With seven NBA championships over his 16-year career, veteran forward Robert Horry has the most rings of any modern player.
Of those seven titles for “Big Shot Rob,” two came with the Houston Rockets (1994, 1995); three with the Los Angeles Lakers (2000, 2001, 2002); and two with the San Antonio Spurs (2005, 2007).
In a new appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, Horry said he keeps his rings in a safe deposit box back in Houston — his original NBA home.
From there, Patrick asked if he had a favorite one. Horry replied:
Actually, I have two. I just don’t have one. I think the ’95 championship… what we did with the Houston Rockets was something special. Not having home-court advantage was key to winning that championship, because it made us have that heart of a champion, as the defending champion.
The second one is the 2001 Lakers, when we were 16-1. We were so mad we lost game one of the Finals to the Sixers. We wanted to go perfect, and do something that probably would never be done [again] in NBA history.
While they were defending champions, the 1994-95 Rockets were the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference playoffs — which remains the lowest in NBA history to win it all. HoopsHype has more on that historic journey by the sixth-seeded Rockets to a second consecutive NBA crown.
“According to research in which we looked at every team’s path to their eventual championship wins, the 1994-95 Rockets had the toughest road ever to winning a title,” they write. “The worst team they beat had a 57-25 record, and that was their Finals opponent, the Orlando Magic, who boasted a lineup featuring Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway, amongst many valuable role players.” The HoopsHype story adds:
On top of that, the Rockets won four series without having home-court advantage, an almost impossible feat to even fathom, let alone pull off. Houston’s road was made that tough due to the fact that they went 47-35 that regular season, a disappointing campaign prior to the playoffs. The Rockets beat two teams in the Utah Jazz (60-22) and the San Antonio Spurs (62-20) that won at least 60 games, and a third, the Phoenix Suns (59-23) that came within one win of reaching that benchmark.
Hakeem Olajuwon's Rockets had arguably the toughest path to an NBA title ever. https://t.co/7IoNDLLbjm
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) June 12, 2020
HoopsHype concludes:
A road that featured the aforementioned Shaq-and-Penny duo, along with Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson, that year’s regular-season MVP in David Robinson, who Olajuwon made look very foolish during their matchup, and John Stockton and Karl Malone, there’s no questioning just how tough the Rockets had it during their second title run, and how well-earned their championship was.
In all, the 1995 run can be summed up perfectly by the postgame quote that night from legendary head coach Rudy Tomjanovich.
“Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion!”
Even in the context of Horry’s epic career with seven championship teams, that improbable run still seems to resonate the most.
Horry averaged 13.1 points (40.0% on 3-pointers), 7.0 rebounds, and 3.5 rebounds in 38.2 minutes per game during the 1995 playoffs. The versatile 6-foot-10 forward was also one of Hosuton’s top defenders.
