The 1995 Rudy Tomjanovich-coached Houston Rockets basketball team were defending NBA champions, but they entered the NBA playoffs with a low seed after a poor regular season. The Rockets went on to defeat the top four seeds, winning seven straight games at one point of the playoffs.
“Never underestimate the heart of a champion,” declared Tomjanovich in June 1995, after his team returned as NBA champions. The quotation is still well-remembered in Houston.
Wikipedia: Rudy Tomjanovich
Rudolph Tomjanovich, Jr. (born November 24, 1948, in Hamtramck, Michigan), nicknamed Rudy T., is an American former basketball player and coach. He is currently a scout for the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Coaching career
Tomjanovich retired in 1981 and became a scout for two years before being named an assistant coach in 1983. He served as an assistant under Bill Fitch and Don Chaney.
Tomjanovich was named the Rockets’ interim head coach in February, 1992 after Chaney’s resignation. After nearly leading the Rockets to a playoff berth, he was given the job on a permanent basis.
In his first full season on the job (1992-93), Tomjanovich guided the Rockets to the Midwest Division title, making him the first head coach to ever take his team from the lottery to a division crown during his first full season. Building on this success, Rudy T. led the team to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. On the playoff run to their second title, the Rockets became the only team in history to defeat the teams with the four best regular season records in the playoffs. It was on the floor of The Summit after they captured their second title that Rudy proclaimed, “Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion!” In his 11-plus season tenure as Rockets head coach, he posted a 503–397 (.559) regular-season record and a 51–39 (.567) playoff mark. His career wins and winning percentage are Rockets franchise records. Tomjanovich left the team after the 2002-03 season when he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, ending a 33-year association with the Rockets franchise—including its first 32 years in Houston—as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
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Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion!
From: chalidibmalwaled
Added: May 07, 2007
Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion!
15 June 1995, Tyrone (PA)
, “Rockets Complete Sweep To NBA Championship,” pg. 4, cols. 5-6:
Not only were the Rockets the lowest seed ever to win the title, they also won an NBA record nine times on the road along the way, including seven straight.
“Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion,” Tomjanovich said.