Rudy Tomjanovich, Mario Elie, Matt Bullard revisit Rockets' journey from Choke City to Clutch City
- Perla Paredes Hernandez
- Jun 20, 2024
- 8 min read
Some might see the Rockets’ back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and '95 as part of a bygone world. But its existence doesn't seem so distant in the minds and hearts of the people who made those titles happen.
In a recent Zoom session with Houston Chronicle subscribers, former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich reflected with forwards Matt Bullard and Mario Elie on the months that led to this city's first major professional sports championship and the historic moment itself. (With apologies to the 1960 and '61 Oilers, their AFL titles aren't in the same tier.)
In the 1992-93 season, Houston finished atop the NBA's Midwest Division at 55-27 but lost Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals to the Seattle Supersonics 103-100 in overtime. It was a defeat the Rockets would remember.
"That was the series, the pain that we felt there, that drove us the next year to rip off our first 15 wins of the season,” Bullard said of the winning streak with which the Rockets opened the 1993-94 campaign. “Once we got off to that start, we had the confidence that, ‘Hey, we can do this. We can go all the way.’ ”
Watching that pivotal 1993 loss from the stands was someone who would play a key part in Houston's winning its first championship the next year.
“I drove my new 300 CE up to Seattle to watch that Game 7,” Elie said. “It was just an amazing game; it was a hell of a series. I (was like), ‘Man, this is a good Houston team.’ Then two months later, I got a call from the Portland GM. ‘Hey, we’re sending you to Houston.’ And the rest is history.”
Tomjanovich became interested in acquiring Elie while watching a Portland game in a sports bar. Elie was guarding the opponent's best players and putting 20 points on the board himself.
“We gotta get that guy,” Tomjanovich said. “And he became available the next year. He was a very big piece to our success.”
That piece got himself two rings in Houston and one in San Antonio. Texas was good to him, but he will always cherish his time with the Rockets.
“I bleed mustard and red,” Elie said. “I'm a Rocket, baby. I'm a Rocket first, always and forever.”
Laying the groundwork
In the first week of December 1993, the Rockets were 14-0 and headed for New York. The Knicks relished the chance to be the ones to take them down. But Houston's future Finals opponent got a taste of things to come when the Rockets prevailed at Madison Square Garden.
The 15-0 streak was interrupted by a loss that resulted from a bad travel situation. The Rockets had to play in Atlanta the night after their win over the Knicks but didn’t get there until 5 a.m.
Bothered by a loss influenced by circumstances beyond their control, the Rockets won their next seven games to improve to 22-1, quite the jump-start to a championship run.
The goal of an NBA title was always in Tomjanovich’s mind, but he didn’t let himself get cocky. Perfection, as confirmed by that first loss, was never going to be reached, but he sure liked the way his team played.
A seven-game losing streak the season before had presented a valuable teaching moment. Tomjanovich, a young coach who had taken the Rockets helm at age 43 in February 1992, showed his players tapes of their getting outhustled and beaten by fast breaks.
“(I said) we can't be worried about offense. We gotta be a good defensive team,” Tomjanovich recalled. “And then it finally clicked in. I remember we beat a good Utah team. The rest of that season, we went 41-11. That's when the Rockets found out what it takes. Just piece by piece, we made it happen.”
The Rockets knew they couldn't sustain their 22-1 pace over an 82-game season. So when there was a dip in the middle, they didn’t lose their confidence. They wound up with the NBA's second-best record at 58-24.
“When we did get on that (15-3) run (near the end of) the season, we were the team to beat,” Bullard said. “But nobody else felt like that. We weren't getting the respect that we felt like we deserved. So (we) had to go show people every single night.”
Choke hold escaped
The Rockets disposed of Portland 3-1 in the first round of the playoffs. But then things began to taste a lot like 1993. Playing at home, the Rockets lost a pair of big fourth-quarter leads in dropping the first two games of the Western Conference semifinals to the Phoenix Suns.
Cue the "Choke City" headline. Embodying years of frustration, it hit too close to home.
Tomjanovich gave a lot of thought to what he would do next. He knew his players felt bad and didn’t need to be scolded. He needed to see how they got those big leads and get the energy back. Shooting guard Vernon Maxwell didn’t even want to look up when his coach was speaking.
“Rudy put on a positive tape, said, ‘Man, we got two leads up 20. We can beat them,’ and then something clicked in us. Rudy said it perfectly,” Elie said.
“Max came in (the next game) — three points in the first half, 31 in the second half. And that's mad Max. You light that fire on that guy, ain't nobody blowing it out.”
Music had been blasting on the flight to Game 3. There was no panic, just a team brought closer together.
With Maxwell having saved the series in leading the 118-102 win in Game 3, Houston followed with a 107-96 victory to even things.
With 30 seconds on the clock and Game 4 in hand for the Rockets, Houston Chronicle columnist Fran Blinebury was in his press seat when Rockets owner Leslie Alexander leaned his head in.
