Tag: Mario Elie

When he did, giving the Rockets a …

When he did, giving the Rockets a 103-100 lead in the closing seconds of Game 7 in Phoenix, he marked the occasion by pressing three fingers to his lips and blowing a kiss goodbye to the Suns’ bench and particularly to reserve center Joe Kleine. “I saw the shot and it was a Hollywood movie, just hanging in the air,” former Rockets star Kenny Smith said of the moment long before he became one of the faces of TNT’s “Inside the NBA.” “I was just waiting and waiting and waiting. And it went in.”

Mario Elie on 1995 NBA Finals: ‘It was over’ once Magic lost Game 1

“Once we won that first game in Orlando, it was over,” Elie said. In that game, Houston overcame a 20-point deficit to win on the road.

In a virtual chat accompanying a Facebook showing of the “Clutch City” documentary, former Houston Rockets swingman Mario Elie says he knew the team’s second championship was secure after Orlando dropped the first game of the 1995 NBA Finals at home.

“Once we won that first game in Orlando, it was over,” Elie wrote in the comments section while watching the video on Saturday night.

That Game 1 was particularly traumatic, from a Magic perspective. They led by 20 points early, and by three in the game’s final 10 seconds.

But guard Nick Anderson missed four consecutive free throws, when even making one of them would have likely put the game away. Rockets guard Kenny Smith hit an improbable 3-pointer with just over a second remaining in regulation to tie it, and Houston won in overtime on a tip-in in the final second by NBA Finals MVP Hakeem Olajuwon.

From there, Orlando was never the same. They trailed by 22 points at halftime in a home Game 2, and they lost two of the next three games by double digits in what became a sweep by the Rockets.

The effects of Orlando’s Game 1 collapse lingered well after that series, too. Anderson’s free-throw percentage, which was at 69.6% over the first six seasons of his NBA career (through 1994-95), plunged to 60.5% in his final seven seasons — including a career-low 40.4% in 1996-97.

And just over a year after the 1995 Finals, All-Star center and future MVP Shaquille O’Neal left the Magic to join the Lakers in free agency.

It’s impossible to know with any certainty how things would have played out, had the Magic held on to win Game 1. But that appears to be where Orlando’s downfall began, both in that series and beyond.

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Mario Elie celebrates Hall of Fame nod for Rudy Tomjanovich

Former Rockets guard Mario Elie shares his thoughts on the long-overdue news of Rudy Tomjanovich joining the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Former Houston Rockets guard and two-time NBA champion Mario Elie expressed his immense joy Saturday at the news of Rudy Tomjanovich making the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Now 71 years old, Tomjanovich played for the Rockets from 1970 through 1981, and was head coach from 1992 through 2003. That run included Houston’s only two NBA titles in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons.

In his 11-plus seasons as head coach, Tomjanovich led the Rockets to a 503-397 (.559) regular-season record and a 51-39 (.567) mark in the NBA playoffs, headlined by Houston’s two championships in 1994 and 1995. He is by far the winningest coach in franchise history.

One of the marquee players on those title teams was swingman Mario Elie, who shared his thoughts on ‘Rudy T’ in an Instagram video.

With a huge smile, Elie said:

I remember 1994, in the Western Conference semifinals, being down two-zip against the Phoenix Suns. The whole city was against us, but there was one person who had our back. That’s coach Rudy T. We went on to win the series that year, and we went on to win the city’s first championship. Rudy T, congratulations on being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Tomjanovich had been the only coach in history with multiple NBA titles and an Olympic gold medal who was not in the Hall of Fame.

Besides his extensive accomplishments as a head coach, Tomjanovich was also a dynamic player for the Rockets ⁠— with averages of 17.4 points and 8.1 rebounds in 33.5 minutes per game over 11 seasons from 1970 through 1981. He was a five-time All-Star at power forward.

Known for his hard-nosed defense and clutch shooting, Elie played for Tomjanovich from 1993-94 through 1997-98. He averaged 9.8 points (36.3% on 3-pointers) and 3.1 assists in 27.8 minutes per game.

Tomjanovich and other members of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 are scheduled to be enshrined on Saturday, Aug. 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Players to be inducted alongside “Rudy T” will include Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and the late Kobe Bryant.

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Mario Elie: Phoenix was hardest playoff rival for ’94, ’95 Rockets

Former Rockets swingman Mario Elie explains why the Phoenix Suns were Houston’s toughest opponent during its 1994 and 1995 title runs.

Though both meetings came in the Western Conference semifinals, former Rockets swingman Mario Elie says the Phoenix Suns were Houston’s toughest opponent in their 1994 and 1995 NBA title runs.

Hakeem Olajuwon‘s Rockets were forced into three do-or-die Game 7s during those championship seasons, and two of the three were against Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson, and the Suns.

In 1994, Houston won a home Game 7 after rallying out of a 2-0 series deficit following home losses in both Game 1 and Game 2. In 1995, the Rockets — courtesy of Elie’s renowned “Kiss of Death” 3-pointer — won a road Game 7 and overcame a 3-1 deficit to take the series.

When factoring in Game 5 and Game 6 of the 1995 series, the Rockets went 4-0 in elimination games versus Phoenix in those title years.

Nonetheless, even though the Rockets overcame the odds each time, their opponent and rival clearly earned respect. After defeating the Suns in the 1995 semis, Houston beat the San Antonio Spurs in six games in the West Finals and the Orlando Magic in a four-game NBA Finals sweep.

Phoenix, which had won the West in 1993, had 115 wins in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 regular seasons, as compared to just 105 for the Rockets. But Elie’s squad often saved its best for when it mattered most.

The May 1994 series against Phoenix became the birth of the franchise’s “Clutch City” nickname, which came in response to the Houston Chronicle‘s “Choke City” headline following the opening two losses.

As for this week’s Twitter Q&A with fans, Elie also broke down his famed shot to put away the Suns in Game 7 of the 1995 series — which came in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, with the game tied.

Known for his hard-nosed defense and clutch shooting, Elie averaged 9.8 points (36.3% on 3-pointers) and 3.1 assists in 27.8 minutes per game over his five seasons in Houston from 1993-94 through 1997-98.

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