It’s been a few days now, and the pain from the final seconds of the University of Houston’s loss to Florida still stings. The city came so close to adding another championship to its ledger, but instead, we have another heartbreak to hang on the wall, next to the Phi Slama Jama losses in the 1980s, and the two World Series the Astros lost, as the better team, in 2019 and 2021.
As I wrote earlier this week, unfortunately, the way the postseason ended for the Coogs takes some of the glitz out of the historic comeback win over Duke in the semifinals. We can no longer rewatch the win over the Blue Devils without that game serving as a reminder of the loss to the Gators.
Fortunately, as a city, we have a few postseason runs that ended with a trophy being hoisted. Thus, any iconic win along the way on those playoff journeys can still be rewatched without invoking memories of ultimate failure. So let’s relive some of that magic! Without further ado, here are the most iconic wins from the Rockets’ 1994 and 1995 title runs, and the Astros’ 2017 and 2022 World Series runs:
1994 ROCKETS — NBA Finals Game 6 win (Hakeem rejects Starks)
The first major championship in the city of Houston was this seven game bloodbath against the New York Knicks. After a Game 5 loss in New York, the broadcast of which was interrupted by the O.J. Simpson chase, the Rockets came home needing two wins to overcome the 3-2 series deficit. The first win was sealed on the above blocked shot by Hakeem Olajuwon on a John Starks three point shot. One subtle subplot — Starks was 5 for 8 from three point range up to that point, so the chances of him knocking it down that night were very good. Thankfully, Starks would go 2 for 18 from the field in Game 7, and the Rockets would bring home their first title.
1995 ROCKETS — Western Conference Semifinals Game 7 (Mario Elie’s “kiss of death”)
The following postseason, the Rockets were operating in the postseason from a position of weakness, coming in as the 6-seed in the Western Conference. That didn’t matter, though, as the Rockets defeated the four best teams, by record, in the NBA that season. The closest call along the way was the seven game series against the Phoenix Suns, in which Mario Elie sealed the deal with a game winning three pointer in Game 7, after which he blew the “kiss of death” to the Suns’ bench.
2017 ASTROS — World Series Game 5 win (Bregman walk off single)
Fast forward a couple decades later, and the city’s annual hope for a title rested largely on the shoulders of the Houston Astros. The first run to a World Series title included one of the craziest games in postseason history, a 13-12 Astros win, in which Alex Bergman’s walk off single in the 10th inning brought home Derek Fisher with the winning run. In this game, the Astros’ top five hitters in the batting order all had at least two hits, and the Astros chased Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in the fifth inning.
2022 ASTROS — ALDS Game 1 win over Mariners (Yordan walk off)
Man, there are a few great options in this particular postseason. The World Series alone included a Game 4 no hitter from the Astros’ pitching staff, led by Cristian Javier, and a massive Yordan Alvarez home run in the series clinching Game 6. However, I’m very partial to the first win of that playoff run, an 8-7 win in Game 1 of the ALDS versus Seattle. In that game, the Mariners had a 7-3 heading into the bottom of the 8th inning, but an Alex Bregman two run homer in the 8th, and a walk off three run homer by Alvarez in the bottom of the 9th got the Astros off and running in a postseason where they would ultimately go 11-2 on their way to their second world championship.
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