The bar has been lowered, a new standard set. No longer will young losers across this great land aspire to be Clippers, Bobcats or Blazers. As of April 12th of 2006, there is less, oh so much less, to strive for.
That was the night the Houston Rockets pulled off the "Minnesota Miracle", the night they did the unimaginable, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory at home against the talent equivalent of 5 NBDL drunks off the streets of Minneapolis.
No Kevin Garnett. No Ricky Davis. No Rashad McCants. No loss for Minnesota. The final tally, now frozen forever in lotto lore: Rockets 79, Timberwolves 82
As the final horn sounded, the 17 fans in attendance lightly jogged on to the court and players rejected embraces for fear of developing chemistry, but not all felt it was a justified outcome.
"Look, you're not going to get me fined, but if you go back and look at the tape, clearly Marcus [Banks] lost the ball out of bounds on his own with 13 seconds left," said Timberwolves head coach Dwane Casey. "They called it out on Rafer [Alston] and there's nothing we can do about that, but if they get it right, we lose this ballgame. Period."
