Robert Horry won seven championships during his NBA career and the wildest celebration came after he won his second title with the Houston Rockets in 1995. During an appearance on the Games With Names podcast, Horry revealed his best championship parade story.
“I would have to say Houston and the only reason I’m gonna say Houston is because we went back-to-back,” Horry said. “I ain’t gonna lie, I got so hammered that night after that game. You think about it: we swept the Orlando Magic, we went back-to-back, a sixth seed. I’m hammered, I wake up in some girl’s apartment. It was my buddy’s girlfriend.”
Horry was somewhat in a daze when he woke up, but soon realized he was late for their parade.
“I wake up in an apartment. I’m like on the floor under a tree, I think. I’m literally outside,” Horry continued. “… I look at my watch, it was 11 o’clock. The parade starts at 11 o’clock, so literally if people look at the parade, the second parade, it was held up because I didn’t make it there on time… I had to go home, shower, and explain to my fiance what happened, and she looking at me cross-eyed.”
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Horry’s fiance had some words for him as well, but he chose not to disclose what they were. The two then headed to the parade together and Horry says he was just hungover for the whole event.
As Horry mentioned, that second championship with Houston was a special one. The Rockets had won the title in 1994 but had a disappointing regular season in 1994-95. They finished with a 47-35 record, which was only good enough to be the sixth seed.
With Hakeem Olajuwon leading the way, though, the Rockets beat the top three seeds in the West one after the other to get back to the NBA Finals. There they would face the Orlando Magic, led by a young Shaquille O’Neal.
The Magic had a 57-25 record that season and had beaten Michael Jordan and the Bulls on their way to the Finals. They were the favorites to win it all but the Rockets shockingly swept them to become back-to-back champs. To this day, they remain the lowest-seeded team to win the title.
While Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, who had been acquired mid-season, stole the headlines, Horry played his part too. He put up impressive averages of 17.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.0 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game against the Magic.
Horry, who earned the nickname “Big Shot Bob” for hitting numerous clutch shots during his career, hit one in this series as well. With the Rockets clinging to a 101-100 lead in Game 3, he drilled a three-pointer with just over 14 seconds left which shut the door on any dreams the Magic might have had of a comeback.
Shaquille O’Neal Says Robert Horry Should Be In The Hall Of Fame
After winning two championships and denying O’Neal his first in 1995, Horry would become his teammate on the Los Angeles Lakers in 1997. They would then win three championships in a row from 2000 to 2002, after which Horry left for the San Antonio Spurs in 2003.
Horry won two more titles with the Spurs in 2005 and 2007 to end his career with seven championships. It is the most for anyone who didn’t play for the Boston Celtics in the 1950s and 60s and leads to talk of whether the 53-year-old should be a Hall of Famer.
His former teammate certainly thinks so, with O’Neal stating Horry needs to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Do I think he gets in? Not really. He deserves respect for winning seven championships, but Horry had career averages of 7.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game, which is not good enough to make it in.
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