenty three day game,
but we were able to keep their basically their second
leading score out of the points situation. And I'm gonna
say this, and you know what, here's a link to
Knicks fans. I'm not gonna lie to you. I actually
always felt for Starts in this situation because he's right
throughout a majority. I know you didn't and I understand
why you didn't, but he's great for a majority of
(30:04):
the series. Honestly, games two through six, he's phenomenal. It's
really just the bookends. It's Game one where he's something
like two for eight team. One of the games two
free ten one against three for a team. But it's it.
I know you said you didn't, but after the fact,
is there any part of you that you look back
and you're like, day man, Sorry, it had to be,
you know, I'm not. I'm not at all because because
(30:25):
they the Guards have been out playing our guards throughout
this series. Uh, Derek Harbor was a beast defensively and offensively.
And this is the first time in a while that
Kenny Smith actually had a good game where he had
was four for seven from three and stay on the
four because we know Sam Casselle was his sub and
Sam was ending most of the games in the in
the fourth quarter, but Kenny you know him and Mario Eliot,
(30:50):
even though Mario did Ellie didn't play that much in
this game. I think those two were the most excited
to win this game than anyone because they are New Yorkers. Honestly,
gratulations on your first title. Just wrapping up that conversation,
what does it feel like you win your first one?
You win in alongside the team, what does it feel
like afterwards? You know, it was a weird feeling because
(31:14):
being a guy who loved dream growing up and watching
him losing the finals to the Celtics, and watch that
incredible shot that Ralph Simpson made against the Lakers to
get them to that point, and to know that he
battled so many times at this point in his career
to get there and came up short. Um, if you
(31:34):
think about this season for him was one of the
most incredible seasons ever. He wins m v P, he
wins Defensive Player of the Year, he wins all these awards.
Now he's finals, Finals, m v P, Now he's has
his ring. It was to me, I was just happy
for him because the way did it that was so special.
(31:57):
The old city said that more and we had companies
something together, you're spending you wanted us for so long,
you finally got it. I'm proud to be a part
of the team that got it for you. And when
I said team, I needed in the true sense of
the word. You know, even though I didn't notice what's
(32:19):
gonna happen, but in my mind, I was like, Okay,
this is my second year in league. It's easy to
get to the finals. It's easy when I'm gonna let him,
you know, oldest A la Jawan, you know Vernon Ken.
I'm let all these guys handled the trophy because if
you go back, I never even touched the trophy during
that time. I never had a chance to grab it.
(32:39):
I never had a chance to hold it because I
felt like I didn't earn that right yet, even though
I was there playing the game and helped win it,
I felt like these guys broken back. Yeah. I just
felt like these guys had put in that time, so
I was gonna let them get their time with Larry
before I got my time. You've been here, You've been
humble your whole life. You know what you don't need
(33:01):
to be and you definitely don't need to be here.
I can appreciate that and honestly, it's it really is
a testament to the respect that you had, you know,
for the history of the game, and I truly respect that.
But on the flip side of that, nine, I had
the trophy whole time. Let anybody else hold it because
I had to make up for lost time. You really
didn't touch the thing the whole time. M hm. I
(33:23):
would have had to grab it because I was naive enough.
I didn't really know that would grabbing me for interviews.
I was if you look at the picture of us
on the stage, I'm not even on the stage. I'm
offside doing interviews. Shut out. An epic series comes with
it in But now for the fun part. Robert Ory
(33:45):
gives out his awards after the break. Unbelievable, it's unbewereable,
iling right right, all right, we're back here on NBA
(34:11):
Finals file. Let's go ahead and close this thing out
before we get to the awards. Are there any any
other tidbits or anecdotes that you have for us regarding
this series? You know, when there's always a little bit
of game and ship that goes on between teams, and
this one was kind of funny because when the Knicks
came to us. We had home court events, so they
came to us first, so we gave them tickets, their
(34:34):
their their players tickets. They were good tickets, right, So
they were nosebleedes. So when we went to New York,
the tickets they gave us was nosebleeds. So we're like, oh,
you're gonna do this. So coming back they thought they
were going to get good tickets, we put them in
the nosebleeds and only gave them like three or four
extra tickets because it's like, oh, you want to try
(34:54):
this trick with us, we got something, and a lot
of teams won't do that. They're like, oh, we're gonna
be the bigger and better a team. No, no, no, no,
this is the finals. We're gonna treat you like you
treat us, but a little bit worse. That's cold blooded. Though.
