Chapter 3: The Age of the Twin Towers of Wildness

Malone's departure marked the beginning of a long road for the Rockets to rebuild, and Allen Revere, a short point guard who only occupied the starting No. 1 position in the second half of last year, became the tactical core of the team, but Revere, who is only 185 cm tall, has mediocre talent, and this year's average of 14.8 points and 6.7 assists per game has been the highlight of his 10-year Rockets career. Elvin Hayes averaged 12.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, Murphy came off the bench in 64 games and averaged 12.8 points per game, and the two seniors are still doing their best to maintain the team's final dignity and honor, and it is worth mentioning that this season also signed the father of the current superstar Kobe Bryant in the league, Joe Bryant, in the final year of Joe's eight-year career, averaging 10 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.

This season, the Rockets have only 14 wins, the record is at the bottom of the league, after the end of the season, Calvin Murphy announced his retirement, Murphy's thirteen-year career has been spent with the Rockets, when he retired, the total points in the Rockets have surpassed Rudy Tomjanovic and ranked first, in addition, Murphy 4073 assists, 3089 free throws, 920 appearances, 6776 goals, 1165 steals, all ranked first in team history, 1993, Murphy's No. 23 jersey was honorably retired by the Rockets at the same time, he was also inducted into the NBA Slack Hall of Fame, it is worth mentioning that Murphy has extraordinary ability on the basketball court, and he is also full of energy off the basketball court, he has 14 children with 9 women, not only gave birth to two basketball teams, but also gave birth to coaches and two referees, in 2004, his daughter falsely accused Murphy of sexually harassing them for his money, and although the bow was, and finally after several court sessions, Murphy was found not guilty, which proves- There are many people in the family, and it is chaotic.

Although the Rockets' record is rubbish, the Rockets have one of the toughest things, that is, they have not lacked luck in the draft over the years, with a super bad record, the Rockets successfully won the 1983 NBA Draft, and they selected Ralph Sampson, a 224-centimeter-tall center from the University of Virginia. Sampson is only two centimeters shorter than Yao Ming, but his running and jumping ability has thrown Yao Ming more than one street, despite his tall stature, but Sampson is not clumsy at all, on the contrary, his movements are quite agile, and the bounce belongs to the top level of the league, it is the first generation of legends to touch the task of the eaves of the rebound, excellent physical fitness makes him like a fish in water when working in the restricted area, but his excellent running and jumping ability has also brought terrible consequences to Sampson, that is, injuries, his joints, ligaments, and cartilage simply can't withstand his 226 cm, The 103-kilogram back-and-forth rush, especially the knees, was the culprit behind Sampson's frequent sideouts in the latter stages, in fact, Sampson's eleven years of career may seem like a long one, but he only played 456 games and will be halfway through.

Sampson was a complete "bug" in college, he won all the awards that a college player can get, and he was unprecedented, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated six times in four years!

Sampson, who came to the league in his first year, averaged 21 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, shooting 52.2% from the field, he was the best rookie in the West every month, and finally won the best rookie trophy without any suspense, the Rockets' record this season is still not improving, 29-53, except for Sampson, everyone else's performance is lackluster, Robert Reid averages 14 points per game, and Aaron Revere, a short guard who has been with the Rockets for five years, played his best performance in five years, Averaging 11.5 points and 5.6 assists per game, Elvin Hayes played in 81 games this season, including four starts, averaging a measly 5 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, and this was his final season, and at the end of the season, Elvin Hayes, the first generation star of the Rockets, nicknamed "BigE", retired with honor.

In the 1984 NBA Draft, Lady Luck favored the Houston again, and they won the No. 1 pick again, the 1984 NBA Draft, known as a draft that changed NBA history, and its draft results had an impact on the NBA that surpassed the 1996 Golden Generation and the 2003 Platinum Generation, when the young people who participated in the draft included Michael Jordan, a guard who dominated the NCAA, and Sam Bowe, a big center who won almost all the honors and fame in the United States. Jordan's college teammates, Sam Perkins, known as the year's No. 1 three-point king, and Charles Barkley, the little monster under the basket, were almost the picks who locked up the top five picks, as well as Melvin Tupping, known as "Little Chamberlain"; Balanced offense and defense, well-rounded Elvin Robertson; Defensive shield under the basket Ois Thorpe, Kevin Willis with excellent physical condition and white guard John Stockton of the Superman are also favored by various teams, but these people are only the second choice for the Rockets, because in the hearts of the Houstonians, their first choice has been locked, he is from Nigeria, playing as a center, physically strong but very flexible under the basket, he often sends out big hats, he is also very intimidating on the defensive end, he is Hakim Olajuwon.

