NBA superstars do a lot of things that make them look superhuman on the basketball floor. From flying through the air with the greatest of ease before throwing down a thunderous dunk or showing nerves of steel in the dying seconds of a close match, nobody can blame fans for thinking these men aren’t mortal.
However, they are. And as former All-Star wingman and New York Knicks great Allan Houston proved, it can be tricky trying to keep your focus on the NBA Playoffs while waiting for the birth of your first child.
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A lot on the line
Despite being one of the NBA’s legacy teams, the Knicks are a franchise that is starved for success. And before the 1999 postseason, the last time they made it to the NBA Finals was in 1973. So one can only imagine the pressure Houston, who was the Knicks’ sharpest offensive weapon at that time, was feeling.
Yet at the same time, performing well wasn’t the only thing on his mind as his wife was due to give birth to their first child any day. With that as the backdrop, Houston took the floor in Game 6 of the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals against their bitter rivals, the Indiana Pacers, with his mind as cluttered as a kindergarten classroom.
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“So we won game five and we knew coming back for game six, like we gotta—you got to get Game 6, you know, ’cause you don’t want to go back to Indianapolis for Game 7,” Houston narrated.
“And my wife was literally due any day. And so that was a Friday. I’ll never forget it was a Friday. We had made the decision that if we won’t win and then the next day we’re gonna go and see if we can induce and that was going to be my first child, first child and it was a girl. That was the plan,” he continued.
With neither team giving the other an inch, the game remained tied at 59-all at the end of the third, setting the stage for an intense fourth quarter. And with the Knicks severely undermanned with the absence of Patrick Ewing and the knee injury Larry Johnson suffered in the second quarter, Houston knew he had to step his game up to end the series on their home court.
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A wave of peace washed over Houston
The last place an athlete can gain serenity is in Madison Square Garden during the East finals. In between the raucous fans and the high stakes, there’s no denying how tense the atmosphere at the Mecca was. However, according to Houston, everything suddenly came into focus, leading him to play his best basketball.
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“Fourth quarter comes and I just kind of like had a reset and I just felt this kind of like peace going over my mind… We won the Eastern Conference championship. Won game six. And that was probably by far like my biggest, my favorite Madison Square Garden moment because you know you going to the finals,” H20 recalled.
“I’ll never forget after she was born, literally the morning we were about to fly off to San Antonio, and I’m sitting in the bathroom, and I think it just hit me. It just hit me, man. And I started bawling… I couldn’t even—it was just too much to take.”
Everything seemed to fall into place for Houston at that moment. He and Latrell Sprewell went a perfect 7-for-7 from the field in the fourth to outscore the Pacers 31-23 to snatch a 90-82 win. The very next day, his daughter was born.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Apr 25, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.