I'm not talking about your reaction. I'm talking about them.
They put your family members and and and loved ones up,
you know, put your rubbing shoulders with the angels, pretty
much cleaning the raptors up there with the banners. All
(35:18):
jokes aside, you know, I even love that aspect of it,
that even that part of the pettiness that you know,
of competitiveness at times, you know it stinks for your
family members and whatnot, know, but yeah, you know what
you got. You guys got them back, all right, Rob,
you know what time it is? Are you ready for
your awards? Yes? I am ready for my wars. I'm
excited to do these awards. And you know, Asterix, I
(35:40):
would not give myself any awards. No, maybe, all right,
I won't say. You know, I'm always gonna come over
the top. If you don't, I'm gonna do it either way.
I'll find him, all right. So let are we starting
off with m VP. Who's the m v P. I
think it's obvious on this one. This one is obviously
a larger one. The way he had to carry us
um carry the rockets, playing over forty six minutes a game.
(36:01):
Think about it. That's forty eight minutes in an NBA game,
and he paid forty six minutes. He added like forty
six minutes. I might be wrong, stabbed people out there. Okay,
I'm gonna say, oh, forty plus minutes a game to
cover those stats. But I give him the m v
P because he he took a beating during that series.
He got beaated by Oakland, he got beat it by Ewing,
he got beatd by Smith, he got beat up a Mason.
(36:23):
Think about that's of a thousand pounds of human beings
beating up on you each and every game compared to
you know, a lot of the teams. Zero arguments here
he um and and for the record, he he did
play forty three minutes a game. You know, Look, that's
just that's just as much. That's absolutely nuts over the
course of a series that, in particular to your point,
playing against those type you know, that type of poundage,
(36:45):
that type of you know, those types of folks that
are battling him, I think it's no question he's the
definitive m v P here. So you know that one
was obvious. Now this was a fun one because I
feel like that you could be several answers here. Who's
your best old player of this series? Um, I'm gonna
have to go with Sam Casell in this one. Um,
it came down to him and Anthony Mason. But I'm
(37:08):
gonna go with Sam Casell for the big shot hitting
Game three, just for his ability as a rookie to
step on the largest stage in basketball and perform. You know,
it might be a little biased that because of him,
and I are still cools this very day. So Sam
can Sell is is my vote? Listen, You're never you
heard me affectionately referred to him as Sam I am earlier.
(37:29):
It's because I was a Sam Cansell fan. Trust me,
I'm not mad at that. So I I respect that one.
I'll agree with you from the next side of things.
The one thing I'll say. You know, I'm not taking
anything away from Mace. You know, you rest in piece
and played fantastic you know in this series. But I
actually probably would have gone Derek Harper. I think he
was just I think he was that that impactful over
the course of this series. Well, I might have another
(37:50):
award for Dick Carper. So that's why I did. You
can't win two awards I got. But you know what,
I also I also want to give a shot at
the car however, um you know, we say name was Amigo.
He stepped up big in a couple of games. He
was scoring impactful pace because we only had you know,
we was we weren't as big as they were. But
when car Hero came the game, he gave us that
(38:11):
that Um he was able to rebound some nice hook shots.
So car Hero was like third on netlist. And I
guess we just gonna name everybody, because how how can
we forget Otis Thorpe? Ohdis Thorpe was money in this
series all throughout, like consistent all throughout the series. So
I just want to show him some love as well.
All right, moving on, what about the coaching matchup? Lots
(38:32):
of good adjustments. You know, I don't think anybody was
undressed in this situation. I think I think it was.
It was a really good matchup. It was. It was
a great matchup. Pat Riley the season Vett who had
won titles in l A and was trying to go
for another title with the Knicks, and you got Rudy T,
first time coach in the NBA finals. Um, you know,
Rudy T had been there a couple of years. I
(38:52):
was his first draft pick. And for him to be
able to adjust and and get us in the right mindset, um,
having us with the no fear attitude going home down
three two in this series and saying, hey, just play basketball.
