Illumination Game

[00:12] Ooh, can we do an under-google-ables?
[00:14] That was the play of it.
[00:15] I'm super excited.
[00:16] You told us we had to, sir.
[00:18] We said it was me, so we signed up for it.
[00:24] In the end, it's going to be better and more true than Google can give you.
[00:28] Also, we had listener Andrew Preston send in his under-google-able question.
[00:35] He did? Yeah. Thank you, Andrew. Preston33.
[00:43] Does that mean he's 33 years old, or were there 32 other Andrew Preston's when he went to get the Twitter account?
[00:50] Or he's a big fan of Larry Legend.
[00:52] That's what I was thinking.
[00:55] Not Andrew Preston31. Come on. Where's my Reggie love?
[01:03] No, thank you very much, Andrew. Got a good question.
[01:06] I think he's kind of screwing with me, though, because he decided to ask questions about my favorite team,
[01:14] the Houston Rockets.
[01:19] Basically, he sets this up by saying, amongst he and his friends, they've collectively agreed that the Houston Rockets of 2004-2005
[01:29] was the greatest team to never make it out of the first round of the playoffs.
[01:35] And then asks several questions on top of that, and I think we'll see if we can field these.
[01:43] Can you name the Houston Rockets roster in 2005?
[01:47] What was their starting lineup?
[01:50] Can you name the Houston Rockets head coach?
[01:54] Can you name the Houston Rockets the team who the Rockets faced in the first round in 2005?
[02:02] And then can you name the NBA Finals matchup in 2005 and who won?
[02:08] So I'm going to start this by going with the easiest there.
[02:12] I feel like he threw us a softball to make us look smart.
[02:16] The rest of it, I'm not sure how we're going to do, but the way I remember things in the NBA is related to the Pacers.
[02:24] So 2005 was the year of the brawl, which means Detroit had won the year before, and they played back-to-back finals.
[02:35] And so Detroit played San Antonio in 2005, and it was that epic seven-game series, which Robert Horry hit a big three in game seven to win the game.
[02:47] So Spurs win in 2005 against the Pistons. So I got that.
[02:55] Does anybody remember the Houston Rockets of 2004-2005?
[03:02] I got a couple. I got some Yao Yao, right? Some Yao Ming.
[03:08] Sure, this is the Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady era.
[03:11] I got TMac.
[03:13] Vangundi was their coach.
[03:16] Was it Vangundi? I couldn't remember if it was Vangundi or Adelman.
[03:21] He coached in the mid-2000s for them, too.
[03:24] Yeah, but I want to say this was still Vangundi era.
[03:27] Okay, all right.
[03:30] So we've got those three main pieces.
[03:32] And Matumbo as well, okay.
[03:35] Yeah, that's right. He was backing up Yao.
[03:38] Katino Mobley? Was it Katino Mobley in the team?
[03:42] I like that. And if there was a Mobley, was there a Francis?
[03:46] I think there was no Francis. I think Francis was in that McGrady trade with the Magic.
[03:56] Skip to my Lou was on this team, right? Ray for Alston?
[03:59] Ray for Alston. Good pull.
[04:01] And Shane Batier?
[04:06] Oh, yeah. Shane Batier was the beginning of the advanced statistics era.
[04:16] Right. Was this the team that won 22 straight?
[04:22] Is that why his argument is that this is the best team that never got out of the first round?
[04:26] Remember that the Rockets team, it was the second most at the time, longest winning streak.
[04:33] But I remember, wasn't there something weird about that winning streak that they didn't even have McGrady or something like that?
[04:38] Like McGrady was out with an injury?
[04:40] Well, so that's the thing. I don't know when Yao Ming and Trace McGrady are out and injured because that's most of the time.
[04:47] Good call. Good call.
[04:50] So is this like the one year that they were both healthy?
[04:53] Probably. Sure. Let's go with that.
[04:57] Because the 22 game win streak had Ray for Alston, Aaron Brooks, Shane Batier, Matumbo, like Carl Landry, I think, was playing.
[05:09] Significant minutes on that.
[05:11] But I don't know if this is that year. That's my concern.
[05:17] You're right. If they were injured, if both Yao Ming and McGrady were injured during that stretch, that probably isn't this team.
[05:24] Okay.
[05:26] I don't think we're going to get much more of that roster. Can anybody pull any other names out of that?
[05:32] Was that before Cassel?
[05:36] This is after Cassel.
[05:42] Cassel was like a rookie during their championship teams in the 94-95.
[05:48] Yeah, for sure.
[05:51] So, okay, we've got probably not Steve Francis, Katino Mobley, Ray for Alston, McGrady and Yao Ming for sure.
