Wow,The Houston Rockets AND the Kansas City Kings had losing records and BOTH of them made it to the Western Conference Finals! Got to be the most unlikely Conf. finals in NBA history. Great Upload!
The Rockets were the only Western Conference team in the 1980s that ever beat the Lakers in a big playoff game. The rest of the Western Conference combined to win 0 playoff series against the Showtime Lakers. Outside of the two Houston upsets- NBA Finals every other year in the decade.
The Whopper, Billy Paultz. Classic. Those Rockets were some motley SOBs, with Dunleavy, Rudy T, Moses, C-Murph, Whop, with Del Harris on the bench looking like Leslie Nielsen.
While I wouldn't say that it was a fluke by any means that Houston went on to the Finals that season,but they upset the Lakers in a then best-2-out-of-3 first round format.A lot more could be said for their 1986 upset of the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals because it was a standard best-4-out-of-7!
i love the whopper. a great effort by b. paultz. ashame that the rockets didn't win the championship. they were the last place in the west who defeated the best, then made it to the finals.
A Rockets fan since 1979, this was the most special Rockets team that I have seen and that includes the two Championship teams of the mid 90's. This was the first Rockets team that I followed fron start to finish and it was a crazy ride. Looking back, we had a pretty good team and what they accomplished was no fluke. They were the veteran team against the young Laker and Celtic teams. Paultz, never played for a non playoff team. Malone, HOF, 3 time MVP. Murphy, HOF. Henderson, NBA Finals vet.
+Iamhungey 12345 They beat a great EC champ Sixer team to get there,the Lakers(world champs) were suppose to get there but they slept on Houston and got spanked. LA won the next year, both Philly and LA made it the next two years Philly won the second time they met(83). Then in 86 same thing. Lakers world champs slept on the Rockets and got spanked again. They won the next year,matter fact they went the next two years not against Philly but Detroit, they lost the second time they met(89) like they did with Philly. Man oh man do I miss those days...
mookeychase0907 Well,the Lakers beat defending champions,the Boston Celtics in the Finals the year after being upset by Houston,then met Detroit the following 2 years in the Finals.Although 1986 wasn't so much of an upset because I believe Houston finished #2 in the Western Conference that year.Of course,they still weren't expected to win.
John W Landry Yeah I know it happened twice that's what I said. They lost in 81 and 86 then came back the next year and won the championship both years. The following year the same team they beat which was Philly then Detroit beat them the second year of the Finals. LA was the defending champion in '86 and the number one seed how is that not an upset?
Yeah, those best-of-three series sucked bigtime. Lakers would have had a three-peat ('80, '81, and '82) if it wouldn't have been for this bad-luck loss to the Rockets.
It started earlier in the season, Magic hurt his left knee, and missed 45 games, him coming back through everything out of whack, brought staleness to the team, disrupted chemistry, him missing that many games, killed their season, finished second in the Pacific Division behind the Suns, Lakers did well without Magic during the regular season, just with him back, it forced them to make adjustments to him, and it cause tension.
@@JaQuez700 Bro, Magic shoots the air ball at 1:20 in the video 🤦🏾♂ just wasn’t at the buzzer. There was another possession where they other guy air balled a 3pt heave.
The Lakers have a lot of championships, but have had a lot of set backs. This rocket team had them fold twice in 81 and 86.
Wow,The Houston Rockets AND the Kansas City Kings had losing records and BOTH of them made it to the Western Conference Finals! Got to be the most unlikely Conf. finals in NBA history. Great Upload!
Both 40-42.
The Rockets were the only Western Conference team in the 1980s that ever beat the Lakers in a big playoff game.
The rest of the Western Conference combined to win 0 playoff series against the Showtime Lakers.
Outside of the two Houston upsets- NBA Finals every other year in the decade.
Only ones to beat then twice in playoff series.
Rockets were the only team to beat the Magic-Lakers in the playoffs multiple times (1981-1986-1996)
moses was an absolute man in this series.
The Whopper, Billy Paultz. Classic. Those Rockets were some motley SOBs, with Dunleavy, Rudy T, Moses, C-Murph, Whop, with Del Harris on the bench looking like Leslie Nielsen.
1981 NBA World Playoffs..wasnt even born but still good stuff..
The fact that two teams with 40-42 records were battling to make the NBA finals is insane and we’ll never see that again.