Do we need to do cut down and turn off
and have us focused and not worry about you know,
(39:13):
going home a loser or going fishing, as a lot
of people like to say. So, I give my coaching
not to Rudy T. Rudy Tom Jonavans, the Hall of
Famer absolutely agree with you, two top fifteen coaches of
all time according to the NBA. Also, I you know,
according to me, you know, my opinion doesn't matter. So
I love I love the matchup. You know, I'm a
pat Riley guy. But Rudy T was was phenomenal throughout
(39:33):
this one. All right, this is the award, This is
my favorite one. Who's the big Who? Who in your
estimation gets the big shot? Bobo? See that? To me
goes to Derek Harper, even though they lost. I just
think what he did in this series defensively and offensively,
able to knock down big shots. Um, I don't know
(39:54):
what the average, but think about it. In the last game,
he still was able to come up big with twenty
three points. He led the Nixon scoring that last game.
So to me, he's my big shot because I can't
I'm not just looking at one game. I went by
one game and be verning in this last game, and
but I'm just looking at what happened throughout this series
(40:16):
with no Derek Harper, they get beat baby in like
five or six games. Now don't go seven. So Derek
Harper gets my big shot of war. That's a fantastic
point and something that I would not have I wouldn't
have even considered, even though I recognize, obviously already knowledge
how great Derek Harper was in the series. But if
he's not as great as he is, you're right that
this series does not go seven, that there are nowhere
near this. I'm you know, I might have you know,
(40:39):
of course, you know, much like with the you know,
with the you know, Best role Player Award, you know
that there are others that could have been considered. But
you know what, I'm gonna ride with you. I like
that selection. Woh thank you, because we forget this start
the other part. Guard was injured and didn't play guy
by the name of Doc Rivers Man. It's funny. I
had actually forgotten part of it as well. You're right,
(41:01):
exactly right, all right, before we before we wrap this up,
were there any special celebrations of any sort, you know,
as a team or you personally. I just think about
being a little kid and watching all these teams, professional teams,
party and celebrate and being on that fire truck going
(41:24):
around a downtown Houston and seeing all these fans hanging
out the windows, seeing all the streamers thrown out the windows.
They had this parking garage and you have thought it
was a million people on this parking garage and everybody
is just yelling and scream of blowing the horns. And
it was the most exciting feeling outside of having kids
(41:49):
or anything of you know, on on a on a
sports level, that you could ever get. Because even though
we wanted the following year, it wasn't as good as
this year because it's nothing like your first kiss, and
this was our first kiss. There was the city's first kiss.
And they came out and droves and it was it was.
It was something that you could only dream about. It
(42:11):
was something you thought would never happen, but you I'm
really glad it did. It was just one of those experiences.
It's hard to describe. Rob, I'm gonna be real with you.
It's not that like this is what it's all about,
But those moments, I can't imagine how incredible they feel.
In particular. Look, I've been the championship um, the parades,
I went in eighty seven. As a child, I went
(42:33):
in I went in this one oh one. You may
know about it, and then I also when it. I
also went to the Mega one in oh nine. And
the truth of the matter is the energy from the
crowd that like just the outpouring of love that you
guys are receiving in that moment. I know that has
to feel incredible. So, you know, kudo kudos to you.
You're exactly You're exactly right in terms of you know,
you never forget your first so I understand why this
(42:55):
one meant so much to you. You know, even though
I've been involved in six other ones, um that all
were different, but this one, for some reason was a
little bit different because in l A, they came out
in droves. They weren't hanging out the buildings though, and
send Antonio, they came out in droves, but they wasn't,
you know, throwing streamers. The fact that you could just
(43:15):
see the confetti, the streamers and people just excited throwing
stuff that made it a little bit different because these
are things that you never thought what happened, and to
see it live and and to feel like they all
that you gave them some type of pride in their
city was was so exciting for me and that and
(43:36):
that you absolutely did speaking of that pride. While this
series was absolutely fantastic to discuss here with you had
a great time doing and I thank you for this
conversation speaking of that energy. Next week, I won't say
which one it is, but we got another series coming
up that you played a very specific and particular role within.
(43:56):
Is that something like Acetown to Kelli, like Robert Ory,
something exactly like that. I like that a matter of fact,
you know what, you know what I'm just corning up.
I'm gonna I'm gonna steal that and use that as
one at one of the heads. Thanks for listening here
on Finals File. Once again for Robert Ory, I'm Jabar
Dais
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.