Olajuwon is a talented basketball player, he only started basketball at the age of 15, and at the age of 17 he already represented Nigeria in the national youth tournament, Olajuwon has a deep relationship with Houston, the young Olajuwon was discovered by NBA scouts, and then wrote letters of recommendation to several famous basketball schools, but the famous coach of the University of Houston, Guy Lewis, valued the young foreign player and recruited him to hone his skills at the University of Houston. It was 1981, Houston Rockets superstar Moses Malone's last year with the Rockets, he held a personal basketball camp, and invited many basketball players to participate, and the young Olajuwon was one of them, thanks to Malone's teaching, Olajuwon's game has been greatly improved in a short period of time.

Olajuwon led the University of Houston all the way to the NCAA Finals, but finally lost by only two points to the University of North Carolina led by Jordan and James Worthy, in this game Olajuwon performed exceptionally, he scored 20 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, after the game, the championship was awarded to North Carolina, but Olajuwon was treated at the level of Jerry West, the "Godfather of the Lakers", Became the first MOP (College League MVP) from a losing side in NCAA history!

It was at this time that Dick Vital, a well-known local college basketball commentator, watched the game and gave Olajuwon, who was agile and agile in his footwork and quick movements, nicknamed "The Dream." However, fate is such a coincidence, and 16 years later, in 2008, Olajuwon was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame along with his lifelong enemy, Patrick Ewing, and the previous college commentator, Dick Vital.

Ralph Sampson and Hakiem Olajuwon created an unprecedented twin-tower strategy on the court at the same time, and both players had very strong interior attacks and rebounding ability, Olajuwon's first season, In the 1984-1985 season, he averaged 20.6 points and 11.9 rebounds per game while Sampson averaged 22.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, the Rockets won 48 games this season and successfully entered the playoffs, but lost to the Jazz 2-3 in the first round of the playoffs.

In the 1985-1986 season, the Rockets won the second record in the West with 52 wins and 31 losses, and they ushered in an explosion in the playoffs, sweeping the Kings with Eddie Johnson 3:0 in the first round, and facing the Nuggets in this round, Olajuwon averaged 29 points per game and Alex Inglish, the boss of the Nuggets who averaged the same 29 points per game, was a tie. But next to Olajuwon there is Sampson, who averages 18.8 points per game, and Rodney McRae, who averages 15.7 points per game, and Inglish is around, but there is no opponent who can compete, the Rockets defeated the opponent 4:2 to advance, and their opponent in the Western Conference finals is strong, the Los Angeles Lakers, who have the first record in the West, the Rockets lost in the first game, but then the Rockets' twin towers are powerful, winning three games in a row, and in the fifth game of life and death, there is only 1 second left in the game, and the two sides are 112 drawsAt this time, Thompson completed one of the proudest episodes of his career!

Sampson turned his back to Abdul-Jabbar, who was defending him, on the left rib, received a serve from out of bounds, jumped with the basket on his back, turned directly in the air after receiving the ball in the air, threw the ball out before his body turned around, the basketball smashed on the basket, bounced high, and then landed on the basket again, dang! While! While! It was turned three times and fell into the net bag!

Thompson killed the Lakers.

This was supposed to be a close series, but I didn't want the final score to be 4:1 Rockets to advance, in the game Olajuwon and Abdul-Jabbar fought equally, "Magic" Elvin Johnson averaged 22.2 points and 16.2 assists per game, but the good tigers can't stand the wolves, the Rockets' outside Leavis Jude and Robert Reid can both contribute 14+5+3 data, and the bench is still sitting on an average of only 22 minutes per game but can exceed 54% Mitchell Wiggins, who scored 12 points on shooting from the field, is the father of Andrew Wiggins, the 2014 No. 1 pick. The final opponent is finally here, and they are the experienced Boston Celtics, who have won multiple championships.

