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Houston Rockets: A dream NBA Finals scenario that makes sense

By Kenneth Cline

14 Jun 1995: Center Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic center Shaquille O''Neal go up for the ball during a Finals game at The Summit in Houston, Texas. Mandatory Credit: ALLSPORT USA /Allsport Mandatory Credit: ALLSPORT USA /Allsp
14 Jun 1995: Center Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic center Shaquille O''Neal go up for the ball during a Finals game at The Summit in Houston, Texas. Mandatory Credit: ALLSPORT USA /Allsport Mandatory Credit: ALLSPORT USA /Allsp /
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The Dream 2018 NBA Finals – Houston Rockets vs….

I look at the rest of the Eastern Conference from Toronto, Washington, New York, and Miami and I just can’t seem to picture a dream finals matchup with those teams. It’s not that we would beat them easily. We might not beat them. But I just want a Rockets finals matchup to have some meaning. To have some importance or significance. Something to where if Houston won, they would have some bragging rights for some time. After a few moments of discussing with myself, there’s only one Eastern Conference team I would personally love to see in the NBA Finals should the Rockets get there. And that team is…

…the Boston Celtics!

There are a couple of reasons why I chose Boston.

#1 A Chance For Redemption

Number one is that the Celtics defeated the Rockets in both the 1981 and 1986 NBA Finals. I watched the 30 for 30 film on the Celtics-Lakers rivalry. In it, the Rockets got some “love” from both Ice Cube and Donnie Wahlberg, who were the narrators of the documentary. The Rockets in the 80s played spoiled to a Celtics-Lakers showdown twice during the run for the eighties by beating the defending champion Lakers.
The 1981 Rockets had a tremendous playoff run that in a way almost rivals the 1995 Rockets run. Houston defeated the Lakers.  Then there was 1986 and the shot to shock the Lakers. 
You would think the Rockets in both years would be rewarded with an NBA Title by fulfilling their Cinderella runs. But each time the Rockets made the finals in the 80’s, they ran into Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and the Celtics.
Let’s be fair here. Both times, the Celtics were the better team overall, which is why they won. But both times, there seemed to have been some sort of incentive on Houston’s part that got the Celtics fired up.

1981

It seemed like the Rockets would be tough challengers for Boston and Moses Malone made sure to say so. Even with his theme of Boston not being good, the series was still tied after four games. Prior to game five, Malone made some comments that didn’t sit well with Celtics players and their fans. Well, the Celtics won that game and took the series in six in Houston.

1986

Then in 1986, the Rockets, trailing three games to one in the series, had to win game five without Ralph Sampson, who was ejected from the game due to getting into a fight with Jerry Sichting. Houston won game five, but going to the Boston Garden, where the Celtics had lost one game all season long, would be a difficult and nearly impossible challenge to win. In what he called the greatest game of his life, Bird recorded a triple double with 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists to claim the NBA Finals MVP as Boston won that night.

Outlook

So Houston did not have better teams in the 80’s and their chance of redemption to beat Boston never came. Which is why a finals matchup between Houston and Boston would make sense. There have been some trilogies in sports history that did not have a rubber match in the best of three. It took the Dallas Cowboys three Super Bowls to finally beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. It took Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson three Wrestlemania events to finally beat Stone Cold Steve Austin. So maybe the third time would be the charm for the Rockets to beat the Celtics.

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