The Houston Rockets were bruised and battered by New York in Game 5 of the 1994 NBA Finals, a 91-84 loss in front of a frenzied sell-out crowd at Madison Square Garden. Rudy Tomjanovich's club received an immediate lift upon arriving home in Houston during the early-morning hours of June 18, 1994.
"We came in late that night and the fans were at Hobby [Airport], screaming and cheering and hanging onto the fence," Tomjanovich recalled in a conversation with Chron last month. "That really lifted us. That was a wonderful feeling, it really was.