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Full-Court Press:

The Story of the Houston Oilers

 

 

By Chris Oakley

 

Part 27

 

 

adapted from material previously posted at Othertimelines.com

 

 

 

 

 

Summary:

In the previous twenty-five installments of this series we traced the first half-century of the Houston Oilers basketball beginning with their relocation from Rochester, New York in 1957 and continuing up to the team’s 50th anniversary celebrations and successful NBA championship run in 2007. In this chapter we’ll look back at the run-up to their 2008 NBA Finals clash with the Boston Celtics.

******

The crowd noise at TD Garden as the player introductions were made for Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals was loud enough to be heard at least a block and a half away. It invoked memories of the classic Oilers-Celtics battles of the 1960s and stirred up anticipation for what was to come in this latest showdown of the longtime NBA rivals. And that anticipation was, to say the least, well founded-- six of the seven games in the ’08 Finals would be decided by four points or less, and of those six games five would be won or lost on the final shot. Of those five games in turn, three would go into overtime with one of the OT contests becoming the second-longest postseason game in Celtics history.

Retro jerseys from both teams were a huge seller in the TD Garden souvenir shop that week; even fans too young to have seen the original Auerbach-era Celtics square off with the Oilers in person had seen highlights of those battles on YouTube and wanted to own a piece of that history, while older fans who could recall every second of those battles wanted to indulge their nostalgia for those days. Whatever the case, sports memorabilia dealers and manufacturers were more than happy to indulge the fans’ taste for retro gear.

The most anticipated one-on-one contest as far as players went was the expected battle between Yao Ming, now a fifth-year NBA veteran, and Kevin Garnett, one of the engines which drove the Celtic train during their ’08 Eastern Conference playoff run; having already survived grueling battles with the Miami Marlins and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Garnett and his teammates were not about to simply roll over and play dead for Houston-- not even if it meant getting in a Pier 6 brawl with the massive Yao. By the same token Yao was bracing himself for trouble with Garnett, not to mention Garnett’s teammates Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen. An NBA beat writer covering the Finals for the New York Daily News was heard to joke right before tipoff that Game 1 would be a best 2- out of-3 falls contest.

It didn’t quite go that far, but there was a fair degree of pushing and shoving during the Finals opener. At least twice in the second half of Game 1 Houston point guard Rafer Alston had to be separated from Boston center Glen “Big Baby” Davis, and midway through the fourth quarter Oilers assistant coach Oscar Robertson nearly wound up getting ejected after bumping a referee during an argument over a controversial foul call. Nor did the ill feelings go away when the game was over-- as the two teams were heading to their respective locker rooms follow a 127-118 Celtics victory, a Houston reserve point guard could be heard yelling obscenities at the Boston fans.

Game 2 brought more confrontations, and this time Robertson actually was ejected; he got tossed late into the second quarter and had to sit out the rest of the game-- which, in a sense, was rather fortunate for him as he was spared the trauma of watching the Oilers get dismantled 139-100 by the Celtics. The lowlight of Houston’s defeat came with just 1:47 left in the third quarter as Yao Ming missed a three-point attempt which could have sparked a late Oilers rally and, if not won the game, have at a minimum put it into overtime.

So instead of being able to salvage a split of the first two games in Boston, the Oilers returned to the Sonic Center stuck in an 0-2 hole and facing the terrible possibility of a Finals sweep every inch as humiliating as the one that Bobby Wanzer’s crew had suffered four and a half decades earlier. And throughout most of the first half of Game 3, that nightmare scenario looked to be on the verge of becoming reality. But during Game 3’s second half, a Houston offensive surge at the start of the third quarter boosted the team’s morale and paved the way for a spectacular run in the fourth quarter which would clinch a 127-119 Oilers victory. When the final buzzer sounded John Lucas’ players looked and felt like they could take on the whole world and win.

That feeling would quickly evaporate, however, when Houston blew a twelve-point halftime lead over the Celtics in Game 4 and went on to lose that contest 99-81. The offensive mojo which had been present in full force during Game 3 seemed to have deserted the Oilers abruptly in the late minutes of the second quarter of Game 4, and for that matter their defense looked a bit shaky too: Houston’s backcourt committed six costly turnovers in the opening minutes of the third quarter, two of which sparked massive Boston scoring runs. Now the Oilers faced a do-or-die situation in which they had to win Game 5 simply to keep the Finals going, let alone win the NBA league championship.

******

The largest crowd to watch a Houston playoff game in more than two decades jammed the Sonic Center to watch Game 5 of the 2008 NBA Finals. The math was simple for the Oilers: win and they would return to Boston for Game 6, lose and their 2008 postseason

run was over. Fans all over the Energy City desperately wanted to see the Oilers prevail and send the series back to TD Garden-- it had been thirteen years since Houston had last won the NBA league championship, and the thought of going through yet another summer without the O’Brien Trophy was almost intolerable. Conversely, by the same token Celtic fans wanted to see the Oilers squashed like grapes; twenty-two years had passed since Boston had last won the NBA league championship, and the Green were ready to see that dry spell finally come to an end.

So naturally it was an intense, primally physical game that went down in the Sonic Center that night. It was the proverbial irresistible force(Boston) meeting the immovable object(Houston): sooner or later, something would have to give. It was one of the closest such contests the two teams had ever played against each other, with eight lead changes during the first five minutes of the second quarter alone. By the start of the fourth quarter, it seemed like overtime was a distinct possibility-- until Boston’s Eddie House hit a three-pointer after snatching a rebound out of the hands of Yao Ming. That three-pointer dealt a gut-wrenching blow to the Oilers’ collective morale, and their offense began to sink like the Titanic as a result of said blow.

With just six minutes left in regulation and the Celtics up by seventeen points, the Sonic Center began to take on the sound and feel of a funeral. When Garnett drilled a three to extend the lead to twenty points, many Oiler fans started heading toward the exits, not wanting to witness the grim finale of a series they’d been sure Houston would win. By contrast the modest but extremely vocal contingent of Celtics fans who had traveled halfway across America to watch the game were whooping it up as the clock ticked down towards the final buzzer.

The final score: Boston 148, Houston 127. The Oilers had once again tried to grab the brass ring only to see it slip out of their fingers. The front page of the Houston Chronicle the next morning neatly summed up the feelings of many Oilers fans about this latest NBA Finals loss: above a picture of a dejected John Lucas walking off the court was printed the plaintive bold type headline “NOT AGAIN!”. The Astros, who three years earlier had made an improbable run to the World Series only to get wiped out by the Chicago White Sox, sent Lucas a condolence letter two days after the ’08 Finals ended; the head coach of the new Texans NFL expansion team told a Houston Chronicle sportswriter he felt the Oilers and their fans deserved better than what they’d gotten after the Oilers’ desperate struggles to reach the ’08 Finals.

But though nobody knew it just then, Houston would only two years later get another opportunity to seize the brass ring-- and this time would grab said ring with both hands....

 

******

 

 

 

 

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