“He says two words: ‘Clutch City.’ And he walked away,” Blinebury said.
Tomjanovich was grateful for the word change, which made its way into the next day's headlines. But he had learned in a book by Pat Riley that it isn't always bad to have something that irritates and pushes you.
“I think that (with) Choke City, I feared that that would be the label of me,” Tomjanovich said. “ ‘Oh, I remember that guy. He coached for a while. You know, he's the choker.’ And it sure inspired me.”
After the Rockets ousted the Suns in seven games and dispatched the Jazz in five, Riley and his Knicks awaited Houston in the Finals. Games 3 through 5 would take place at Madison Square Garden, three train stops from where Elie had grown up.
“That really drove me to basketball,” he said. “Ain’t no better environment in basketball in the world than Madison Square Garden. The fans are on top of you. You got movie stars. Just a great environment.”
Clutch in the end
New York was already in a state of elation after the New York Rangers had won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years, and the Rockets lost Games 4 and 5 to fall in a 3-2 hole.
Elie was feeling “destroyed” in his hotel. Fortunately, Hakeem Olajuwon was on the same floor.
“He said, ‘Don't worry, Mario. We're going home.’ And my mood just totally changed,” Elie said. “He went in and got it done. I loved that about Dream, man. He lifted everybody around.”
While the Rockets had a number of players step up in big moments, their one constant was No. 34. Olajuwon would be that season's Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year and Finals MVP.
Olajuwon's block of a John Starks shot helped secure an 86-84 victory in Game 6. Neither team scored more than 93 points in any game in the series.
“Our series may have changed like nine rules in the NBA. We were wrestling out there; we (weren't) playing basketball,” Elie said. “I just remember how physical that (series was) and how mentally drained (I was) after we won. I was happy, but I was tired.”
The series was a difficult matchup for the Rockets because they relied on Olajuwon so much. The Knicks locked in on him from everywhere on the court. The Rockets had to pivot, so they came up with a scheme to pick-and-roll on the opposite side.
“If we threw the ball to the roller, the man who was guarding Hakeem, he had to leave him. His job was get that roller,” Tomjanovich said. “We threw the ball around, and by the time that guy just came to him, Hakeem was rested. He was ready to go.”
Even 30 years later as Tomjanovich reviewed the tape of Game 7, he saw several broken plays. But it was rewarding to see the level of maturity his team had.
Before the players left the locker room to take the court for Game 7, Blinebury saw Olajuwon getting ready to put on his sneakers and asked the center what was going through his mind.
“I'm soaking everything in,” Olajuwon said. “I want to remember everything that happens tonight. I wanna remember the atmosphere of the fans. I wanna remember every interaction with my teammates. I wanna soak it in. Win or lose, I wanna remember this game as long as I can.”
He finished tying his sneakers, looked at Blinebury and said: “Remember this.”
After Maxwell hit a late 3-pointer, the Rockets knew they had it. The scoreboard soon read 90-84. With seconds left and a clear path to the hoop, Olajuwon merely hugged the ball. No way he was going to let go.
“(After the game) Dream (was) sitting on the scorer's table and just looking at the confetti and the fans and just taking it all in,” Tomjanovich said. “And what a wonderful shot that was. Here's the guy that got us here — our leader, our best player — and I cherish that vision.”
A celebration to savor
In the minutes and seconds before the final buzzer went off, the Rockets were antsy not to celebrate too early and jinx themselves. Once it did, they spent several hours at the Summit celebrating, both as a team and family.
But their second family was also out celebrating.
“We go outside,” Bullard said, “and Richmond Avenue is a party — the entire city down there. That's one of the greatest things I remember: how the city of Houston was able to celebrate our championship. To this day, I get goose bumps thinking about all the people down there enjoying what they had just witnessed.”
As a longtime Rockers player, Tomjanovich was acutely aware of the times the city had gotten close to a championship. But the Luv Ya Blue Oilers never kicked down the door, and the Astros came up short in classic NLCS appearances against the Phillies in 1980 and Mets in 1986. In Tomjanovich's last season as an NBA player, the Rockets lost to the Celtics in the 1981 Finals. And Houston would fall again to Boston in the 1986 Finals.
“(After we won) I said, ‘I'm so proud to be a part of the team that got it for you,’ and then I listed all my assistant coaches and stuff till they yank the mike away from me. It was awesome,” Tomjanovich said.
“When you go through those things with a group of guys, it's something that will bind you together for life,” Bullard said. “And every time we see each other, it's like seeing family.”
Elie, 60, still walks around the city. Often, someone will come up to him and mimic his “Kiss of Death” gesture.
“Being the first is so cool, and every time I walk into Toyota Center, (the first) thing I do is look at those two banners, and the memories come back instantly,” Elie said.
Piece by piece, the Rockets made it happen. And June 22, 1994, is a day Houston has never stopped living.
By Perla Paredes Hernandez, Staff writer
June 21, 2024
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