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Robert Reid, who starred for a Houston Rockets group that made the NBA Finals in 1981 and 1986, passed away Monday at the age of 68.
The Rockets verified Reid’s death.
Houston Rockets @HoustonRockets
The Fertitta Family and the Houston Rockets are deeply saddened by the death of previous gamer, Robert Reid, whose contributions contributed in directing the Houston Rockets to their very first 2 NBA Finals looks in 1980-81 and 1985-86. << a href="https://t.co/6fc5dyLqDA">> pic.twitter.com/6fc5dyLqDA
Per Matt Young of the Houston ChronicleReid passed away of cancer.
Reid played 13 NBA seasons, the very first 10 of which included the Rockets, who chose the 6’8″ forward with a second-round choice in the 1977 NBA draft out of St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.
His finest season was 1980-81, when he completed third on the group in scoring (15.9 PPG), 2nd in rebounds (7.1 RPG) and initially in takes (2.0 SPG).
That Rockets group snuck into the playoffs with a 40-42 record however crafted an underdog go to the NBA Finals that started with a first-round series triumph over the protecting NBA champ Los Angeles Lakers, led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The Rockets, who likewise included Hall of Famers Moses Malone and Calvin Murphy, then dealt with Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics. Reid dropped 27 points in Game 1 to lead all scorers, however the C’s taken out a 98-95 win. Houston combated hard versus the greatly preferred C’s however fell in 6 video games.
Reid played another season before retiring in 1982 to commit more time to his Pentecostal faith. He returned one year later on and didn’t reveal any rust en path to 14.0 PPG in 1983-84.
2 seasons later on, the Rockets went back to the NBA Finals in part since of Reid, who led all Houston reserves with 12.0 PPG. Reid wound up signing up with the beginning lineup for excellent by the end of the routine season, playing along with Hall of Famer Akeem (now Hakeem) Olajuwon.
Like in 1981, the protecting NBA champ Lakers stood in their method of making the champion round. This time around, Houston needed to deal with the 62-win Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
The Rockets stunned the Lakers, however, beating them in 5. Reid did his part with 14.6 PPG, consisting of 23 in a Game 4 win.
His finest minute took place in Game 5, however, when he struck a corner 3 with 15 seconds delegated connect the video game at 112. After the Lakers showed up empty, Rockets center Ralph Sampson struck the game-winner without any time delegated send out Houston to the champion.
Thanks in part to Reid, the Rockets avoided the Lakers from winning the Western Conference in all 10 NBA seasons ending in the 1980s. L.A. won 8, while Houston took the other 2.
Boston waited for Houston once again and beat the Rockets in 6 once again.