The 1981 Houston Rockets were the definition of a "cinderella team"
back when NBA basketball wasn't boring..
While I wouldn't say that it was a fluke by any means that Houston went on to the Finals that season,but they upset the Lakers in a then best-2-out-of-3 first round format.A lot more could be said for their 1986 upset of the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals because it was a standard best-4-out-of-7!
Even though I was a Sixers and Spurs fan back then, I had a special place in my heart for the Rockets and Kings of that era. Thanks for sharing this!
i love the whopper. a great effort by b. paultz. ashame that the rockets didn't win the championship. they were the last place in the west who defeated the best, then made it to the finals.
God I love the music of that time :3 Shame we didn't win but at least we got it in 94 and 95
Yes evened your Finals series record.
houston rockets play very good that season excellent team
A Rockets fan since 1979, this was the most special Rockets team that I have seen and that includes the two Championship teams of the mid 90's. This was the first Rockets team that I followed fron start to finish and it was a crazy ride. Looking back, we had a pretty good team and what they accomplished was no fluke. They were the veteran team against the young Laker and Celtic teams. Paultz, never played for a non playoff team. Malone, HOF, 3 time MVP. Murphy, HOF. Henderson, NBA Finals vet.
FTR, the first two themes on this highlight are "Twice the Speed" and "US Grant", found on Killer Tracks. What is the theme at 6:08?
robert reid was my sub today in aldine high school :)))))
Always like the under dog. Was hoping Moses and Rockets would beat Boston. Rooted for Kings too.
Mostly the Cavs. I like all the Texas teams as well, but I'm really hoping the Grizzlies or Nuggets get to the Finals.
Here after watching winning time 💀
Shyt was too accurate 🤣
what is the name of the music playing in 1:55
1:08 Classic Magic choke, Magic tried being the hero instead of giving it to the greatest clutch player at the time, Kareem, bad mistake Magic.
What team do you root for now
40-42. How in the fucking world does a team with a losing record make the finals?
Everything coming together at the right time and a lot of luck.
+Iamhungey 12345 They beat a great EC champ Sixer team to get there,the Lakers(world champs) were suppose to get there but they slept on Houston and got spanked. LA won the next year, both Philly and LA made it the next two years Philly won the second time they met(83). Then in 86 same thing. Lakers world champs slept on the Rockets and got spanked again. They won the next year,matter fact they went the next two years not against Philly but Detroit, they lost the second time they met(89) like they did with Philly. Man oh man do I miss those days...
mookeychase0907 Well,the Lakers beat defending champions,the Boston Celtics in the Finals the year after being upset by Houston,then met Detroit the following 2 years in the Finals.Although 1986 wasn't so much of an upset because I believe Houston finished #2 in the Western Conference that year.Of course,they still weren't expected to win.
John W Landry Yeah I know it happened twice that's what I said. They lost in 81 and 86 then came back the next year and won the championship both years. The following year the same team they beat which was Philly then Detroit beat them the second year of the Finals. LA was the defending champion in '86 and the number one seed how is that not an upset?
mookeychase0907 I just meant because that Houston team in 1986 was much deeper than 1981's.
Who's here from Ryan Van Dusen
@silveroak04 lol yea!!! Yea!!
Yeah, those best-of-three series sucked bigtime. Lakers would have had a three-peat ('80, '81, and '82) if it wouldn't have been for this bad-luck loss to the Rockets.
It started earlier in the season, Magic hurt his left knee, and missed 45 games, him coming back through everything out of whack, brought staleness to the team, disrupted chemistry, him missing that many games, killed their season, finished second in the Pacific Division behind the Suns, Lakers did well without Magic during the regular season, just with him back, it forced them to make adjustments to him, and it cause tension.
@MerkinMuffly lol i bet when you were 21 you never made mistakes either huh
Wow this is exactly what happened in winning time. Magic sold
How ? Magic didn’t even get the ball. Show was way off
Did U watch the video? Magic air balled a off balance floater shot in the game IRL (though not at the buzzer like the show) @@JaQuez700
@@r0caf3lla23and in real life Magic didn’t even get the ball. I love the show but they making Magic look bad with their dramatizations
@@JaQuez700 Bro, Magic shoots the air ball at 1:20 in the video 🤦🏾♂ just wasn’t at the buzzer. There was another possession where they other guy air balled a 3pt heave.
@@r0caf3lla23shit! I stand corrected. My apologies