[06:05] Now, who did they play, though, in the playoffs? And what seed were they?
[06:10] He didn't ask that, but that would help me.
[06:15] I don't know.
[06:20] I mean, we've got to think that they were pretty high, right?
[06:23] If they were probably upset.
[06:26] They were definitely upset if it's the greatest team to not get out of the first round.
[06:29] So they were probably a two or a three seed, because San Antonio was the one seed, right?
[06:33] Probably.
[06:35] Probably the Mavs were super good around that time.
[06:39] This was post Lakers dissolving to Shaq, Kobe thing fell apart.
[06:45] This is right after that, right? So Shaq is in Miami, right? Or maybe he goes to the next year.
[06:51] Yeah, no, he's in Miami this year.
[06:54] Sure.
[06:55] His first year in Miami.
[06:56] Sure.
[06:59] So, yeah, so the Lakers didn't even make the playoffs that year, did they, or barely?
[07:02] I don't think they did.
[07:06] Okay, so let's say they won 50 games and they were a three seed or a four seed.
[07:12] They have to be the two seed.
[07:14] Who is the one seed?
[07:15] It has to be the two seed, if that's the greatest.
[07:17] But see, there are teams that have been upset in the past.
[07:20] He's not making that argument that it was the biggest upset ever.
[07:24] You're saying that the greatest team to not get out of the first round.
[07:27] Right.
[07:28] But he had good upsets before.
[07:30] Right, exactly.
[07:31] So like with the Sonics who got beat by Mutombo's nuggets were not a better team.
[07:37] Maybe that team collectively got out of the playoffs the next year, I guess.
[07:40] Yeah.
[07:41] Yeah.
[07:42] That team and the team, the Mavs team that won 61 games and lost the Warriors in the
[07:50] first round, the year that Novitski won the MVP, I think that they were probably better
[07:54] than the, well, I mean, we can't even remember who this team was.
[07:58] Right.
[07:59] But I think maybe what he's saying is if you've got this coach and these main players, they
[08:06] never got out of the first round, not just this year, but maybe in other stretches.
[08:11] Like McGrady didn't get out of the first round of the playoffs ever in his career,
[08:14] correct?
[08:15] Right.
[08:16] Well, but I think he framed it specifically as the 0-4-0-5 season, the individual season.
[08:20] Because there must have been some other really good player on this team that I don't
[08:23] think of.
[08:24] There wasn't, though.
[08:25] Okay.
[08:26] Oh, really?
[08:27] So we got T-Mac, Yao Ming.
[08:31] Both those guys played, T-Mac played 78 and Yao Ming played 80 games that year.
[08:38] So the healthiest they were as a unit ever.
[08:40] Sure.
[08:41] The other key guys, Bob Sura, in descending order of games started.
[08:49] Bob Sura, David Wesley, Juwan Howard, and Jim Jackson.
[08:55] Oh, got it.
[08:56] Oh, Jim Jackson.
[08:57] That's Scott Padgett, too.
[08:59] Yeah.
[09:00] Oh, Vin Baker.
[09:01] We got some Charlie Ward going on here.
[09:03] Vin Baker.
[09:05] Is Skip to my Lou on this team?
[09:08] Skip to my Lou is not on this team.
[09:10] Ah, Aaron Brooks.
[09:12] No.
[09:13] Negative on Aaron Brooks.
[09:14] Aaron Brooks was not in the league.
[09:16] So the 22-game win streak must have happened later.
[09:19] Sure.
[09:20] Because those guys were on that.
[09:22] So Shane Batier.
[09:23] Yeah, that's the different team.
[09:24] Yeah, different team.
[09:25] No, Shane Batier.
[09:26] Got some Moochie Norris action going on here.
[09:31] If you want some of that.
[09:32] Can I interest you in some Ryan Bowen?
[09:37] An old Raj Strickland, John Barry.
[09:43] How many games did they win?
[09:45] They won 51 games.
[09:46] They won 51 and 31.
[09:47] They finished third in their division.
[09:49] What?
[09:51] Um, and they lost in the first round against the Dallas Mavericks.
[10:01] Okay.
[10:02] Well, I guess we don't know.
[10:06] We know a solid amount of stuff about the Rockets for not being Rockets fans.
[10:10] Sure.
[10:11] Right there.
[10:12] But I'm not sure about Andrew Preston's assertion there.
[10:16] Like you and your friends probably all grew up in Houston and had too much to drink that
[10:20] night.
[10:21] They did have a good coaching staff though.
[10:23] So they had Jeff Van Gundy and then their assistants were Andy Greer.
[10:28] I don't know who that is.