Fans all over the world are waiting to see the showdown between Johnson and Bird, but in the end it was the Rockets who stood in front of the Bostonians, in the eyes of the world, although the Rockets with the twin towers eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers, but in terms of book strength, the Celtics with Larry Bird, Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale are still much stronger than the Rockets!

The first game of the finals showed the characteristics of the two teams vividly, the Celtics side was more blossoming, Robert Parish 23 points, Larry Bird 21 points and 13 assists, Kevin McHale 21 points, Dennis Johnson 19 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists, Danny Ainge got 18 points and 7 assists, Bill Walton came off the bench for 18 minutes and cut 10 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, while Olajuwon on the Rockets side got 33 points and 12 rebounds. Rodney McRae scored 20 points, Robert Reid had 16 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds, and the others contributed little, Sampson, who played abnormally, hitting only 1 of 13 shots and scoring only 2 points in the game! The result was obvious, the Rockets lost the game 100:112.

The second game is simply a copy of the first game, Olajuwon scored 21 points and 10 rebounds on 8-of-16 shooting, Sampson contributed 18 points and 8 rebounds, but others contributed little, on the other hand, the Celtics, the Houstonians who were all soldiers couldn't find the north, Bird hit 31 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, as well as 4 steals and 2 blocks of all-around data, McHale 25 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, Dennis Johnson 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, Danny Ainge had 15 points and six assists as the Rockets lost 95-117.

In the third game between the two sides, Bird was almost a hero for the Bostoners, and he hit a big triple-double! 25 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists, McHale scored 28 points and 11 rebounds on 12-of-19 shooting, but they still didn't take the victory away, and the reason was also because of the Houston's strong interior line, Sampson shot 24 points and 22 rebounds on 9-of-14 shooting, Olajuwon 23 points and 8 rebounds, and Boston's starting interior Robert Parish? He only had 13 points and 5 rebounds on 3-of-15 shooting, while also committing as many as 6 turnovers! The successful explosion of the interior line has become the most critical factor for the Rockets to win!

The big score Rockets fell behind 1:2, the fourth game is obviously very important, no one wants to lose this opportunity, in the game, the star players of both sides played extremely well, Sampson 25 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists, Olajuwon 20 points and 14 rebounds, Robert Reid 19 points and 7 assists, Rodney McRae 17 points and 5 assists, Celtics Bird scored a quasi-triple-double again 21 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists, Dennis Johnson 22 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, McHale 19 points and 9 rebounds, Robert Parish, who was blown up in the last game, had a good performance, scoring 22 points and 10 rebounds on 10-of-15 shooting and 3 blocks, but what really decided the direction of the game was Bill Wharton, who was 34 years old, his knees were almost scrapped, and he couldn't jump at all, the elder Wharton played 19 minutes and scored a crucial 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting, and the most bench scores on the Rockets were Mitchell Wiggins, and this year is his contract year, so on the court, he showed himself as much as he could, and he scored 8 points, But after using 12 shots, Bird hit a crucial three-pointer in the final 30 seconds of the game, and the Rockets' hopes of a comeback were buried by a mistake by Mitchell Wiggins, and the Rockets lost 103-106 and fell behind 3-1.

In the fifth game between the two sides, the Rockets, who were already standing on the edge of the cliff, gave it a go, if Boston only played 100 percent in this game, then the Rockets exploded with 200 percent energy in this game, although Sampson only played 14 minutes before he clashed with Celtics guard Jerry Sigtin and was sent out, but Olajuwon was still a pillar on the inside, with 32 points and 14 rebounds, and Robert Reid 13 points and as many as 17 assists, Mitchell Wiggins, who came off the bench, finally shined on the NBA's highest stage, scoring 16 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field as the Rockets won another game 111-96.

In the sixth game, the Rockets played a sluggish team, the big dream only had 19 points and 13 rebounds, Sampson was plagued by fouls, and only 8 points in the game, such a performance obviously could not bring the team victory, and Bird's triple-double led the team to victory, he got 29 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds, McHale also hit 29 points and 10 rebounds, the Celtics won this game, and also won the championship that year, and the finals were six games, although they failed, but they were also the highest honor in team history, This season has been a success.