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Robert Reid, who starred for a Houston Rockets crew that made the NBA Finals in 1981 and 1986, died Monday on the age of 68.
The Rockets confirmed Reid’s passing.
Houston Rockets @HoustonRockets
The Fertitta Family and the Houston Rockets are deeply saddened by the passing of extinct player, Robert Reid, whose contributions had been instrumental in guiding the Houston Rockets to their first two NBA Finals appearances in 1980-81 and 1985-86. pic.twitter.com/6fc5dyLqDA
Per Matt Younger of the Houston Yarn, Reid died of most cancers.
Reid played 13 NBA seasons, the first 10 of which came with the Rockets, who chosen the 6’8″ ahead with a 2d-round win in the 1977 NBA draft out of St. Mary’s College in San Antonio.
His most attention-grabbing season used to be 1980-81, when he done third on the crew in scoring (15.9 PPG), 2d in rebounds (7.1 RPG) and first in steals (2.0 SPG).
That Rockets crew snuck into the playoffs with a 40-42 document but engineered an underdog skedaddle to the NBA Finals that began with a foremost-round sequence victory over the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The Rockets, who moreover featured Corridor of Famers Moses Malone and Calvin Murphy, then confronted Larry Rooster and the Boston Celtics. Reid dropped 27 facets in Sport 1 to lead all scorers, however the C’s pulled out a 98-95 make a choice. Houston fought hard towards the carefully liked C’s but fell in six video games.
Reid played one extra season earlier than retiring in 1982 to devote beyond regular time to his Pentecostal faith. He returned twelve months later and didn’t demonstrate any rust en path to 14.0 PPG in 1983-84.
Two seasons later, the Rockets returned to the NBA Finals in portion thanks to Reid, who led all Houston reserves with 12.0 PPG. Reid ended up joining the starting up lineup for factual by the pinnacle of the normal season, taking part in alongside Corridor of Famer Akeem (now Hakeem) Olajuwon.
Fancy in 1981, the defending NBA champion Lakers stood of their formulation of making the championship round. This time round, Houston had to face the 62-make a choice Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
The Rockets afraid the Lakers, even supposing, defeating them in 5. Reid did his portion with 14.6 PPG, at the side of 23 in a Sport 4 make a choice.
His most attention-grabbing moment occurred in Sport 5, even supposing, when he hit a nook three with 15 seconds left to tie the recreation at 112. After the Lakers came up empty, Rockets center Ralph Sampson hit the recreation-winner without a time left to send Houston to the championship.
Thanks in portion to Reid, the Rockets averted the Lakers from winning the Western Conference in all 10 NBA seasons ending in the 1980s. L.A. won eight, while Houston took the quite a whole lot of two.
Boston awaited Houston all as soon as more and beat the Rockets in six all as soon as more. However Reid used to be colossal in the 2 wins, dropping 20 facets and 9 assists in Sport 3 and 13 facets and 17 assists in Sport 5.
Reid played two extra seasons with the Rockets earlier than joining the growth Charlotte Hornets in 1988. He rounded out his occupation with the Portland Path Blazers and Philadelphia 76ers earlier than retiring for factual.
Per ESPN News Products and companies, Reid sits fourth in Rockets history in “video games played (762), fifth in steals (881), eighth in facets (8,823) and rebounds (3,706), ninth in blocks (364) and 10th in assists (2,253).”
After his occupation ended, Reid used to be carefully occupied with the neighborhood, per Jyesha Johnson of Fox 26 Houston:
“After retirement, Reid remained full of life in his neighborhood and devoted himself to charitable causes. While he may per chance have stepped far off from the highlight of the NBA, his affect on the recreation and his legacy as a player committed to his principles suffer.”
He moreover shared his fancy of basketball by coaching in a expansive number of skilled leagues and in clinics world wide. Dwain Tag of the Fortress Worth Superstar-Telegram supplied extra perception in 2013.
“A 2d-round win by the Rockets in ’77, Reid has been an assistant coach in the Continental Basketball Association, American Basketball Association, United States Basketball League, and in Hungary, and has labored basketball clinics in India, Spain and the Canary Islands. Brown believes it’s most attention-grabbing a topic of time earlier than the Schertz High College product is sitting on an NBA bench as a coach.”
He moreover coached at Ranger College, the keep head coach Larry Brown mighty his humility and compassion in direction of others.
“He comes out here and he is the dorm director over there, and he cooks for the gamers. Over Thanksgiving, he cooked turkey and ham. Every evening on Monday Evening Soccer he has a cookout the keep he’ll have a Cajun boil or something. He correct loves working with adolescence and is repeatedly looking out for to abet them with their dreams in life and basketball, and it’s been correct a factual match for all of us in here to strive and fabricate something at Ranger.”
Per ABC 13 Houston, Reid is survived by his accomplice, Diana, and 4 children (Robert Jr., Keva, Crystal and Jana).