[10:29] But Steve Clifford, Patrick Ewing and Tom Tiddedoe.
[10:31] Hmm.
[10:32] Ooh.
[10:33] That's pretty good.
[10:34] Patrick Ewing has been an assistant coach for that long.
[10:37] Apparently so.
[10:38] Been a long time.
[10:41] Clove show.
[10:43] Yeah.
[10:44] In Houston lost game seven at Dallas, 116 to 76.
[10:50] Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho.
[10:53] That's brutal.
[10:55] So that was the year that the Pacers upset Boston in the first round.
[11:04] We were the sixth seed.
[11:07] Even though at the time we'd had the most players on a single roster during a single
[11:10] season ever, we got the sixth seed and upset Boston in the first round.
[11:16] In a seven game series, if I recall, Jamal Tinsley came back in the seventh game and
[11:22] we blew him out in Boston, I think.
[11:25] Well, it would have had to be.
[11:29] So I feel like we were better than the Rockets that year.
[11:36] So their offensive rating was 15th.
[11:39] Their defensive rating was fourth in the league overall.
[11:45] So pretty good.
[11:46] They're above average.
[11:48] I mean, those are elements to definitely win a title.
[11:51] You got to be in the top half of both categories.
[11:54] Actually, you need to be in the top 10 of both categories, but still.
[11:58] All right.
[12:03] Well, thanks for sending that in.
[12:04] It makes us rack our brains.
[12:08] Old NBA stuff.
[12:09] I love that.
[12:10] That's my favorite stuff is, hey, remember when this was.
[12:14] So send those in.
[12:15] We like those.
[12:16] Definitely more rocket stuff.
[12:18] No, no more rocket stuff.
[12:21] I will refuse to read it.
[12:23] This is the only time this is happening.
[12:24] I feel like we talk about the Rockets every week now.
[12:27] What's going on?
[12:28] So the Pacers that year, you are correct.
[12:32] Coalson upset the Boston Celtics who are three seed.
[12:35] The Pacers were six seed.
[12:37] The Pacers won game seven in Boston, 97 to 70.
[12:42] Yeah.
[12:43] Held them to 70 points.
[12:47] Game seven on the road.
[12:51] And then the next series was the two one bitches against the troll.
[12:55] Oh my goodness.
[12:56] Indeed.
[12:57] Yeah.
[12:58] That was, I remember that day very clearly.
[13:04] It was an amazing day.
[13:07] It was an amazing day.
[13:08] One of my favorite days ever as a fan.
[13:09] You were very excited, as excited as I've seen you.
[13:17] We were driving out of town to St. Louis.
[13:19] Yeah.
[13:20] We drove to St. Louis that night after the game.
[13:23] Yeah.
[13:24] And you held an umbrella over my head as I threw up in a ditch.
[13:29] I wasn't going to bring it up.
[13:31] But you did it.
[13:33] But no, I mean, that was, you know, we had gone through the brawl.
[13:38] And this was the team that had made all that happen.
[13:41] And we were severe underdogs.
[13:43] And we went up to one in that series.
[13:46] And they can't take that away from me ever.
[13:49] I mean, that was Reggie's last year.
[13:51] You know, that was, oh man, I was living and dying
[13:54] with every shot in that season.
[13:56] And they can never take away 2-1 from me.
[13:58] It wasn't that there's like some infamous Rick Carlisle press
[14:03] conference.
[14:04] Is it after that game?
[14:05] Yeah.
[14:06] It was after that game, too.
[14:07] Because Larry Brown starts talking about the officiating
[14:09] or something.
[14:10] And he was like, no.
[14:11] Hell no.
[14:12] Not after the year we've had.
[14:13] Yeah.
[14:14] This is two teams playing hard.
[14:15] We're not going to make it about something else.
[14:17] And he's like pounding the stage.
[14:20] Oh, that's so good.
[14:21] Oh, that's so good.
[14:22] We need to, if anybody can find that, tweet that at us.
[14:25] Yeah, absolutely.
[14:27] I bet I can find it for you in about 10 seconds.
[14:31] Well, get on Twitter.
[14:36] The other thing that I'd like to ask Pacer Nation to find
[14:39] for me is the Timberwolves color commentating
[14:45] during the playoffs.
[14:48] And I can't even remember who it was.
[14:50] Or what year.
[14:52] No, it was, I remember it was when I was in college.
[14:55] It was like 98, 99.
[14:58] The Timberwolves were in a really close series in an
[15:01] illumination game.
[15:02] And the color commentator says, if you don't love this
[15:06] game, you don't love yourself.
[15:13] It was so amazing.
[15:14] Did you say illumination game?
[15:16] It was an illuminating game.