> As sad as it is, Eric Gordon, a prominent cast member of the franchise that time, believes that if they were able to get over the hump, their elite and special band would have been able to stick around for a much longer time and contend.

> “I think things would have been changed. I think the team would have been together. Definitely more years,” Gordon said on his recent appearance on The IkoSystem podcast hosted by Kelly Iko of The Athletic. “I mean, winning a championship—that’s a big time thing. There’s no doubt the guys would have been together.”

> Looking back, Gordon admitted that he still dwells from the horrors of their past shortcomings most especially on that epic 2018 West Finals, considering the roster impact and the golden narrative that will favor them should they have managed to pull it off successfully at the flipped side.

> “It does,” the veteran responded if the 2018 loss sticks around to him. “You only get so many chances to win a championship. And to have the chance to beat a [Durant-Curry Warriors] team like that, I mean, you just never know. And sometimes when you win, you just don’t know how much that attracts other players around the league because we had a good thing going.

> “Like I said, year in and year out, you just never know.”

Link: https://www.talkbasket.net/165923-eric-gordon-airs-painful-look-back-on-rockets-failed-title-runs-that-led-to-core-break-up

27 comments

  1. imagine being a rockets fan watch that game 7 bro i would’ve broken my tv

  2. I still feel bad for Rockets fans. That should’ve been their year

  4. Not feeling sorry anymore for their loss. Anyone who actually watched that game could’ve seen they needed to drive to the paint instead of chucking threes with 17 seconds on the clock. Never gonna forget Harden doing kick outs at the slightest pressure in the paint to contested corner 3s. Rockets were playing like they were down 20 while the score was 78-83.

    Adding up too many missed shots overtime and giving GSW more possessions then they deserved lost them that game. It got so bad that the broadcast put up a graphic that the average time to first shot was like 16 seconds on the shot clock. Even today 6 years later the average is 12.3 seconds. For context we all know it takes 4-5 seconds even taking the ball up to the half court. To have the ball being shot 4 seconds after that means you’re basically not setting anything up for a play and just passing to a guy on the hash and they’re chucking it. If you’re not hitting your shots when you’re being so careless with the ball with the knowledge you have shitty offensive rebound rate you earned that L.

    Edit: loving the downvotes from the bums at Mission Control! In fact the Rockets were so bad shooting the ball you would’ve thought Jabari Smith Jr and Jalen Green were on that team lol.

  5. Sucks that CP3 was injured but they could’ve still won if they didn’t all shoot historically bad and mentally collapse. Can’t blame all that on bad luck

  7. That game will always haunt me. I’ve never even watched the highlights again

  9. The greatest team to never win a championship, along with Utah Jazz 97/98. Would have defeated this generation’s Shaq/Kobe if Chris Paul’s hamstring held up.

  11. I still remember the Rockets going into game 4 and winning on the road by making a come back in the 4th quarter…they were down by like 12 points and Trevor Ariza hit that clutch 3 to take the lead and win on the road and tie the series 2-2…then winning at home to go up 3-2 against the super team Warriors 🤯…then CP3 injured his hamstring in the last few seconds of that game 🤦‍♂️…the Rockets could have still won in Game 7…and people love to bring up the 27 missed threes but the refs were awful in that game as well…the Rockets were getting hacked in the paint especially in the 3rd and 4th quarters without getting any calls so they had no option but to chuck up threes 🤷‍♂️

  12. Team never got the respect they deserved despite the loss because of the insane reffing in that game makes it look like we really went 0/27. Oh well, it was a fun ride looking back now. But I was devastated at the time.

  13. We were winning both games 6 and 7 at halftime. But the pressure on Harden was just too much. He had to create every single thing on every single possession.

    And Trevor Ariza going 0-12 (0-9 from 3) was just too much to overcome.

    ​

    I genuinely believe the difference in the teams was Ariza vs Iggy. When Steph needed the support in 2019 with KD out, Iggy went 5-8 in Game 6 form 3.

  15. fuck the refs idgaf about what you have to say, fuck scott foster and fuck all the other nba refs

  17. I remember watching that game and screaming, JUST TAKE THE MID-RANGE JAMES because they kept leaving him wide open whenever he took a step inside the 3 knowing he wasn’t going to shoot it.

  18. Funny how the greatest threat to the KD Warriors wasn’t LeBron, it was Harden

  19. Rockets had a better chance/opportunity in 2019, but NOBODY wants to talk about that

  20. I honestly thought they should have stuck with mainly the same team during the 2019-2020 season instead of trading for Westbrook. This was the season that they knew that KD was leaving the Warriors and that Klay was going to be out the following season as well so the Warriors wouldn’t have been in the way anymore.

  22. One of the top teams of all time. Wish Harden and Paul could’ve finished it

  23. I’ve bore witness to plenty of tragedy over the years, but the night of game 7 will go down as one of the worst days of my entire life.

  24. They would’ve won it too that’s what’s crazy that game 7 winner was winner of the finals and everyone knows it plus it was at home too. Tough series

  25. We give Harden so much shit for not having any rings but that rockets team would have probably won a ring in almost every other season, but they had to face probably the single greatest NBA team ever.

  26. Always funny the Bron stans excuse that Warriors team as unbeatable when they were one cp3 hammy away from losing

  27. That team not hitting a 3 is among the best evidence we live in a simulation. It’s like Force Win was set for the Warriors. As a Mavs fan I was glad they lost, but damn was that stunning.

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