Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich isn’t totally dismissing talk of San Antonio’s Dennis Rodman coming to the Rockets. Said Tomjanovich: “I’ll never say never. I’ll say this: We’re always looking for ways to improve the club. You never know what might happen to Dennis over the summer. If he comes back bald and says he’s a changed person, who knows? But we have not had any contact with Dennis or his people.”
Nick has company: Nick Anderson’s four straight free throw misses at the end of Game 1 was just a pattern in these playoffs.
The Lakers’ Vlade Divac missed two free throws with 4.6 seconds left in regulation in a tie game in Game 2 against the Spurs, who then won in overtime; Kevin Johnson missed the second of two with 21.6 seconds left in Game 7 against the Rockets with the game tied, and then Mario Elie won the game with a three-pointer; Sean Elliott missed two with 26.6 seconds left in Game 1 against the Rockets and the Spurs ahead by one, and Robert Horry hit a three for the game-winner; with the Spurs two down with 1:06 remaining, David Robinson missed two in Game 6 against Houston, and the Rockets went on to win.
Too many MJ wannabes: Said the Magic’s Brian Shaw: “It’s the Michael Jordan era. When I go home and talk to my high school coach, he says the most difficult thing is to teach basic fundamentals. Guys come in and just want to dunk and do spectacular things. They don’t want to do fundamentals.”
Of course, Jordan is more than an 80 percent career free throw shooter.
The bad old days: The Magic invited several members of its first team back for Friday’s game, including former Bulls Sidney Green and Sam Vincent, who works for Disney here; and Reggie Theus, who is working the Finals for a Los Angeles cable station.
Said Magic personnel director John Gabriel about the baby Magic: “They said without them we wouldn’t be where we are because we wouldn’t have had the lottery picks. They played us into the ground.”
Reminder: Houston’s Robert Horry made the play of the first quarter, a steal and full-court drive and crossover dribble for a layup past Horace Grant. And Horry says he still remembers what might have been with a Detroit Pistons’ jersey in his closet at home from the aborted trade for Sean Elliott last season.
“I think about the trade all the time,” said Horry. “That’s why I’ve got the jersey as a reminder.”
Trash canned: Shaquille O’Neal said at least he likes this style of basketball: “Both teams played hard. There was no trash talking. Basketball should be America’s sport, and the games are a good example of that.”
