#ralph sampson

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Ralph Sampson and Sam Perkins

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Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon. Houston’s ’Twin Towers’ posing in front of two towers in Houston. The Houston Rockets won the #1overall pick in consecutive years in 1983 and 1984, and chose what many believed to be two generational talents in Ralph Sampson (7’4) and Hakeem Olajuwon (7’). The ‘Twin Towers’ took the league by storm from the get-go. The two averaged a combined 42.4 pts, 22.5 rebs, and 4.8 blks per game through their first two seasons. Year two is when they really came into their own. Houston took out the Kings and Nuggets in the first two rounds of the ‘86 playoffs, and found themselves in the WCF with the reigning champion ‘Showtime Lakers.’ The Lakers had their hands full with the Hakeem-Sampson duo and the Rockets vaulted to a 3-1 series lead. Sampson provided the finishing blow with a series-ending buzzer beater in the Forum to send the Rockets to the Finals. The Rockets fell to the vaunted ‘86 Celtics in 6 games, but the league was put on notice. Houston was young, dominant, and poised to take over the NBA for years to come. But that never happened. The next year, the Rockets lost three key rotation players to drugs (Lewis Lloyd and Mitchell Wiggins were suspended, and John Lucas went to rehab). Things got even worse when Sampson suffered a knee injury. The Rockets limped into the playoffs with a 42-40 record and were bounced in round two. Sampson was never the same after the knee injury. He was traded to the Golden State Warriors mid-way through the 1987 season and averaged about 16-10-2. But he had a hard time staying healthy for the rest of his career (which only lasted four more seasons) and he never averaged double-digits in points or rebounds again.

Meanwhile, the Rockets rebuilt around Hakeem and won two championships in 1994 and 1995.

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Portrait of Virginia Ralph Sampson  and Georgetown Patrick Ewing

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Patrick Ewing and Ralph Sampson